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Power Posing: The Science Behind How Your Body Shapes Your Mind

Science of People Team 7 min read
In This Article

What’s the research say on power posing—is it fact or fiction? And how can you implement power posing in your life for better confidence, charisma, and social saviness?

Let’s dive into the fascinating science of presence and postural feedback!

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What is Power Posing?

Power posing is a term coined by Dr. Amy Cuddy and her colleagues to describe the act of adopting an expansive, open body posture to invoke internal psychological and physiological changes.

In other words, adopting a more powerful, expansive posture can actually make you feel more confident and powerful.

Power posing is based on the concept of “postural feedback,” or the idea that the way you hold your body can actually send signals back to your brain.

  • High-Power Poses (Expansive/Open): These are postures that make the body physically larger, more open, and take up more space. Think standing with hands on your hips (AKA the “Wonder Woman” or “Superman” pose), leaning back with your arms resting on a table, or raising your arms in a V-shape for victory. These poses can make you feel super confident when you need it the most.
  • Low-Power Poses (Contractive/Closed): On the other hand, these are postures that make the body physically smaller, more closed off, and protect the torso. We don’t really do this on purpose—sometimes it’s subconscious, or we just feel inferior in the moment. Think slouching, crossing your arms tightly across your chest, or wrapping your hands around your neck. These postures are associated with feelings of stress or powerlessness.

The core finding, which has been highly researched, is that holding a high-power pose for as little as two minutes can lead to a measurable increase in confidence and your perceived power. This makes power posing an incredibly powerful confidence hack you can take with you—right before a meeting, before giving a presentation, or even when going on a first date.

A Sincere Apology & Corrections:

In 2016, we published an article about power posing and Amy Cuddy’s work that contained inaccuracies and omissions. That article has been removed, and we owe Dr. Cuddy—and you, our readers—a sincere apology and complete correction.

What We Got Wrong (Key Inaccuracies and Omissions)

Here are some of the previous inaccuracies that we got wrong in our original article:

  • We claimed Dr. Cuddy hadn’t embraced criticism or done more research and then didn’t update the article as she was able to confirm her research. We sincerely aplogize for not staying up to date on this.
  • We referred to her as “Mrs. Cuddy” rather than Dr. Cuddy—we did her a disservice by dismissing her PhD and academic achievements. This is unacceptable and we sincerely apologize to Dr. Cuddy for this and her incredible career.
  • We wrote “While we wait for Cuddy to do more research”—and missed her already-extensive published work and we should have done a much more thorough job.

What We Omitted (The Evidence We Should Have Included)

…And now are including for you to set the record straight:

We deeply regret these errors and the harm they caused. Dr. Cuddy’s research has been extensively validated, and we failed to do our due diligence in presenting the current state of the science.

We are truly sorry and endeavor to do better. Starting right now…let’s dig into the current research:

The Science of Presence (What Amy Cuddy Discovered)

Dr. Amy Cuddy’s work on presence and power posing has been nothing short of transformational in our understanding of how the body affects our brain.

The biggest finding—that expansive postures increase feelings of power—has been replicated consistently across numerous studies.

As Cuddy explains in her research and her book Presence (which we highly recommend), this is not just the old saying “fake it till you make it.” It’s adjusting your body to access the confident, capable version of you that already exists.

Presence book cover by Amy Cuddy

[Get Presence by Amy Cuddy on Amazon]

The Latest Research:

The Körner Meta-Analysis (2022), a huge study analyzed a whopping 313 separate results from 88 different studies involving nearly 10,000 participants.

What did they conclude?

The impact of expansive postures on your mind is 3 things:

  1. Real
  2. Reliable, and
  3. Consistently measurable

This effect was strong enough to impact both how people felt about themselves (self-reported feelings) and how they actually behaved (actual behaviors).

This kind of large-scale evidence means we can stop calling it a fluke. It’s legitimate proof that changing your posture is an evidence-backed tool for improving your charisma.

In 2017, researchers started a study explicitly expecting to find no effect. They performed a rigorous analysis, looking only at studies that were “preregistered” (meaning the methods were published before the data was collected, which is considered the gold standard in science).

Their conclusion shocked even them: they found “very strong evidence” for the effect of posture on how powerful people felt.

What Is The Difference Between A High-Power And Low-Power Pose?

High-Power Poses are postures that physically increase the size of the body, making it open and taking up more space (e.g., standing with a wide stance). These are associated with increased feelings of confidence and power. Low-Power Poses are postures that physically decrease the size of the body, making it closed off and protecting the torso (e.g., slouching, crossing arms tightly, hunching). These are associated with feelings of stress, powerlessness, or defensiveness.

2 Quick (Science-Backed) Strategies To Improve Presence

So how do we capitalize on presence? Here are evidence-based techniques you can try today–and we highly recommend checking out all of Dr. Cuddy’s tips in her book Presence.

The Two-Minute Transformation

Before your next challenging situation…

  1. Find a private space (bathroom stalls count!)
  2. Adopt an expansive posture—Wonder Woman/Superman, victory pose, or simply standing tall with arms wide
  3. Hold for two minutes (or however long feels comfortable) while breathing deeply (we recommend box breathing)

How do you feel? More confident? Calmer? More present?

The more you can practice this two-minute technique, the quicker you’ll be able to tap into your charismatic state of mind.

Pro Tip: Every hour, roll your shoulders back and down, lift your chest to feel that expansive power.

Three Presence Checks Daily

Set three random alarms throughout your day. When they go off, ask yourself:

  • How am I holding my body right now? Am I slumped over, closed-off, or displaying other negative body language?
  • What would 10% more expansion feel like?
  • Can I drop my shoulders and lift my chest slightly?

Small adjustments create cumulative effects! You’re literally rewiring your default posture patterns. And if you’re up for it, try journaling each night, note one moment when you felt truly present and powerful

Your Posture Matters!

The research is clear: Your posture influences how you feel, and how you feel influences how you show up in the world. So here’s my challenge to you:

For the next 24 hours, notice your posture throughout the day. Not to judge it, but to get curious about it. When do you expand? When do you contract? What makes you feel powerful? What makes you feel small?

Then pick one moment tomorrow—maybe before a phone call, during your commute, or before you walk into work—and consciously expand. Take up space. Breathe deeply. Stand like you belong there.

Because you do.

For more reading on body language and confidence, check out our article: 23 Confident Body Language Cues Every Woman Should Know

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