Body posture and movement in interaction

The synchronization of body posture and movement in interaction has been investigated using varying terminologies and from quite different perspectives or schools of thought. The phenomenon of self- and interaction synchrony was first observed by Condon and his colleagues (Condon 1976, 1980; Condon and Ogston 1966, 1967, 1971; Condon and Sander 1974), on the base of frame-by-frame analyses of videotaped interactions. While they interpreted it in etic terms, Kendon (1990a), within the framework of context analysis, studied the function(s) of several instances of movement coordination in communication. Due to science-historical reasons, his findings have long been disregarded and only come to be recognized recently in the newly developing approach to multimodal communication (Deppermann and Schmitt 2007). Researchers of this latter framework empirically validate conversation analytic concepts in light of their inherent multimodality.
After introducing some terminological distinctions, in the second section, context analysis and the approach to multimodal communication are presented from their scientific-historical background. The third section gives an overview of the leading questions and methodology, the basic empirical findings and their interpretations of exemplary representatives: Condon (Condon 1976, 1980; Condon and Ogston 1966, 1967, 1971; Condon and Sander 1974), Kendon (1990c, 1990d, 1990e), Deppermann and Schmitt (2007) respectively Mondada and Schmitt (2010b). In the third section the development in the investigation of multimodal interaction is reconstructed by a comparison of these approaches.