Like the hunting lions described in our previous post, There are Lions out there, human social predators rely on their eyes to give them cues on choosing a potential victim.

An individual’s manner of moving can influence the perceptions of observers. Studies have shown that movement cues can reveal aspects of personality, life satisfaction, and sexual orientation. Body language is also symptomatic of an individual’s level of vulnerability – indicating dominance or submissiveness, powerfulness, self-confidence, vulnerability to assault, and history of physical and psychological injury.

As this applies to self-defense, research has directly tied specific movement cues found within an individual’s manner of walking to the likelihood of being victimized through assault.

If your way of walking includes the following ways of moving, you are likely to be seen as more vulnerable to attack.

Short strides
Lifting or shuffling steps
Constrained (tight) shoulder and arm movement
Constrained hip movement
Hesitant or slow pace
Confusion or distraction
Impaired walk (by injury or clothing)

 

However, if your way of walking includes the following ways of moving, you will be seen as less vulnerable to attack.

Lengthened stride
Swinging foot placement
Swinging arm movement
Unconstrained torso/hip movement
Direct pace
Attentive
Unimpaired (full body) movement

In a study by Book, Costello and Camiller (2013) this second set of movement cues is found to be effective in conveying a perception of assertion and less vulnerability to a group of criminals who were serving time for crimes involving physical assault.

Like animals in ‘nature’, human social predators seek signs that signal vulnerability in a potential target in order to increase the likelihood of a successful attack. Movement cues that signal you are less vulnerable, mean you are less likely to be a potential victim.

We teach these easily learned movement cues in our workshop Thinking Self Defense as an essential element of the second level of the three level pyramid described in the post: The Pyramid of Self Defense

Sources and further reading:
Book, Costello, Camiller (2013)
Grayson & Stein, 1981
Gunns, Johnston, & Hudson, 2002
Sakaguchi & Hasegawa, 2006