The Encyclopedia of Interactive Performance

Status behaviors reflect the relative power between characters. There are two types of status—positional and physical. Within each category there are high-status and low-status behaviors. One isn’t better than the other. They’re just different ways of getting things done.

Positional status behaviors

Positional status is the social power of a character’s position (e.g., prime minister, barkeeper, street urchin). Whether a character is holds a high or low position depends on the other characters that they’re with.

High position

• Assume that you can have whatever you want.
• Have others do things for you.
• Treat everything as yours, even if it’s not.
• Pontificate.
• Express strong opinions.
• Give orders.
• Offer suggestions.
• Expect things to be as you desire.
• Have others make things the way you want them to be.

Low position

• Focus on what others say and do.
• Agree with others.
• Do what others suggest.
• Strive for approval.
• Ask for permission.
• Find what others say and do fascinating.
• Equivocate about your own ideas.
• Defer to others.

Physical status behaviors

Physical status is the personal power of a character’s physicality (e.g., large and expansive or small and contained). This is a character’s default physicality, but it can also reflect whether a character feels strong or weak.

High physical status

• be assertive
• be at ease
• be comfortable in proximity to others
• be confident
• be physically grounded
• be silent until you’re ready to speak
• be still
• breathe fully and deeply
• direct others with your hands
• don’t blink
• hold eye contact
• hold strong visual focus
• hold your ground
• hold your shoulders back
• lift your chin
• make physical contact with others
• move smoothly
• occupy others’ space
• pause before responding
• sit open and relaxed
• speak as though you know
• speak in concise sentences
• spread out
• stand steady and ready
• take liberties
• take up a lot of room
• touch others’ faces and heads
• use grammatically correct sentences
• use other’s belongings as your own

Low physical status

• avoid physical contact
• be knock kneed
• be passive
• be slightly out of breath when talking
• be submissive
• blink a lot
• bobble your head
• break eye contact, then glance back
• breathe shallowly
• cling to your body or clothes
• close off your body
• dart your eyes around
• don’t speak much
• fidget
• have difficulty holding eye contact
• have little catch breaths
• hunch your shoulders
• keep your body constrained
• look down
• move jerkily
• occupy little space
• put your hands in your pockets or behind your back
• put your hands near your face
• shorten your neck
• speak in incomplete thoughts
• speak quietly
• start sentences with “um”
• turn your feet in
• wiggle or sway