Let me ask you a quick question. When somebody says to you, “Just be more confident,” can you do that? Probably not, right? It’s not that easy, which makes it terrible advice. Confidence isn’t a switch that you can simply flip on and off. Or…is it?
According to research conducted by Harvard Business School professor and Social Psychologist, Amy Cuddy, holding your body in a power-pose for 2 minutes can help you feel significantly more confidence and relaxed.
It’s well known that your feelings will change your body language. For example, when people are feeling powerful and dominant, they’ll spread out, take up space, and make their body big and wide. When people are feeling powerless or not so confident, they make themselves small by folding inward.
As an expert in social power dynamics, Amy Cuddy was curious to know if the opposite is true. Can your body language change the way you feel?
To answer this question, Amy Cuddy and her team had a group of volunteers come into the lab. Before the experiment, a saliva sample was collected to measure testosterone and cortisol. Then people were split into two groups.
The first group was told to hold a high power pose for 2 minutes, and the second group was told to hold a low power pose for 2 minutes. After those 2 minutes, testosterone and cortisol were measured again, participants were asked how powerful they feel on a series of questions, and then they were given a chance to gamble. And the outcome was pretty incredible!
People who held a high power pose for 2 minutes experienced a 20% increase in the confidence hormone testosterone and a 25% decrease in the stress-reactive hormone, cortisol. 86% of high power posing people were also willing to gamble. Meanwhile, those who held their body in a low power pose experienced a 10% DECREASE in testosterone, a 15% increase in cortisol, and only 60% of them were willing to take a risk.
Think about that for a moment. Just by changing the way you stand for 2 minutes, you can create hormonal changes inside your body that make you feel more powerful, confident, optimistic, and relaxed! That’s incredible!
Take a look at the pictures below. In the high power poses, you’ll notice the person is standing in a way that makes themselves appear bigger. They’re taking up more space and spreading out. In the lower power pose, you’ll notice the person is folding in and making themselves smaller.
Anytime you’re feeling nervous or anxious either before, or during, a social interaction, try power posing. Good examples include when you’re at a social function, out at a bar, before you approach a potential romantic partner, or even before a job interview.
In fact, Amy Cuddy had another group of people come into her lab and they were told to hold either high or lower power poses for 2 minutes. Then they underwent a high stress, 5 minute job interview.
At the end of the job interview, the people who held high power poses before the interview were rated higher. And they all got hired. The people who assumed lower power poses before going into the job interview were all rated lower and didn’t get the job.
And this has to do with presence. When you’re feeling confident and relaxed, you’re free to be yourself. You can be more authentic and comfortable. You can be more enthusiastic, passionate, and captivating with what you say. The real you doesn’t get held back by stress, anxiety, and feelings of low self worth.
So the next time somebody tells you to “just be more confident,” you can say to them, “give me 2 minutes.”
