Manspreading may be a socially distasteful posture that’s subject to Internet ridicule, but it turns out it’s also a good way to get a date.

A new study, published in April in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that when people strike an expansive posture, thereby taking up more room, they’re more attractive to others.

“[Being] expansive signals a lot of good things that are desirable in a partner, like access to resources and mate value,’’ says Tanya Vacharkulksemsuk, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California Berkeley and coauthor of the paper.

Expansive postures include wide-legging on the subway and also stretching the torso, puffing out the chest, and tilting up the head. Such displays are common in the animal world, like with male peacocks that double or triple their size by strutting their feathers. Human beings seem similarly hard-wired to like those kinds of poses.

“These displays are incredibly powerful in interpersonal communications. You can’t help but have this automatic association in your head between them and higher status and higher rank,’’ says Jessica Tracy, director of the Emotion and Self Lab at the University of British Columbia.

Researchers have been interested in nonverbal communication at least as far back as Darwin. This new report is one of the first to extend that analysis into the fast-paced world of modern dating. The authors conducted two studies. In the first, they looked at video footage of a speed-dating event in which participants spent a few minutes getting to know each other and afterward indicated whether they’d like to meet again. People who presented themselves in an expansive way were almost twice as likely to get a “yes’’ response.

In the second study, the authors posted staged photographs to a dating app. The photographs featured the same person in either an expansive (arms outspread) or a contractive (arms and legs crossed) posture. The expansive photographs generated far more inquiries. All told, the researchers found that expansiveness was even more powerfully attractive than other positive nonverbal behaviors.

“With smiling, laughing, head-knodding, we find those predict good mates and that you’re perceived to be friendly and warm,’’ says Vacharkulksemsuk. “But if you think about what a successful speed date is, the signal that I want to see this person again, postural expansiveness was the one that predicted that outcome.’’

Other research on the subject has found that expansive postures make men more attractive, but not women (though the Berkeley study found benefits for both men and women). And previous work by Tracy found that when people are asking for help, like for financial aid, holding an expansive posture can make them appear insufficiently grateful and hurts their case.

More generally, with your legs splayed, there’s a thin line between confident and jerk. “We like people more who suppress it a little bit,’’ says Tracy. “These displays send two messages at once. They say: ‘I’m great and deserve high status,’ and they say: ‘I think I’m great,’ and that sends the message of arrogance.’’

Kevin Hartnett is a writer in South Carolina. He can be reached at kshartnett18@gmail.com.