Personality theory and movement

Considering the volume of work published separately in the two areas of personality and movement it is surprising that relatively few studies are concerned with individual differences in movement. In part this must be due to the fact that most personality theories are concerned with attitudes and verbal expressions of mental states rather than motor behaviour. But it is also the case that studies of movement tend to be concerned with specific movements and their central control mechanisms rather than the organism as a functioning whole. Even those studies which look at motor behaviour as an expression of the internal state of the individual tend to regard gestures and movements as a sort of library of communication possibilities revealing emotional states like anxiety, aggression or sexual interest, rather than as enduring characteristics of personality. This may be because, despite an early belief that expressive style reflected personality1, more recently it has been argued that it can be dangerous to assume expressive style means consistency in other behavioural areas2.