Came across an interesting Ted talk on YouTube which truly resonated! The talk was filmed in 2012 and it is very likely you have not been living under a rock and have seen it (it has over 9 million views)!
The talk is called “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are,” and is delivered by Amy Cuddy, a Social Psychologist.
The whole premise is about how your body lingo can influence the behaviour of others around you; research now shows it can affect your own behaviour as well!
Cuddy investigates power and dominance characteristics in people. Individuals thought of as powerful are also thought of as confident, assertive and less reactive to stress. All positives in our books.
Important points:
Expressions of power: In both animals and humans, power is demonstrated similarly - through bold, chest open, spread out postures, which take up space. Arms up in a V, back tall, chin held high.
Expressions of powerlessness: Also congruent in animals and humans - closed up, small, hunched forward postures.
We know some of the effects that powerless poses can have on our long-term postural health (back pain, neck pain, headaches), but if you didn’t care about that, you will care about this:
Poses of powerfulness and powerlessness can determine a person’s behaviour, and the ultimate result of a stressful social evaluative situation, regardless if the person actually felt powerful or powerless at the time!
Therefore, choosing a powerful pose pre-test could improve your performance in that test, even if it is a clammy palms, beads of sweat dripping from your forehead, grill-fest.
And what do many power poses have in common? Most of them are poses of posture perfection, some of them even being good stretches! The links between power, posture and success cannot be ignored, and as a result, we created a bridge between the two:
Click below to learn 5 unique ways to improve your posture through power poses - and improve your chances of success!
Quick run-through of the study which concluded the above: Two groups of people were randomly selected, and both were to undergo an intensive, stressful, recorded 5-minute interview. Sounds fun, right? The first group was told to adopt a powerful pose for 2 minutes prior to the interview, and the other group told to remain in a powerless pose for the same length of time. Results of the study? Coders choosing whether to hire the individual chose the power posers, all across the board.
Their reasoning? It was not the content of the candidates’ speech, but rather their expression of themselves as authentic, confident, and comfortable - they brought themselves to the interview!
And this is all after merely assuming a powerful pose for 2 minutes pre-interview!
The physical posture they assumed before the interview, whether healthy (chest open, spread out) or unhealthy (hunched forward, legs crossed) determined how they behaved in the interview and how they were perceived by coders!
Shocking? We thought so.
The relation of physical posture to behaviour changes in a person is quite relevant not just in the workplace, but also on the basketball court, in the lunchroom, and even at parties!
So if none of the posture stuff ever mattered to you before - dare yourself to start employing positive posture - with your head held high, chest out, and shoulders back. Would love to hear about your results!
And always remember:
“Our bodies can change our minds. Our minds can change our behaviour. Our behaviour can change our outcomes.”