Lakoff and Johnson (1999) saw that there are many proverbs and sayings that have to do with form characteristics and emotions. Open / empty / bald: honest, neat, welcome, hospitable, logical, poor, soft. Closed: unfair, messy, meaningless.

There is a possible relationship with the testosterone hormone. The amount of testosterone in the blood expresses the willingness to win and the degree of sense of domination. Carney et al. (2010) investigated the influence of different attitudes on the power radiation of the people, measured by two hormone values, cortisol and testosterone. The amount of cortisol is a measure of the amount of stress that a person has. The different attitudes that were tested differed in two non-verbal dimensions that are universally linked to power. These dimensions are: expansiveness: taking up more or less space, and openness: arms and legs together or spread out. People with an open and large posture have an increased amount of testosterone and a reduced amount of cortisol in the blood. With that, they radiate more power. In contrast, people with a closed and contracted posture have a reduced amount of testosterone and an increased amount of cortisol in the blood. That means that they are radiating more powerlessness.

The openness characteristic of shape can also be found in body posture. Someone who does not feel secure in the presence of another closes his position. Then he crosses his arms or legs or holds an object in front of himself. With that he shields himself from a too intimate approach. If we feel more at ease, we can adopt an open attitude. This shows he has more confidence in the other. (Van Marwijk, n.d.)

If a person wants to join a conversation, participants from that conversation can give that person the space to do so by slightly turning away from each other, making room for the new person to being involved in the conversation. If the others do not want to involve him in the discussion, they do not open the space. (Van Marwijk, g.d.)