Body Language Shows How Courageous A Person Is: Power Posing Amy Cuddy (Essay Sample)

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Power Posing: Amy Cuddy
Body language can shape who a person is. It affects how others see you or even change the way in which you see yourself. Standing in Confidence regardless of whether you do not feel confident can boost the feelings of confidence and have an impact on the chances of success. According to Cuddy, this is power posing whereby one adopts postures that makes them feel powerful. In adopting a body language associated with dominance for two minutes, as per Cuddy and Carney, there is a 20 percent increase in testosterone and a 25 percent reduction of the stress hormone cortisol. The people who however already show power and ability to the world through their bodies now have the challenge of communicating warmth and trustworthiness.
Cuddy’s teenhood experience led her to research on the body language topic. She had an accident at 19 and the doctors argued that she could struggle to regain full mental capacity. However, she worked her way through back to academic excellence at Princeton. At the Ph.D. level, she faked her confidence all the way to the faculty of Harvard Business School.
The idea of power posing was triggered by the story of how the police investigators would make themselves fell imposing by using a bigger chair during interrogations. The experiments in the lab where after power poses for two minutes was done by different people, the saliva was checked for a change in hormones and the theory was proven to be true. The body changes the mind which changes the behavior and then the outcomes. Cuddy tells that half the communication done is through nonverbal signals such as the pitch of the voice, speed of speaking and the range shown. The language we speak through the mouth is not judged as much as the body the language speaks in accordance with the attitude.
In a certain instance, there was a new shy student who experienced a traumatic incident and had the behavior of touching the face, the neck and crossing the ankles tightly while sitting. The postures are always aligned with lack of power and the feeling of intimidation making a person not to clearly express who they are. Just like other people such as bullied kids, beleaguered refugees, sexually assaulted people, mentally ill people, there was a need to encourage the student to adopt a confident pose or simply visualize one. I decided to approach the student to talk about the need for power posing and self-assurance. Through talks and asking the student to walk and stand in confidence, with hands on the hips and learning to look at people in the eyes, the student gradually stated adapting the pose. By convincing him that his body language influenced the people around him and showed that he had power given him self-assurance (Cuddy).Through practice and change of attitude, the student was ad...