When it comes to swagger, nobody does it quite like John Wayne.
His distinctive wide–based walk helped solidify his 'tough guy' persona that became iconic in his western films.
Now, experts have revealed that walking with a bit of oomph really can make you appear more powerful.
Researchers asked people to judge how dominant someone appeared from a short video clip showing an avatar walking.
They discovered that side–to–side torso sway and holding the shoulders out from the chest led to similar 'tough' ratings.
'Men who were perceived as being more likely to win a fight had more of a swagger to them, where their shoulders moved more in a swaying motion,' Dr Connor Leslie, from Northumbria University, wrote on The Conversation.
'This is almost the stereotypical walk of the western movie hero.'
Alongside John Wayne, other TV superstars known to employ a characteristic 'swagger' walk include John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, and Sean Connery as James Bond.
John Wayne famously walked with a swagger in his Western films. The recognisable movement helped solidify his 'tough guy' persona
John Travolta, pictured here in Saturday Night Fever, also walked with an exaggerated side–to–side torso sway
Dr Leslie said the research raises the possibility humans may have evolved to detect clues about whether a man is dangerous from the way he walks.
As part of the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, her team used motion capture techniques to record how 52 different men walked naturally.
This data was then translated to online avatars – which were programmed to be the same size – so people could only judge their gait.
They discovered that the avatars who displayed more 'swagger' were rated as significantly more dominant, even when viewers couldn't see their actual body size, face or anything else besides the walking pattern.
'Humans have been fighting each other since the earliest stages of our species' history,' Dr Leslie said.
'My new research raises the possibility we may have evolved to detect clues about whether a man is dangerous from the way he walks.'
The study suggests that from an evolutionary perspective, it should benefit individuals to be able to detect those who have the capacity to inflict serious harm quickly and accurately.
The team said that shoulder abduction – when someone holds their shoulders out from their chest – can help exaggerate their size, making them appear larger to potential threats.
This illustration, which represents a video shown to participants in the study, shows freeze frames of an avatar walking with 'swag' towards the screen
Figure A shows the left arm in a neutral position. Meanwhile, B shows the left arm in a swagger posture which comprises three joint angle changes including: abduction of the shoulder (SA) away from the torso, internal rotation (IR) of the shoulder, and flexion of the elbow (EF)
Walking with 'sway', meanwhile, might make someone appear more formidable in situations where other clues are masked – such as in a crowd or in darker lighting.
'One should consider the possibility that some individuals might engage in dishonest signalling whereby the cues projected by the walker are a misleading overrepresentation of their actual capacity for inflicting harm,' the paper reads.
Previous studies have also suggested that men may – consciously or subconsciously – try to give off intimidating signals through their walk.
'Like in pigeons where the male puffs up his feathers or like in lions where the male evolves its mane, we find in our species sex–specific differences in the way to move which eventually result in men to appear bigger and heavier,' cognitive psychologist Nikolaus Troje formerly said.
