The Power Pose
Not all of us are born Alpha Male – strong, confident, assertive and dominant member of a social group. Alpha is a leader, motivator and an inspiration to those around him while maintaining a sense of power over others!
Ok, we are not born Alpha. But can we become one? Or at least fake it?
You can, claims social psychologist Amy Cuddy. In one of the most celebrated TED talks, she said when people assume an open or expansive stance – make themselves appear taller and wider – they subsequently feel more powerful.
Her research found that after adopting an expansive pose, participants felt more powerful, took more risk in a gambling task and performed better in interviews than those who had adopted contracted poses.
She calls it Power Posing. A technique that suggests how you hold your body influences how you feel and how you behave. While many claimed power-posing as a pseudoscience, new research has confirmed the effects are real.
A meta-analysis, a statistical summary of 73 such studies, found robust effects for changes in both behaviour and mood. The researchers concluded that the way we approach the world with our physical bodies shapes the way we think and feel.
Cuddy advises everyone should spend at least two minutes power posing. She urges us to adopt stances associated with confidence, power and achievement like having our chest lifted, holding our heads high, lifting our arms up or propping them on the hips.
Cuddy shows that simply holding one’s body in expansive ‘high-power- poses for as little as two minute stimulates higher levels of testosterone – the hormone linked to power and dominance and lower levels of cortisol – the stress hormone that can cause impaired immune functioning, hypertension and memory loss. Thus, power posing leads to increased feelings of power and a greater tolerance for risk.
Is power posing only for males?
Nope. Cuddy’s research found that it works for both sexes – equally. In fact, the most well-known high-power pose is called the ‘The Wonder Woman’ pose. You simply stand tall with your chest out and your hands on your hips.
Our behaviours and emotions are inextricably tied together. Alpha males and females don’t just think in a certain way. They carry themselves in a certain way too.
Try it or like the Yankees say, fake it till you make it!