Perceiving personality in simple motion cues

People often ascribe intentions and personalities to simple motion cues. Two experiments were conducted to examine how variations in motion quality, such as amplitude and frequency, influence a simple stimulus’ ratings on different aspects of personality. In experiment one participants were asked to adjust the motion behavior of a computer animated ball according to different items, which were based on the five factor model of personality. In experiment two participants had to assign the ‘correct’ personality to stimuli that were based on data of experiment one. Recognition rate was high for most personality traits, but there were also some misidentifications. Results suggest that simple features of motion partly influence social perception and human communication.