A power pose is essentially any kind of body position that involves taking up more space. Imagine standing with your legs astride and your hands on your hips, or – as used in the seminal research on power poses from 2010 – leaning back in your chair with your legs up and your hands behind your head. The opposite is a contractive pose that involves taking up less room, such as hugging yourself with your legs crossed.
The idea that power posing can give you a jolt of extra confidence was popularised by Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy’s 2012 TED talk: “Your body language shapes who you are,” which has been viewed over 68 million times.
Cuddy was a co-author on that 2010 research paper which claimed a minute spent in an expansive posture led participants to feel more powerful, take more risks and enjoy a testosterone boost. Amusingly, several Conservative party politicians at their 2015 conference appeared to take the concept to heart, posing on stage with their feet ridiculously far apart (if you fancy a laugh, just Google it).
Since the 2010 paper, research into power posing has descended into a drawn out and bitter dispute between advocates and sceptics, as part of the larger ‘replication crisis’ in psychology – in which it has proven difficult to replicate some of the field’s more eye-catching results.
To summarise a complex debate, the evidence seems to be stronger that power posing can help you feel more confident, but largely lacking when it comes to effects on physiology or behaviours, such as taking more risks. Just to complicate matters further, a comprehensive review from 2020 suggested the effects on confidence are actually more likely due to avoiding constrictive postures rather than adopting expansive ones.
My own take is that power posing is a pretty low-risk strategy – at least if you do it in private. So why not try it before that job interview – if it works, great, if not, well you might give yourself a giggle at least.
Read More:
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- Is there any link between handwriting and personality?
Asked by: John Hewitt, via email
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