Subtle nonverbal changes can influence perception, signal individual’s affective state and act as gateways in interpersonal communications. In this exploratory study, we investigated the effect of previously uninvestigated female leg posture (in-toeing vs. out-toeing) on gazing behavior and perceived attractiveness. Results showed a small effect: participants fixated more and spent more time looking at the legs and feet of the stimuli with in-toeing feet than parallel and out-toeing feet. Likewise, we found a small effect for the perception of the attractiveness. In line with the previous studies, we suggest in-toeing feet might signal femininity and submission and discussed our results accordingly.
Epub 2018