Amy Cuddy's talk revolves around the concept of nonverbal expressions of power and how they influence our thoughts, feelings, and physiology. She begins by proposing a simple no-tech life hack: changing your posture for just two minutes can have a significant impact. She asks the audience to audit their current body language and notes that people often make themselves smaller, hunch, or close up in various ways. She emphasizes that nonverbal behavior, or body language, communicates not only with others but also with ourselves.
Cuddy discusses the influence of body language on judgments and how people make inferences from nonverbal cues. She mentions studies that show how judgments of niceness in physician-patient interactions can predict the likelihood of a physician being sued. Similarly, she talks about judgments of political candidates' faces predicting election outcomes.
Moving on, Cuddy delves into the idea of nonverbals affecting both how others perceive us and how we perceive ourselves. She introduces the concept of power poses – expansive postures that convey dominance and confidence, and contracted poses that signal powerlessness. She shows examples of these poses and their prevalence in both human and animal behavior.
Cuddy explains the physiological and hormonal differences associated with power. High-power individuals tend to have higher testosterone levels and lower cortisol levels, indicating dominance and stress resilience. She highlights that power isn't just about dominance but also about how one reacts to stress.
Cuddy's main question is whether we can change our minds through our bodies. She explains that our nonverbal behavior can shape our feelings and thoughts. To test this, she conducted an experiment where participants adopted high-power and low-power poses for two minutes each. The results showed that high-power poses led to increased risk tolerance, elevated testosterone levels, and decreased cortisol levels.
In summary, Amy Cuddy's talk explores the interconnectedness of body language, power dynamics, and internal states. By changing our posture and body language, we can impact our self-perception, hormonal balance, and behavioral tendencies, which can ultimately shape our experiences and interactions in significant ways.
