capstone Project
One of the main objectives of the Senior Seminar course was to guide student bodies to grow as strong scholars by challenging the knowledge of their field of interest. To challenge my scholarly knowledge in the interdisciplinary field of Dance and Psychology, I initiated a research project that delves into the concept of psychosomatic awarenesses. Over the course of the research, I discovered that personality is one of the major psychological factors that can impact individuals' somatic awarenesses. Moreover, the past studies on somatic awarenesses highlighted the importance of understanding movement as a nonverbal expression that captures one's lived body experiences. More specifically, the unique body experiences become vividly present through the qualities of movement that are distinct in individuals. Thus, a semester-long research study that involves Myers-Briggs-Type Indicator and Laban Movement Analysis was designed to further explore the relationship between personality and movement qualities.
Abstract
The distinct postures and internal bodily relationships are the movements that bring uniqueness and individuality to a person’s movements. In the esteemed somatic work, Making Connections, Peggy Hackney describes body attitude as a “person’s habitual constellations of movement and body alignment.”(Hackney) The body attitude is an embodied habit developed from individuals’ “particular tendencies” in choosing repetitive postures and internal somatic relationships when acquiring movement (Whal). However, the majority of studies have limited scope that lacks focus on the causality between individuals’ preference of movement qualities and the factors that influence these preferences. An extensive understanding of these factors is pivotal as the movement qualities affect individuals’ non-verbal communication ability, which directly relates to individuals’ well-being. This research paper will explore this matter from a psychosomatic perspective, specifically personality, to see to what extent these factors influence an individual’s movement quality. To examine the relationship between personality and individuals’ movement qualities, this research study will implement Myers-Briggs-Types-Indicator (MBTI) to evaluate different personality types and adapt the Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) system to create standard movement criteria to observe and compare movement qualities of research populations. Carl Jung and his pioneering work extensively influence both MBTI and LMA systems. Utilizing these applications that share common groundwork allows an authentic analysis and discussion of study observations. Moreover, the study designs movement workshop to vividly observe participants’ movement qualities and to discover how movement qualities alter across different personality traits. The workshop eliminates biased movement cues in the activities to prevent participants from contaminating authentic movement qualities that are genuine and indicative of their personality.