Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are: Comprehensive Study Notes

The Impact of Nonverbal Behavior on Social Judgments

• Nonverbal Behavior as Communication: Social scientists refer to body language as "nonverbals." While it is often viewed as a tool for communication during interactions—facilitating the exchange of signals between two parties—it also serves as a language that influences judgments and inferences.
• The Power of Snap Judgments: Our nonverbals influence how others perceive us, and these perceptions can predict significant life outcomes, such as hiring decisions, promotions, and even dating success.
• Key Research on External Judgments:     * Physician-Patient Interactions: Nalini Ambady, a researcher at Tufts University, demonstrated that participants watching soundless $30\text{-second}$ clips of real physician-patient interactions could predict whether a doctor would be sued. The prediction was based on judgments of the physician's "niceness" rather than their actual medical competence.     * Political Outcomes: Alex Todorov at Princeton University found that judgments of political candidates' faces made in just $1\text{-second}$ could predict $70\%$  of U.S. Senate and gubernatorial race outcomes.     * Digital Negotiations: In the digital realm, the appropriate use of emoticons in online negotiations can lead to claiming more value from a deal, whereas poor usage can have a negative impact.

Nonverbal Expressions of Power and Dominance

• The Dynamics of Expansion: Across the animal kingdom, expressions of power and dominance are characterized by expansion. This involved making oneself big, stretching out, taking up space, and "opening up." This behavior is observed in primates and humans alike.
• The Universality of Pride: Jessica Tracy has studied the nonverbal expression known as "pride," which is characterized by lifted arms in a "V" shape and a slightly tilted chin. Her research shows that this expression is universal: both sighted individuals and those who are congenitally blind (blind from birth) exhibit this behavior when they win a physical competition, even if they have never seen anyone else do it.
• Expressions of Powerlessness: When individuals feel powerless, they exhibit the opposite behavior: they "close up," wrap themselves, make themselves small, and attempt to avoid contact with others. Touching the neck is a specific low-power gesture associated with protecting oneself.
• Complementary Nonverbals: In high-stakes power dynamics, individuals do not typically mirror the nonverbals of the other person. Instead, they complement them. If one person is being powerful and expansive, the other person tends to become smaller and more closed off.

Power Dynamics in the MBA Classroom

• Classroom Observations: In competitive environments like business schools, students exhibit a full range of power nonverbals. Some ("alphas") occupy the center of the room and spread out, while others ("collapsing") make themselves tiny and raise their hands tentatively.
• The Gender Grade Gap: Amy Cuddy observed that these nonverbal behaviors often correlate with gender and participation. Women often feel chronically less powerful than men and are more likely to exhibit low-power nonverbals. This is significant because participation frequently accounts for $50\%$  of the grade in MBA programs, contributing to a gap in grades between equally qualified men and women.

The Physiology of Power: Testosterone and Cortisol

• Mind-Body Feedback Loops: While common knowledge suggests that our minds change our bodies (e.g., feeling happy makes us smile), research also shows that our bodies change our minds. For instance, the "facial feedback hypothesis" suggests that forcing a smile—such as by holding a pen in one's teeth—can actually make a person feel happier.
• The Chemical Profile of Leaders: Power is physiologically linked to two key hormones:     * Testosterone: The dominance hormone.     * Cortisol: The stress hormone.
• High-Power Alpha Profile: Effective leaders and high-ranking "alpha" males in primate hierarchies typically exhibit high levels of testosterone and low levels of cortisol. This combination allows for assertiveness and dominance without being overly reactive to stress.
• Hormonal Plasticity: In primate hierarchies, when an individual needs to suddenly take over an alpha role, their testosterone rises significantly and their cortisol drops within just a few days. This suggests that role changes can fundamentally reshape the mind through physiological shifts.

The Two-Minute Power Posing Experiment

• Experimental Design: To test if a minimal intervention could change the mind, researchers brought participants into a lab to adopt either high-power or low-power poses for exactly $2\, ext{minutes}$.
• Procedural Details: Samples of saliva were taken before and after the manipulation to measure hormone levels. Participants were not shown pictures of the poses to avoid priming them with the concept of "power"; they were simply told to adopt specific physical positions.
• Measured Outcomes:     * Feeling of Power: Participants in high-power poses reported feeling more powerful.     * Risk Tolerance (Gambling): When given the opportunity to gamble, $86\%$  of high-power posers chose to do so, compared to only $60\%$  of low-power posers.     * Testosterone Changes: High-power posers experienced a $20\%$  increase from their baseline, while low-power posers saw a $10\%$  decrease.     * Cortisol Changes: High-power posers experienced a $25\%$  decrease in cortisol, while low-power posers saw a $15\%$  increase.
• Conclusion: A mere $2\, ext{minutes}$ of posing can configure the brain to be assertive, confident, and comfortable, or shut down and stress-reactive.

Application in Evaluative Situations

• Social Threat Situations: The most practical application for power posing is in evaluative or "social threat" scenarios, such as job interviews, public speaking, or school board meetings.
• The Job Interview Study: Researchers conducted an experiment where participants performed high-power or low-power poses before a highly stressful $5\text{-minute}$ job interview. The interviewers were trained to provide no nonverbal feedback—a state Marianne LaFrance calls "standing in social quicksand," which typically spikes cortisol levels.
• Presence vs. Content: Blind coders who watched the recorded interviews consistently chose to "hire" the high-power posers. The results showed no difference in the quality or structure of the speech content, but a significant difference in "presence." The high-power posers were more likely to bring their "true selves" to the interaction without any "residue" of anxiety or self-doubt.
• Preparation Tip: Rather than hunching over a smartphone or notes before an interview (low-power), individuals should find a private space, like a bathroom stall, to engage in high-power poses for $2\, ext{minutes}$.

Overcoming Impostor Syndrome: "Fake It Till You Become It"

• The Impostor Experience: Many people fear that using these techniques feels "fake" or makes them feel like a fraud. Amy Cuddy relates this to her personal history.
• Cuddy’s Personal Narrative:     * At age $19$, Cuddy was in a severe car accident, thrown from the vehicle, and suffered a head injury.     * Her IQ dropped by two standard deviations (approximately $30\text{ points}$).     * She had identified as "gifted" and struggled when her core identity of being "smart" was taken away.     * She was told she would not finish college but eventually graduated $4\, ext{years}$ later than her peers.
• Susan Fiske's Intervention: Cuddy moved to Princeton for graduate school and felt like an impostor. The night before her first-year talk, she tried to quit. Her advisor, Susan Fiske, told her: "You're going to stay… you are going to fake it. You're going to do every talk… until you have this moment where you say, 'Oh my gosh, I'm doing it.'"
• Faking It Till You Become It: Cuddy emphasizes that the goal is not just to "fake it till you make it," but to "fake it till you become it." By repeatedly performing the behavior, it eventually becomes internalized and part of one's identity.
• Student Case Study: At Harvard, Cuddy mentored a student who was on the verge of failing due to lack of participation. After Cuddy encouraged her to "fake it" and act powerful, the student eventually excelled and realized she truly belonged there. She had faked it until she became it.

Final Conclusions and Social Implications

• Tiny Tweaks, Big Changes: Small, two-minute physical changes can lead to significant psychological and hormonal shifts that change the outcomes of life.
• Practical Use: Before any stressful evaluative situation, use those $2\, ext{minutes}$ in private to get testosterone up and cortisol down. The goal is to leave the situation feeling that you actually got to show who you are.
• Democratic Access: This science is especially important for those with no resources, technology, or status. It requires only the individual's body, privacy, and two minutes of time to fundamentally change their life trajectory.