If you teach self defence courses, heads up! Quoted from Iain Abernethy: Further to yesterday’s post, here is a report from the BBC on a study that shows the way we walk does indeed make us more or less attractive to potential attackers. What is interesting is that the study being reported on would suggest that learning to walk with the correct synchrony and energy would be a useful part of self-protection training. All the best, Iain How the way we walk can increase risk of being mugged: bbc/future/story/20131104-how-muggers-size-up-your-walk “But the most impressive part of Johnston’s investigations came next, when she asked whether it was possible to change the way we walk so as to appear less vulnerable. A first group of volunteers were filmed walking before and after doing a short self defence course. Using the point-light technique, their walking styles were rated by volunteers (not prisoners) for vulnerability. Perhaps surprisingly, the self-defence training didn’t affect the walkers’ ratings. In a second experiment, recruits were given training in how to walk, specifically focusing on the aspects which the researchers knew affected how vulnerable they appeared: factors affecting the synchrony and energy of their movement. This led to a significant drop in all the recruits’ vulnerability ratings, which was still in place when they were re-tested a month later.”
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:47:26 +0000