Human postural signals: Stance, weight-shifts and social distance as intention movements to depart

Yet Another Non-Unique Human Behaviour: Leave-Taking in Wild Chacma Baboons (Papio ursinus)

“…Further to this, previous leave-taking studies suggest the importance of changing orientation (e.g., [ 11 ]) which Knapp [ 34 ] includes as part of the behaviour of “major trunk movement” and “positioning”. Visual orientation in the direction of parting [ 13 ], such as “breaking eye contact” to look away [ 34 ], is also a potential parallel across species.…”

“…This is useful in two ways: (1) behaviours independent from articulated language may show continuity across species and cultures, and thus inform us of similarities and differences [ 10 ]; and (2) may reflect basal aspects of shared communication across primates, as with greeting behaviours [ 8 ]. It has been suggested that leave taking should be studied in nonhuman species, for example, where postural signals may serve an analogous function [ 11 ], or when considering studies of group movement [ 12 ]. Ethological studies of leave taking are lacking, and those that do exist (e.g., [ 11 , 13 ]) are not robust in providing replicable methods.…”

“…It has been suggested that leave taking should be studied in nonhuman species, for example, where postural signals may serve an analogous function [ 11 ], or when considering studies of group movement [ 12 ]. Ethological studies of leave taking are lacking, and those that do exist (e.g., [ 11 , 13 ]) are not robust in providing replicable methods. Below, we consider and address possible ways to overcome these limitations.…”

“…Besides the need to control for social interaction, many studies neglect controlling for the length of interaction. Lockard [ 11 ] includes length of interaction as a variable, which failed to reach significance, concluding that restlessness or boredom alone is not sufficient in explaining these behaviours; however, this possibility is still important to account for.…”

Closing up Closings: Showing the Relevance of the Social and Material Surround to the Completion of Interaction

“…Several quantitative investigations of departure behaviors have been conducted, mostly for the purpose of examining the frequencies of certain behaviors as they occur in closings. Some research has focused exclusively on either verbal behaviors (e.g., Albert & Kessler, 1978) or nonverbal behaviors (e.g., Lockard, Allen, Schiele, & Wiemer, 1978), whereas other studies have employed film or videotape in an analysis of both (e.g., Knapp, Hart, Friedrich, & Shulman, 1973;O'Leary & Gallois, 1985;Summerfield & Lake, 1977). Knapp and his associates (1973) showed the frequent occurrence in conversational closings of verbal behaviors such as "appreciation" (e.g., "Thanks for your time") and "external legitimizers" (e.g., "I have to meet someone") and nonverbal behaviors such as breaking eye contact and major trunk movements.…”