Coded Behaviour Project

Coded behaviour is unconscious behaviour that reveals hidden meaning. For this project, we split up into groups to observe peoples’ coded behaviour. We decided to look at how people sit depending on who they are with.

To start, we observed groups of two people who seemed to know each other and were conversing. These people were sitting across from each other at a table. Quickly, we began to noticed that they were clearly mimicking one another. For example, these two girls both had their head in their right hand and were using their left hand to gesture while they talked. A couple tables down, two girls were sitting with their legs crossed and their bodies hunched towards one another. The same phenomenon seemed to be happening with boys. Two boys were sitting with their legs spread apart, both touching their necks as they talked. From this, we can infer that people have the subconscious need to mimic each other in order to fit in. Depending on how well these people knew one another, we can assume that one’s behaviour can influence another’s, compelling people to mimic each other.

Secondly, we observed people sharing an area or table with someone they do not know. These people were all, without fail, sitting diagonally from each other and every single person was on their phone. The unwillingness to sit close to each other or look at one another shows how uncomfortable they are. They are clearly using their cell phones as distractions from one another, as well as the space between each other to convey that they are not interested in speaking to one another.

Finally, we observed groups of three or more who all seem to know each other. Here, we could see that all of the group members were sitting with their bodies pointing towards one person: the alpha. Regardless of where they were sitting around the table in relation to the alpha – across, diagonally or next to – each member had shifted their body to face them. This behaviour made it easy to determine who was the alpha in the group. Through this behaviour, we can see that there is usually a natural leader in any group as well as natural followers.

In conclusion, observing coded behaviour through the way people sit told us a lot about their position in said group as well as their internal drives. Those sitting in groups of two had the desire to be liked, thus mimicking each others behaviour to seem “relatable” and similar. Those sitting alone had the need to not seem “awkward”, and would turn to their cellphones to accomplish that. Those sitting in groups had the drive to be a leader or a follower, either by all sitting a certain way to face the alpha or by sitting tall and leading the discussion, thus asserting their alpha position.