1: All the World’s a Stage: What It Means to Think in Motion

Long before humans spoke their first words, we moved. A shift in posture signaled danger, a quickened step conveyed urgency, and a soft lean toward another person expressed affiliation or trust. These ancient patterns still shape our interactions today, silently steering our impressions, conversations, alliances, and conflicts. We read motion instantly – often more rapidly and intuitively than we process language – yet we rarely recognize how this process works or how to use it intentionally. Motional intelligence (MI), a construct we introduced recently (Allison & Goethals, 2024), brings this domain into focus. A motionally intelligent person is skilled in three areas: they can use their bodily movements to influence others, accurately interpret the movements of others, and regulate both their own movements and the social dynamics those movements create. Humans moved meaningfully long before they spoke meaningfully. Thus, MI is rooted in our evolutionary past and increasingly consequential in modern life.