Postural feedback
The idea that the position the body is held in feeds back on emotional state and behaviour, rather than simply reflecting them.
Postural feedback belongs to a broader family of embodiment effects, in which physical expressions associated with an emotion appear to influence the emotion itself. Expansive, open postures are associated with dominance and confidence; contractive, closed postures with submission and low mood.
The concept matters because posture is one of the few emotional inputs that is constantly present and easily altered by furniture, screens, transport and workplace design. If the feedback runs in both directions, everyday environmental design becomes a low-grade influence on state of mind.
In research it is typically studied by assigning participants a posture and then measuring self-reported feelings alongside behavioural tasks, sometimes with objective posture measurements such as joint or neck angles. The field has been criticised for demand effects, since participants who are told how to sit or stand may guess the hypothesis, which is why manipulations that work indirectly through the environment are of particular interest.