Power Posing and Body Language

Introduction

Presenter: Amy Cuddy (Translator: Joseph Geni, Reviewer: Morton Bast)

• Offering a free no-tech life hack: change your posture for two minutes.
• Initial body audit: Are you making yourself smaller? (hunching, crossing legs, etc.)
• Goal: Tweaking body posture can change life outcomes.

The Power of Body Language

• Society is fascinated by body language, especially in social interactions.
• Handshakes or lack thereof can become significant topics of discussion.
• Nonverbals (body language) influence both our interactions and personal feelings.

Key Research

Judgments from Body Language

• Nalini Ambady (Tufts University): Short, soundless clips of physicians can predict whether they will be sued based on perceived niceness.
• Alex Todorov (Princeton): One-second judgments of political candidates predict 70% of election outcomes.
• Emoticons in online negotiations can positively influence outcomes.

Self-Influence of Nonverbals

• Body language doesn't just affect others, but also impacts our own thoughts, feelings, and physiology.
• Powerful people use expansive postures like stretching out, while powerless people close up and make themselves smaller.

Power Dynamics in the Classroom

• Observations reveal gender differences: women often use low-power postures more frequently compared to men.
• Nonverbal communication impacts participation and performance in students.
• Hypothesis: Can adopting high-power poses encourage better participation?

Experiment: Power Posing

Hypothesis and Design

• Core question: Do our nonverbals influence how we think and feel about ourselves?
• Tested if high-power poses could influence behavior and hormone levels.

Methods

• Participants adopt high-power or low-power poses for two minutes.
• Measurements: Risk tolerance (gambling), testosterone and cortisol levels.

Results

• High-power poses:
  • 86% likelihood to gamble (vs 60% for low-power).
  • +20% testosterone increase.
  • -25% cortisol decrease.
• Low-power poses:
  • -10% testosterone decrease.
  • +15% cortisol increase.

Practical Applications

• Situations where body poses matter: job interviews, presentations, etc.
• Practical advice: Do high-power poses before evaluative situations (e.g., in the bathroom before an interview).

Personal Story

• Amy Cuddy's accident: Struggled with feeling like an impostor after a significant drop in IQ.
• Overcame by 'faking it till she made it,' eventually internalizing confidence.
• Encouragement to others: "Fake it till you become it."

Conclusion

• Tiny tweaks in posture can lead to big changes in life outcomes.
• Encourage others to share the science and help those with limited resources to empower themselves through body language.