Nonverbal Communication, Status Differences

Many of our social interactions can be described along a dominance, power, status, or other dimensions suggestive of higher versus lower position. Our work environment is characterized by hierarchies with people in different statuses. But also in intimate relationships, power or status differences between partners (e.g., differences in earning power, differences in dominant interpersonal behavior) are not rare. Even in unstructured groups of people with initially equal status, status hierarchies form readily. Some hierarchies are quite pronounced, such as in the military, and others are quite flat, such as in many nonprofit organizations. Some hierarchies are explicit such as the differences in executive decision-making power between a CEO and an office clerk, and others are more implicit, such as the differences in influence on the decision to watch a particular movie among a group of friends. What is common to all hierarchies is that there is a dominance, power, or status difference among group members. Though there are differences between these concepts, for convenience this entry uses the term status to describe all these aspects of vertical position. Status has been defined in many different ways. It can be defined as having or striving for privileged access [Page 1159]to restricted resources (e.g., money, time) or as having or striving for influence over others. A hierarchy is defined as the status difference among two or more individuals. It has to be noted that a high-status position per se cannot exist alone because it necessitates somebody with low status. This entry discusses whether and how people are able to infer the status of their social interaction partners, how people use nonverbal behavior to make status inferences, and which nonverbal behaviors people in actual high-status or low-status positions typically express.