Body language affects how other people see us, but it can also change the way we view ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how adopting powerful postures—like confident poses even in situations where we don't feel confident—impacts testosterone and cortisol levels in the blood and increases our chances of success.
First, I'll introduce you to a non-technical life trick. To do this, you will need to change your position for 2 minutes. But first, I want to ask you to think about the most common positions of your body. How many of you cringe a little? Maybe you hunch over, cross your legs, or hold them up with your hands? Sometimes we cross our arms over our chest. And sometimes we spread them out wide. I see you all. Pay attention to what you are doing now. We'll come back to this in a few minutes. I hope that today you will learn to be mindful of your posture and it will help you make a significant difference in your life.
We are all fascinated by body language. We are especially interested in the body language of other people. We are interested in various funny moments: awkwardness in communication, funny smiles, a contemptuous look, an awkward wink or a simple handshake.
Narrator: So they approach the Prime Minister's residence, and the policeman is given the honor of shaking hands with the President of the United States himself, and after him the Prime Minister... but no.
Amy Cuddy: So the handshake, or lack thereof, can even be a topic of discussion on the BBC and the New York Times for weeks. When we think about nonverbal behavior, or body language - we sociologists call it non-verbal - we think specifically about language and communication. We think about communication and mutual understanding. What is your body language trying to tell me? What does mine tell you?
There are many scientific arguments confirming the validity of this idea. Sociologists have long studied the influence of our perception of language. own body or other people's body language on subsequent judgments. We make quick and often incorrect judgments based on body language. And these judgments can determine the outcome of significant life events, such as a promotion, a job, or an invitation to a date. For example, Tufts University researcher Nalini Ambady found that when people watch 30-second silent clips of doctor-patient interactions, their judgment of the doctor's niceness predicted whether the doctor would be sued or not. This judgment is not related to his competence, but to whether we liked this person and his manner of communication. Moreover, Alex Todorov of Princeton University has shown that our impressions after a second glance at the faces of candidates predict 70% of seats in the Senate and governor's seats. And in the virtual space, emoticons, appropriately used during online negotiations, can make these negotiations more important for us. Therefore, they need to be placed wisely, don’t you agree? So, nonverbals help us evaluate other people, understand their judgments about us and predict the outcome of our communication. However, we often forget that our nonverbal language also affects us:
on our thoughts, feelings and general condition body. Which nonverbal elements do I mean? I social psychologist. I study prejudice and teach at an elite business school, so it was inevitable that I became interested in power dynamics. I was particularly interested in nonverbal expressions of power and dominance.
What are these expressions?
They are as follows: in the animal kingdom they imply increase. The animal becomes larger, wider, takes up more space, and opens up. Yes, it is revealed, and this applies to all animals, not just primates. People do the same. (Laughter) They do it when they feel own strength constantly or when they feel it at a certain moment. This gesture is especially interesting because it shows how old and universal this expression of strength is. 
It expresses pride. Jessica Tracy studied it and found that both sighted and congenitally blind people use this gesture after winning sports competitions. When they cross the finish line first, they make this gesture, even if they couldn't see anyone else doing it before. Hands up and chin slightly raised. What do we do when we feel powerless? We do the opposite: we close ourselves, we wrap our arms around ourselves. We shrink, we don't want to be noticed. Again, this is true for both animals and humans. 
And this is what a meeting between a strong and a weak person looks like. When it comes to power, we tend to complement each other's gestures. If we have a very strong, self-confident person in front of us, we involuntarily shrink. We do not copy his posture, but submit to his power. 
I observed the behavior of my students and noticed that MBA students exhibited a full range of nonverbal expressions of power. Some of them behave like real alpha males: even before the lesson starts, they walk straight to the center of the class, like winners, taking up the space around them. When they sit down, they practically take up two places. They raise their hands like this. Other students almost wither when the first ones appear. This can be seen in their faces and bodies. They sit down and literally shrink in size by raising their arm like this. I made several conclusions for myself. First - there is no sensation here - it seems to be related to gender. Women do this much more often than men. They constantly feel weaker than men, this is not surprising. But I also noticed that it was related to the degree of participation in the lesson and the success of participation. This is very important for MBA students, because half of their grades depend on their activity in class.
Business schools have been struggling with this gender gap for a long time, but so far everything remains the same: equally qualified women and men receive different grades in the process, and this seems to depend on their activity. I thought about it. Equally prepared people come and take part in the lessons. Can they pretend that they are strong and thus increase their activity?
My colleague Dana Carney from Berkeley and I really wanted to know: is it possible to fake it until you make it? Is it possible to pretend for a while and get results that give you a feeling of strength and confidence? So, we know: our gestures determine what others think about us. There is a lot of evidence for this. But the question is: do our gestures influence what we think about ourselves?
There is reason to believe so. For example, we smile when we are happy. But also, when we are forced to smile, holding a pen in our teeth like this, we become a little happier. So this also works with the feeling of power. When you feel strong and confident, you are more inclined to do things like this. But also, when you pretend to be confident, you will be more likely to actually feel empowered.
The second question we were interested in was: we know that our mind changes our body, but does our body change our mind? And when I talk about intelligence in the case of a sense of power, what do I mean? I'm talking about thoughts and feelings, as well as the physiological phenomena that determine our thoughts and feelings. For me it's hormones. I study hormones. What is the difference between the mind powerful of the world this from the mind of the weak? Not surprisingly, powerful people tend to be more aggressive and confident, and more optimistic. They really think they can win even in gambling Oh. They also tend to think more abstractly. So there are a lot of differences. They take more risks. There are many differences between strong and weak people. They also have physiological differences in two major hormones: testosterone, the leadership hormone, and cortisol, the stress hormone. We found that powerful alpha males in the primate hierarchy have high level testosterone and low level cortisol. Strong and effective leaders also have high testosterone and low cortisol. What does this mean? When before people thought about strength, they reduced it to testosterone, because strength meant dominance. But in fact, strength also affects how we respond to stress. Would you like a powerful, dominant leader with high testosterone but low stress tolerance? Don't think. You would prefer someone who is strong, assertive and influential, but calm, rather than someone who gets angry easily.
We know that if in a primate hierarchy, if an alpha male or an ordinary individual suddenly tries to seize leadership, within a few days that animal's testosterone levels will increase significantly and cortisol levels will decrease. Thus we have evidence that the body can shape consciousness, at least externally, and that role changes can also shape consciousness. What happens when you change roles, but you do it on a small level, just changing behavior a little? When you say to yourself, “I'll stand like this for 2 minutes and it will give me more confidence.”
We decided to invite people to the laboratory and conduct a small experiment. 
Over the course of 2 minutes they had to take either strong, confident poses, or weak and insecure. I will show you 5 poses, although the participants only took 2 of them. Here's the first one. A few more. This pose was nicknamed “Wonder Woman” in the media.
Here are a few more. You can either stand or sit. Here are the weak poses. You shrink into a ball, become smaller. This one speaks of great weakness: when you put your hand on your neck, you seem to be protecting yourself. Here's how it happens: people come in, spit into a test tube, and we ask them to take one position or another for two minutes. There are no pose photos around. We don't want them to see power, we want them to feel it. This continues for 2 minutes. We then ask them to answer a few questions about their confidence, give them a chance to gamble, and take another saliva sample. That's the whole experiment.
Here's what we found: About 86% of people in a strong posture will have the desire to take risks, i.e. gamble. And only 60% of those who took a weak pose will want to do it - this is a pretty significant difference. Here are the testosterone test results. We count down from zero - the moment of arrival in the room. In people with strong postures, testosterone levels increase by 20%, and in people with weak postures, it decreases by 10%. Just 2 minutes - and already such results. But what happens to cortisol: in people with strong postures, its level decreases by 25%, and in people with weak postures, it increases by 15%. Just 2 minutes leads to hormonal changes that prime your brain to either be assertive, confident and strong, or tense and closed off. We all know this, don't we? It turns out that our body language determines what we think about ourselves; it depends not only on those around us, but also on ourselves. In addition, the body changes consciousness.
But the question arises: can adopting strong poses for a couple of minutes make a constructive difference in our lives? After all, we were talking about an experiment that lasted only a couple of minutes. Where could we apply this in real life, in a situation that is significant to us? I think this technique can be used in situations of social threat. In cases where you are evaluated, for example, by your friends. With teenagers, this often happens in the school cafeteria. This technique can come in handy when speaking at a school assembly, or when giving a speech, or during a speech like this. Or maybe during a job interview? We thought interviews would be what most people would be interested in since we've all been through it.
We published the data, and they were quite animatedly discussed in the media. Journalists wrote: so this is what we should do when we go for an interview? We were horrified and immediately said: no, no, and no again, that’s not what we meant! By various reasons, Please, do not do that. It's not about how you talk to others. It's about how you talk to yourself. What do you do before an interview? That's it, isn't it? You sit down, look at your iPhone or Android, trying not to forget anyone. You look at your notes, you hunch over, you try to appear smaller when you should be doing this in the bathroom. Do you agree? Take 2 minutes to do this. This is exactly what we tested. We invited people into a room and asked them to adopt either strong or weak poses. They then had a very intense interview. It lasted 5 minutes and was recorded. They were also judged and the judges were told not to give any non-verbal cues, so they looked like this. Imagine that such a person is conducting an interview. No emotions for 5 minutes. This is worse than any tricky questions. People can't stand it. Marianne LaFrance calls this "drowning in social swamp" This is what increases cortisol levels. Here's the interview they went through. We wanted to see what would happen. The experts then watch 4 videos. They are unaware of the hypothesis or experimental conditions. They don't know who took what poses. As they watched the video, they said, “We want to hire these people”—talking about people with strong postures—and “We don't want to hire these. The first ones seem much more positive to us.” But what influenced this? It's not about the content of the conversation. It's about how the candidates feel during this conversation. We also assessed competence indicators. How well do people construct speech and phrases? What are their qualifications? These indicators did not produce an effect. The opinion of employers was influenced only by how people present themselves, because they have to show themselves. They present ideas, but these ideas do not reflect on their personality in any way, they are not passionate about them. This is what has a direct or indirect effect on the employer’s decision.
When I tell people that the body changes consciousness, consciousness affects behavior, and behavior can affect the outcome of a situation, they say: “I don’t believe it. It’s all somehow fake.” I tell them, “Fake it until you make it.” And they: “Then it won’t be me at all. I don’t want to go there and feel like a fraud, I don’t want to be an impostor, I don’t want to go where I don’t belong.” This resonated with me. I want to tell you a story about what it's like to feel like an impostor taking someone else's place.
When I was 19 years old, I found myself in a very terrible accident. I was thrown out of the car and turned over several times. I was thrown out. I woke up in a traumatic brain injury unit, had to leave college, found out my IQ had dropped 2 standard deviations, it was very painful. I knew that I had a high IQ, I was always considered smart and gifted from birth. I was expelled from college and tried to get back. They told me, “You won't graduate from college. You can find other things to do in life, but this is not up to you.” I struggled. I must say that when a person is deprived of the core of his personality - and for me it was my mind - he is deprived of the source of strength and becomes the weakest person in the world. I felt completely powerless, but I worked tirelessly. I worked and it worked out for me.
I ended up graduating from college. It took me 4 years longer than my peers. I convinced my angelic advisor, Susan Fiske, to take me to Princeton University, but I kept thinking, “I don’t belong here. I'm an impostor." And the night before my first speech - and the first speech at Princeton is a 20-minute speech in front of 20 people - I was so afraid that I called my supervisor and said, “I’m dropping out of university.” And she: “You’re not giving up anything, I bet you can handle it. You will stay and do this: fake it until you make it. You will do any performances that are asked of you. Over and over again, even if you are scared and terrible, and your body does not listen to you, until you say to yourself: “Wow, I can do it. It has become a part of me, I can do it!” That's what I did. 5 years of postgraduate study. For Northwestern University it's not much. After him - Harvard. Bad thoughts no longer visited me, but before that I often thought: “I don’t belong here. I don’t belong here.”
At the end of her first year at Harvard, a student who had not spoken all semester came into my office. I didn’t know her at all and one day I told her: “You must be more active, otherwise you will be expelled.” She came in completely deflated and said, “I don’t belong here.” At that moment 2 things happened. First of all, I realized: I don't feel like that anymore. I don’t have this feeling, but she does, and I understand her. Secondly, she should be here! She can fake it until she makes it. And I said, “No, you must, must be here!” Tomorrow you will pretend, you will become confident and... you will enter the audience and perform in the best possible way" And guess what? She did just that! The students turned around and said, “Wow, we didn’t even notice she was sitting there.”
A few months later she came to me, and I realized that she had not only faked it until she made it, she had faked it until the new skill became part of her personality. She has changed. So I want to tell you: don’t fake it until you make it, fake it until it becomes a part of you. Do this until the changes become ingrained in your character.
One last thing. Small tweaks can make a big difference. Those same 2 minutes. 2 minutes, 2 minutes, 2 minutes. Before your next stressful assessment situation, take a strong pose for 2 minutes in an elevator, in the bathroom, near your desk. closed doors. This is exactly what you need to do: tune your brain to the best better development events. Let your testosterone levels increase and cortisol levels decrease. Don’t let the situation leave you with a feeling like, “Well, I didn’t show myself at all.” Let your attitude be: “Now I will come in, say and show who I really am.”
I want to ask you not only to take strong poses, but also to share this experience, because it is so simple. You won't hurt my ego. Share, tell people about this, because many people who need it so much do not have the means and opportunities, they have neither status nor power. Give them this opportunity. Using it secretly, alone with their body for 2 minutes, they could significantly change their lives. Thank you.
Translation:Olga Dmitrochenkova
Social psychologist Amy Cuddy explains how adopting powerful poses, such as confidence poses, even in situations where we don't feel confident, affects our testosterone and cortisol levels and increases our chances of success. These are the secrets of self-confidence. How a woman overcame fears, complexes and insecurities and shares this with her students.
1 Think about the most common positions of your body. How many of you like to shrink a little? Maybe you are used to hunching over, crossing your legs, or wrapping your arms around them while sitting? Sometimes we cross our arms over our chest, and sometimes, on the contrary, we spread them out wide. I hope you learn to watch your posture and it will change your life.
This can help you gain self-confidence. Fear and uncertainty haunt us very often. The ability to manage them does not just make us confident and successful. This fundamentally changes our communication. This changes our lives.
2 Sociologists have long studied the influence of perceiving other people's body language on our judgments of them. Nonverbals help us evaluate other people, their judgments about us, and predict the outcome of our communication. But we should not forget that our nonverbalism also affects us.
I am a social psychologist and I teach at elite school, so I became interested in power dynamics, the nonverbal expressions of power and dominance. What are these expressions? In the animal kingdom they imply increase. The animal becomes larger, its movements are more sweeping, it takes up more space.
People do the same. Victory gesture: arms raised, chin up. It is repeated by both sighted people and those who have not seen since birth. What do we do when we feel powerless? We close ourselves, wrap our arms around ourselves. It’s as if we are shrinking, trying to go unnoticed.
Our confidence and uncertainty are reflected in our external manifestations in the form of poses and gestures. Confident person we can easily distinguish from the insecure. And when we are not confident in ourselves, we are easily “read” by our interlocutors and communication begins in a certain way. The one who is more confident begins communication from a position of strength.
3 It is known: when we are happy, we smile. But when we start to smile “forcibly”, we feel a little happier. My colleague Dana Carley of Berkeley and I decided to find out: if you copy poses and gestures of power without even feeling confident, that is, by faking it, will it help you become more confident?
The second question that interested us: yes, our mind changes our body, but can the body help the mind change? I study hormones. There are differences between strong and weak people: in the level of testosterone, the leadership hormone, and cortisol, the stress hormone.
Strong and effective people have high testosterone and low cortisol, and vice versa. We conducted an experiment in the laboratory. For two minutes, people had to take either strong, confident poses, or weak and uncertain ones.
In people who held strong poses for two minutes, testosterone levels increased by 20%, and in those who took weak ones, their testosterone levels decreased by 10%. Just two minutes leads to hormonal changes that prime your brain to either be assertive, confident and strong, or weak and tense!
We published the data, and they were actively discussed in the media. Journalists asked: should we adopt poses of power during interviews? No! It's not even about how you talk to others, but about how you talk to yourself.
Yes, after all, when communicating with ourselves, we can also be in the position of the strong and the position of the weak: I can do it or I can’t, this often determines our behavior. Internal state our insecurities manifest themselves in our actions, deeds, words, gestures and decisions we make.
4 When I tell people that the body changes consciousness, consciousness changes behavior, and behavior influences the outcome of a situation, they answer me: “I don’t believe it.” I say: “Fake it until you make it,” and the answer is: “I don’t want to cheat, then I won’t be me!”
I'll tell you my story. When I was 19 years old, I was in a terrible accident and received a traumatic brain injury. I always had a high IQ, I was considered smart and gifted from birth, and now it has seriously dropped. They told me I wouldn't graduate from college. But I worked tirelessly. I eventually graduated from college, although it took 4 years longer than my peers. I persuaded my advisor, Susan Fiske, to take me to Princeton University, and I was accepted, but I couldn’t help but think, “I don’t belong here!”
Before my first performance, I was so worried that I decided that I was quitting my studies. But Susan said, “You will stay. You'll fake it until you make it. You will do any performances, again and again, even if you feel terrible and scared, and your body will not listen to you until you understand that you can do it, that it has become a part of you.”
That's what I did. Five years of graduate school. Then she entered Harvard. After a year of studying there, a student who had not spoken once all semester came to my office.
Completely deflated, she said, “I don’t belong here.” At that moment two things happened. I realized that I don't feel that way anymore. And I realized: she should be here, because she can learn to be confident, like it happened to me!
5. Body postures greatly influence our thinking. This means that the train of thought of the same person in different poses is different.
The decision we make may depend on the position we are in. Power poses shape positive thinking. Poses of weakness are negative.
Here are more examples of strength and weakness poses.
If you are in a position of weakness, then the decisions you make will come from a strategy of avoiding failure and submitting to strength.
If you adopt a power pose, your thinking will become more positive and more leadership. Solving problems is easier, doing business is easier, communicating is easier.
Body language is embedded in a person even deeper than facial expressions or the ability to speak. That's why people born blind gesture just like sighted people.
Significance nonverbal communication most accurately described by the famous social psychologist Amy Cuddy:
“Gestures and facial expressions control how and what others think about us.”
Some basic research conducted during recent years scientists from Harvard University, Princeton ( Princeton University) and other leading universities in the world, have made significant contributions to the study of non-verbal (body language) and demonstrated how to use various techniques and methods in communicating with business partners and clients.
Your body language determines how your interlocutor understands your words and how he feels around you, so nonverbal communication in sales is very important. We invite you to take a look at some body language research and learn how to create an image of self-confidence.
The body expresses emotions better than facial expressions
We constantly make conclusions about how the interlocutor perceives us and what feelings he experiences based on his facial expression. As it turned out, this is not the most suitable way to assess a person’s emotional state.
Scientists at Princeton University conducted a very simple study that refutes this point vision. Participants in the experiment only had to determine what the person captured in the photo was experiencing: delight, pain, the joy of victory, or the bitterness of defeat. The first part of the photographs showed only gestures and poses, the other showed facial expressions, the rest of the photographs were not changed.
If you now think that there is nothing difficult about this, try doing the same thing as the study participants. Take a good look right side next image and try to determine what emotions the tennis players are experiencing.
The results of the study were more than surprising:
“The results of four independent experiments showed that participants correctly identified the emotions of the athletes depicted in the photo when they looked at photos with images of gestures. Significantly fewer correct answers were obtained when participants made their guesses based on the tennis players' facial expressions."
Chief Research Fellow at Princeton University Alex Todorov in his works says that distinguishing between strong negative and strong positive emotions very difficult, since human facial expressions in these cases are almost the same. He also mentions that voters, upon seeing the candidates' faces for the first time, can determine within seconds how 70% of the Senate seats will be distributed.
There is no need to teach a person body language, since most our emotional expressions originate at an unconscious level mental activity. An excellent confirmation of this is the study of psychologists Jessica Tracy and David Matsumoto from the University of British Columbia in Canada and State University San Francisco, observing the behavior of winning and losing judokas at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
As it turned out, gestures associated with victory or defeat are equally characteristic of both sighted and blind athletes. The judoka in the photo on the right has congenital blindness:
Body language shapes your personality
At one of the conferences of the US private commercial foundation TED (Technology Entertainment Design, Technology/Entertainment/Design), Amy Cuddy spoke about some of the most characteristic human gestures and poses. The psychologist also focused on how correct use body language affects the success of businessmen and how non-verbals work in the business sphere.
Cuddy distinguishes between two types of body postures: power postures, which express strength and dominance, and postures, which show helplessness and weakness. In the following image you can see examples of strong poses:
Here are examples of body positions that express weakness and helplessness:
Amy Cuddy's research reveals secrets nonverbal communication and allowed us to draw some very interesting conclusions. First, by adopting strong postures, we increase our chances of getting a good job, feel much happier, and become more successful. Secondly, the reasons for the above changes lie not only in the usual change in the positions of the arms or legs. In fact, no less significant changes occur inside our body, primarily associated with the hormones testosterone and cortisol.
- Testosterone is the hormone of strength and power. In addition to its basic properties, testosterone is one of the main biological active substances, affecting a person’s overall well-being, performance and self-confidence.
- Cortisol is a stress hormone. Increased level cortisol contributes to insomnia, irritability and feelings of helplessness.
The Amy Cuddy Experiment: “Fake It Till You Make It”
As you know, confident people are more optimistic, smiling, aggressive and gambling. They are not afraid to take risks, they know how to think abstractly and set long-term goals.
A strong, effective leader has high testosterone levels and low cortisol levels, while in the situation of an insecure person, the opposite is true: too much stress hormone and too little power hormone. The question is: is there any connection between body language and a person's self-awareness? Research conducted by Amy Cuddy suggests that this is indeed the case.
The participants in the experiment had to take powerful or weak poses and were in such positions for 2 minutes, after which they were sent for an interview. The results were simply amazing: employers who were not privy to the details of the experiment expressed a desire to hire only those students who had previously played the role of a strong and self-confident person. Managers should know non-verbal psychology of the organization in order to understand why one or another candidate seems more promising.
What's even more interesting is that there was a big jump in hormone levels. In those participants who held strong postures, testosterone levels increased by 20%, and in people in weak postures, testosterone levels decreased by 10%:
Similar changes occurred in cortisol levels. In 2 minutes, for “people in strong poses” its level decreased by 25%, and for those who were in a “weak pose” it increased by 15%:
Amy Cuddy's research suggests that body language can affect more than just end result, but also a person’s perception of himself. This means that the rule “Fake it until you make it” would be better replaced by “Fake it until you make it.” :)
What information is called nonverbal?
Nonverbal information is non-verbal forms of communication that allow you to compose psychological portrait interlocutor. What kind of communication is called nonverbal? Without words, when information is transmitted through gestures, facial expressions and postures.
5 useful tips
1. Focus on the position of your feet
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. and management technology consultant, has spent many years studying nonverbal communication. Watch your feet - this is one of the most interesting and extraordinary tips that can be found in the literature on nonverbal communication. It turns out that the position of the legs gives away emotional state a person is no worse than postures and gestures.
“You can understand whether 2 people want you to intervene in their conversation very simply - pay attention to the position of their legs. If the interlocutors, responding to your remarks, turn only their bodies, while their legs remain motionless, it is better to limit yourself to a simple greeting. If they move their feet in your direction, this can be interpreted as an invitation to continue the conversation.”
Goman also explains how not to miss the moment to end a conversation:
“Even if you are sure that your interlocutor is completely attentive, it doesn’t hurt to look at the position of his legs - if they are turned towards the door, this means that the conversation needs to end, he wants to leave as soon as possible.”
2. Smile: Smiling will make you happier.
We smile because we are happy. :) It’s difficult to argue with this, and there’s no particular need. But is it possible to assume that a smile in the absence of a feeling of happiness will provoke its occurrence? Scientists at Cardiff University believe this is quite possible.
“The process of forming emotions depends not only on the functioning of the brain, but also on the movements of body parts that enhance the sensations that arise.”
But don’t forget that being able to smile is a completely different story. First, try smiling at someone before a meeting or interview - this is guaranteed to increase your self-confidence. :)
3. Practice strong poses
Next time before you head into an important negotiation, try spending 2-3 minutes in one of the powerful poses explored by Amy Cuddy.
Strong Pose 1:
Strong pose 2:
Strong Pose 3:
4. Adjust your body position
Another tip from Carol Kinsey Goman says: adjust your body position to the body position of the interlocutor. This way you can reach a common agreement faster and avoid tensions:
“Standing shoulder to shoulder or looking in the same direction, you can easily find common language with your interlocutor."
Men and women with pleasant in low voices They are much more likely to occupy leadership positions and are perceived by others as people with broad powers. If you want to experiment with your voice, try taking a few deep diaphragmatic breaths - this will help relax your larynx and make speaking more pleasant. :)
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Social psychologist Amy Cuddy says our gestures determine what others think of us. Moreover, they also affect our self-confidence. It turns out there are even poses that help tune your brain to victory!
website will clearly show you what poses you need to take just for two minutes to reduce stress and believe in success.
Body language influences the outcome of such important events, such as a promotion, speaking in public or a job interview. In addition, our gestures and postures influence ourselves - our thoughts and feelings.
There are gestures characteristic of people who feel their own strength. Amy calls them "nonverbal expressions of power and dominance." In the animal world this is “increase”: animals strive to take up more space; open, spread their wings or raise their fur.
People do the same. In a moment of triumph, we raise our arms wide open and lift our chin slightly. And when we feel powerless, we close ourselves off, wrap our arms around ourselves, shrink and don’t want to be noticed.
Our mind affects our body. Influential people are more confident and optimistic, they take risks more often and have no doubt that they will win in gambling. There are differences between strong and weak people at the hormonal level: strong people high levels of testosterone (the leadership hormone) and low levels of cortisol (the stress hormone). This means that they are powerful, assertive and at the same time calm and stress-resistant.
Amy Cuddy conducted an experiment where participants assumed “power poses” and “weakness poses” for two minutes. It turned out that even for this short time Testosterone levels in those who were in a “strong” position increased by 20%, and in those who were in a “weak” position they decreased by 20%. Cortisol levels also differed significantly: in the first, it fell by 25%, and in the second, it increased by 15%.
These hormonal changes prime our brains to either be assertive, confident, and strong, or tense and stiff.
Amy's next experiment simulated a job interview: some participants assumed "strong" poses before the interview, while others assumed "weak" poses. Everyone then went through a tense five-minute interview, which was videotaped. Independent experts watched the video and decided which candidate they would hire. As a result, they selected those participants who practiced “power poses” before the interview.
Can this be used in real life? Yes. Here's what Amy recommends doing if you're about to give a speech or an interview where you'll be assessed: Be alone with yourself before stressful situation(in the bathroom, elevator, empty room) and take a “strong” pose for two minutes.
The body changes our consciousness, consciousness changes our behavior, and behavior can affect the outcome of a situation that is important to us. Remember this and win!
Amy Cuddy was injured in a car accident when she was 19. The brain injury caused her IQ to drop by 30 points. Before the disaster, a talented student could compare in intelligence to the level of a genius; and after the accident, her scores were equal to the average.
This accident was a tragedy for the girl, who planned to devote her life to science, and made her feel helpless and unsure of herself. Despite her brain damage, she still graduated from college and even went to graduate school at Princeton.
Until one day a woman discovered that it was not her high intelligence that helped her succeed, but her self-confidence. This was especially noticeable during difficult negotiations, presentations, or in those moments when you had to defend your point of view.
The discovery led Amy Cuddy (now a psychology major at Harvard) to study body language and its impact on self-confidence, and therefore success. Her most big discoveries done in the area of positive body language. What is it? This is body language that includes eye contact, actively engaging in conversation, listening skills, purposeful gestures that emphasize the message you are trying to convey. Research shows that people who use “positive” body language and “strong” postures are easy to win over, are more persuasive, and have high emotional intelligence.
Here are 8 reasons why positive body language will be more beneficial to you than just high intelligence:
1. It changes your personality. Amy Cuddy found that she consciously adjusted her body language (straightening her back, lifting her chin, squaring her shoulders) which gave her confidence and lifted her mood. This means that body language affects our hormones. We know that our mind changes our body, but it turns out that the opposite is true - the body changes our mind and our personality.
2. Increases testosterone levels. This hormone is produced during sports, competitions and gambling. But testosterone is important for more than just athletic competition. It doesn't matter whether you're a man or a woman, it boosts your self-confidence and makes other people look at you differently - as a reliable person who has confidence in you. good result your work. Research shows that positive body language increases testosterone levels by 20%.
3. Reduces cortisol levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone that interferes with your productivity and creates negative consequences for long term health. Reducing cortisol levels reduces stress and allows you to think more clearly and make decisions faster, especially in difficult situations. After all, it is much better to have a boss who is not only confident in himself, but also calm, than one who screams and breaks down. Research shows that positive body language reduces cortisol levels in the blood by 25%.
4. Creates a powerful combination. Influential people tend to be more aggressive, confident and optimistic. They really think they can win. They also tend to think more abstractly. They take more risks. There are many differences between strong and weak people. But the main physiological difference is in these two hormones: testosterone, the leadership hormone, and cortisol, the stress hormone. Powerful alpha males in the primate hierarchy have high levels of testosterone and low levels of cortisol. Strong and effective leaders also have high testosterone and low cortisol.
This combination creates confidence and mental clarity, which is ideal for working under tight deadlines, making tough decisions, and the ability to complete large volumes of work. But if you have a different set of hormones, you can use positive body language to change what doesn't happen naturally. Strong poses will change your hormone levels and help you relax before an exam or important meeting.
5. Makes you more attractive. In one Tufts University study, students were shown videos without sound. These were conversations between doctors and patients. Just by observing the body language of doctors, students were able to guess in which cases the patient subsequently sued the doctor, that is, he considered himself a victim of incorrect treatment.
Body language affects how others perceive you and can be more important than the tone of your voice or even what you say. Knowing how to use it correctly makes people trust you more. When you feel confident, you engage in certain power poses. But pretending to be confident can actually make you feel powerful.
6. Conveys competence. A Princeton study found that seeing just one video of senatorial or gubernatorial candidates is enough to accurately predict which one will win the election. While this may not influence your choice, it does show that the perception of competence has a lot to do with body language. Body language – powerful tool in negotiations (even virtual ones). And there is no doubt that it plays a huge role in your ability to convince others of your way of thinking, including during a video conference.
7. Improves emotional intelligence. The ability to communicate effectively plays central role in development emotional intelligence. By learning powerful poses, you can improve your EQ and measure those improvements with a test. But the point is not to pretend to be competent and smart during the interview, but to make it part of your personality. To truly become confident and capable. Do this until the changes become ingrained in your character. It's like smiling - even if you forced yourself to smile, your mood still lifted. To do this, it is enough to take strong poses for 2 minutes a day or for 2 minutes before a stressful situation. Tune your brain to the best course of events.
8. Brings everything together. We often think of body language as a result of our emotions, moods, feelings. This is true, but the opposite is also true: it changes our mood, emotions and shapes our personality.
About the author
Amy Cuddy social psychologist, known for her research on the effects of body language on personality and hormone levels. Her personal website
