Transcript of Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are | Amy Cuddy | TED
TED
0:00Translator: Joseph Geni
Reviewer: Morton Bast0:15So I want to start by offering you
a free no-tech life hack,0:21and all it requires of you is this:0:24that you change your posture
for two minutes.0:28But before I give it away,
I want to ask you to right now0:31do a little audit of your body
and what you're doing with your body.0:35So how many of you are
sort of making yourselves smaller?0:37Maybe you're hunching, crossing your legs,
maybe wrapping your ankles.0:41Sometimes we hold onto our arms like this.0:45Sometimes we spread out. (Laughter)0:48I see you.0:50So I want you to pay attention
to what you're doing right now.0:53We're going to come back
to that in a few minutes,0:56and I'm hoping that if you learn
to tweak this a little bit,0:59it could significantly change
the way your life unfolds.1:02So, we're really fascinated
with body language,1:07and we're particularly interested
in other people's body language.1:11You know, we're interested in,
like, you know — (Laughter) —1:15an awkward interaction, or a smile,1:19or a contemptuous glance,
or maybe a very awkward wink,1:24or maybe even something like a handshake.1:27Narrator: Here they are
arriving at Number 10.1:30This lucky policeman gets to shake hands
with the President of the United States.1:35Here comes the Prime Minister --
No. (Laughter) (Applause)1:40(Laughter) (Applause)1:42Amy Cuddy: So a handshake,
or the lack of a handshake,1:46can have us talking for weeks
and weeks and weeks.1:48Even the BBC and The New York Times.1:51So obviously when we think
about nonverbal behavior,1:55or body language -- but we call it
nonverbals as social scientists --1:58it's language, so we think
about communication.2:01When we think about communication,
we think about interactions.2:04So what is your body language
communicating to me?2:06What's mine communicating to you?2:08And there's a lot of reason to believe
that this is a valid way to look at this.2:14So social scientists
have spent a lot of time2:17looking at the effects
of our body language,2:19or other people's body language,
on judgments.2:21And we make sweeping judgments
and inferences from body language.2:24And those judgments can predict
really meaningful life outcomes2:28like who we hire or promote,
who we ask out on a date.2:32For example, Nalini Ambady,
a researcher at Tufts University,2:37shows that when people watch
30-second soundless clips2:41of real physician-patient interactions,2:44their judgments
of the physician's niceness2:47predict whether or not
that physician will be sued.2:50So it doesn't have to do so much2:52with whether or not that physician
was incompetent,2:54but do we like that person
and how they interacted?2:57Even more dramatic,
Alex Todorov at Princeton3:00has shown us that judgments
of political candidates' faces3:03in just one second predict 70 percent3:07of U.S. Senate and gubernatorial
race outcomes,3:11and even, let's go digital,3:14emoticons used well in online negotiations3:18can lead you to claim more value
from that negotiation.3:21If you use them poorly, bad idea. Right?3:24So when we think of nonverbals,
we think of how we judge others,3:27how they judge us
and what the outcomes are.3:30We tend to forget, though,
the other audience3:32that's influenced by our nonverbals,
and that's ourselves.3:35We are also influenced by our nonverbals,3:38our thoughts and our feelings
and our physiology.3:41So what nonverbals am I talking about?3:44I'm a social psychologist.
I study prejudice,3:47and I teach at a competitive
business school,3:50so it was inevitable that I would become
interested in power dynamics.3:54I became especially interested
in nonverbal expressions3:58of power and dominance.4:00And what are nonverbal expressions
of power and dominance?4:03Well, this is what they are.4:05So in the animal kingdom,
they are about expanding.4:08So you make yourself big, you stretch out,4:11you take up space,
you're basically opening up.4:14It's about opening up.4:15And this is true
across the animal kingdom.4:18It's not just limited to primates.4:21And humans do the same thing. (Laughter)4:24So they do this both when they have
power sort of chronically,4:27and also when they're feeling
powerful in the moment.4:30And this one is especially interesting
because it really shows us4:33how universal and old these
expressions of power are.4:38This expression, which is known as pride,4:40Jessica Tracy has studied.4:42She shows that people
who are born with sight4:45and people who are congenitally
blind do this4:48when they win at a physical competition.4:51So when they cross
the finish line and they've won,4:53it doesn't matter if they've never
seen anyone do it.4:56They do this.4:57So the arms up in the V,
the chin is slightly lifted.4:59What do we do when we feel powerless?5:01We do exactly the opposite.5:03We close up.
We wrap ourselves up.5:06We make ourselves small.5:07We don't want to bump
into the person next to us.5:09So again, both animals and humans
do the same thing.5:12And this is what happens
when you put together high and low power.5:16So what we tend to
do when it comes to power5:19is that we complement
the other's nonverbals.5:22So if someone is being
really powerful with us,5:24we tend to make ourselves smaller.
We don't mirror them.5:27We do the opposite of them.5:29So I'm watching this behavior
in the classroom,5:32and what do I notice?5:34I notice that MBA students really exhibit
the full range of power nonverbals.5:42So you have people
who are like caricatures of alphas,5:44really coming into the room, they get
right into the middle of the room5:48before class even starts,
like they really want to occupy space.5:51When they sit down,
they're sort of spread out.5:53They raise their hands like this.5:55You have other people
who are virtually collapsing5:58when they come in.
As soon they come in, you see it.6:00You see it on their faces
and their bodies,6:03and they sit in their chair
and they make themselves tiny,6:05and they go like this
when they raise their hand.6:08I notice a couple of things about this.6:10One, you're not going to be surprised.6:11It seems to be related to gender.6:13So women are much more likely
to do this kind of thing than men.6:19Women feel chronically
less powerful than men,6:22so this is not surprising.6:23But the other thing I noticed6:25is that it also seemed
to be related to the extent6:28to which the students were participating,
and how well they were participating.6:32And this is really important
in the MBA classroom,6:35because participation
counts for half the grade.6:37So business schools have been struggling
with this gender grade gap.6:42You get these equally qualified
women and men coming in6:45and then you get
these differences in grades,6:47and it seems to be partly
attributable to participation.6:50So I started to wonder, you know, okay,6:53so you have these people coming in
like this, and they're participating.6:57Is it possible that we could
get people to fake it7:00and would it lead them
to participate more?7:02So my main collaborator
Dana Carney, who's at Berkeley,7:06and I really wanted to know,
can you fake it till you make it?7:10Like, can you do this
just for a little while7:12and actually experience
a behavioral outcome7:15that makes you seem more powerful?7:17So we know that our nonverbals
govern how other people7:20think and feel about us.
There's a lot of evidence.7:23But our question really was,7:24do our nonverbals govern
how we think and feel about ourselves?7:28There's some evidence that they do.7:31So, for example, we smile
when we feel happy,7:35but also, when we're forced to smile7:38by holding a pen in our teeth
like this, it makes us feel happy.7:42So it goes both ways.7:44When it comes to power,
it also goes both ways.7:48So when you feel powerful,7:50you're more likely to do this,7:52but it's also possible
that when you pretend to be powerful,7:58you are more likely
to actually feel powerful.8:02So the second question
really was, you know,8:05so we know that our minds
change our bodies,8:07but is it also true
that our bodies change our minds?8:12And when I say minds,
in the case of the powerful,8:14what am I talking about?8:16So I'm talking about thoughts and feelings8:18and the sort of physiological things
that make up our thoughts and feelings,8:22and in my case, that's hormones.
I look at hormones.8:25So what do the minds of the powerful
versus the powerless look like?8:29So powerful people tend to be,
not surprisingly,8:33more assertive and more confident,
more optimistic.8:37They actually feel they're going to win
even at games of chance.8:41They also tend to be able
to think more abstractly.8:45So there are a lot of differences.
They take more risks.8:47There are a lot of differences
between powerful and powerless people.8:51Physiologically,
there also are differences8:53on two key hormones: testosterone,
which is the dominance hormone,8:57and cortisol, which is the stress hormone.9:01So what we find is that high-power
alpha males in primate hierarchies9:08have high testosterone and low cortisol,9:12and powerful and effective leaders9:15also have high testosterone
and low cortisol.9:17So what does that mean?
When you think about power,9:20people tended to think
only about testosterone,9:22because that was about dominance.9:24But really, power is also about
how you react to stress.9:27So do you want the high-power
leader that's dominant,9:30high on testosterone,
but really stress reactive?9:33Probably not, right?9:35You want the person who's powerful
and assertive and dominant,9:38but not very stress reactive,
the person who's laid back.9:41So we know that in primate hierarchies,9:47if an alpha needs to take over,9:50if an individual needs to take over
an alpha role sort of suddenly,9:54within a few days,
that individual's testosterone has gone up9:57significantly and his cortisol
has dropped significantly.10:01So we have this evidence,
both that the body can shape10:04the mind, at least at the facial level,10:06and also that role changes
can shape the mind.10:10So what happens, okay,
you take a role change,10:13what happens if you do that
at a really minimal level,10:15like this tiny manipulation,
this tiny intervention?10:18"For two minutes," you say,
"I want you to stand like this,10:21and it's going to make you feel
more powerful."10:23So this is what we did.10:26We decided to bring people into the lab
and run a little experiment,10:31and these people adopted, for two minutes,10:34either high-power poses
or low-power poses,10:38and I'm just going to show
you five of the poses,10:40although they took on only two.10:42So here's one.10:45A couple more.10:47This one has been dubbed
the "Wonder Woman" by the media.10:51Here are a couple more.10:53So you can be standing
or you can be sitting.10:55And here are the low-power poses.10:57So you're folding up,
you're making yourself small.11:01This one is very low-power.11:03When you're touching your neck,
you're really protecting yourself.11:07So this is what happens.11:09They come in, they spit into a vial,11:11for two minutes, we say,
"You need to do this or this."11:14They don't look at pictures of the poses.11:16We don't want to prime them
with a concept of power.11:19We want them to be feeling power.11:21So two minutes they do this.11:22We then ask them, "How powerful
do you feel?" on a series of items,11:25and then we give them
an opportunity to gamble,11:28and then we take another saliva sample.11:30That's it. That's the whole experiment.11:32So this is what we find.11:34Risk tolerance, which is the gambling,11:36we find that when you are
in the high-power pose condition,11:4086 percent of you will gamble.11:42When you're in the low-power
pose condition,11:44only 60 percent, and that's
a whopping significant difference.11:48Here's what we find on testosterone.11:51From their baseline when they come in,11:53high-power people experience
about a 20-percent increase,11:56and low-power people experience
about a 10-percent decrease.12:01So again, two minutes,
and you get these changes.12:04Here's what you get on cortisol.12:06High-power people experience
about a 25-percent decrease,12:10and the low-power people experience
about a 15-percent increase.12:14So two minutes lead
to these hormonal changes12:17that configure your brain12:18to basically be either assertive,
confident and comfortable,12:23or really stress-reactive,
and feeling sort of shut down.12:28And we've all had the feeling, right?12:30So it seems that our nonverbals do govern
how we think and feel about ourselves,12:36so it's not just others,
but it's also ourselves.12:38Also, our bodies change our minds.12:40But the next question, of course,12:43is, can power posing for a few minutes12:45really change your life
in meaningful ways?12:47This is in the lab, it's this little task,
it's just a couple of minutes.12:51Where can you actually apply this?12:53Which we cared about, of course.12:55And so we think where you want to use this
is evaluative situations,13:01like social threat situations.13:04Where are you being evaluated,
either by your friends?13:07For teenagers,
it's at the lunchroom table.13:09For some people it's speaking
at a school board meeting.13:13It might be giving a pitch
or giving a talk like this13:17or doing a job interview.13:19We decided that the one
that most people could relate to13:22because most people had been through,
was the job interview.13:25So we published these findings,13:28and the media are all over it,13:29and they say, Okay, so this is what you do13:32when you go in
for the job interview, right?13:34(Laughter)13:35You know, so we were of course
horrified, and said,13:37Oh my God, no,
that's not what we meant at all.13:39For numerous reasons, no, don't do that.13:42Again, this is not about you
talking to other people.13:44It's you talking to yourself.13:46What do you do before you go
into a job interview? You do this.13:49You're sitting down.
You're looking at your iPhone --13:52or your Android, not trying
to leave anyone out.13:54You're looking at your notes,13:56you're hunching up, making yourself small,13:58when really what you should
be doing maybe is this,14:00like, in the bathroom, right?
Do that. Find two minutes.14:03So that's what we want to test. Okay?14:05So we bring people into a lab,14:07and they do either high-
or low-power poses again,14:10they go through
a very stressful job interview.14:13It's five minutes long.
They are being recorded.14:16They're being judged also,14:18and the judges are trained
to give no nonverbal feedback,14:23so they look like this.14:25Imagine this is the person
interviewing you.14:27So for five minutes, nothing,
and this is worse than being heckled.14:31People hate this.14:33It's what Marianne LaFrance calls
"standing in social quicksand."14:37So this really spikes your cortisol.14:39So this is the job interview
we put them through,14:41because we really wanted
to see what happened.14:43We then have these coders look
at these tapes, four of them.14:46They're blind to the hypothesis.
They're blind to the conditions.14:49They have no idea
who's been posing in what pose,14:52and they end up looking
at these sets of tapes,14:57and they say,
"We want to hire these people,"15:00all the high-power posers.15:01"We don't want to hire these people.15:03We also evaluate these people
much more positively overall."15:07But what's driving it?15:08It's not about the content of the speech.15:10It's about the presence
that they're bringing to the speech.15:13Because we rate them
on all these variables15:16related to competence,
like, how well-structured is the speech?15:19How good is it?
What are their qualifications?15:22No effect on those things.
This is what's affected.15:24These kinds of things.15:26People are bringing
their true selves, basically.15:28They're bringing themselves.15:30They bring their ideas, but as themselves,15:32with no, you know, residue over them.15:34So this is what's driving the effect,
or mediating the effect.15:39So when I tell people about this,15:42that our bodies change our minds
and our minds can change our behavior,15:46and our behavior can change
our outcomes, they say to me,15:49"It feels fake." Right?15:50So I said, fake it till you make it.15:52It's not me.15:54I don't want to get there
and then still feel like a fraud.15:57I don't want to feel like an impostor.15:59I don't want to get there only to feel
like I'm not supposed to be here.16:03And that really resonated with me,16:05because I want to tell you
a little story about being an impostor16:08and feeling like
I'm not supposed to be here.16:11When I was 19, I was
in a really bad car accident.16:14I was thrown out of a car,
rolled several times.16:17I was thrown from the car.16:19And I woke up in a head injury rehab ward,16:22and I had been withdrawn from college,16:24and I learned that my IQ had dropped
by two standard deviations,16:30which was very traumatic.16:32I knew my IQ because
I had identified with being smart,16:35and I had been called gifted as a child.16:37So I'm taken out of college,
I keep trying to go back.16:41They say, "You're not going
to finish college.16:43Just, you know, there are other
things for you to do,16:45but that's not going to work out for you."16:47So I really struggled
with this, and I have to say,16:51having your identity taken
from you, your core identity,16:54and for me it was being smart,16:56having that taken from you,16:57there's nothing that leaves you feeling
more powerless than that.17:00So I felt entirely powerless.17:02I worked and worked, and I got lucky,17:04and worked, and got lucky, and worked.17:06Eventually I graduated from college.17:08It took me four years
longer than my peers,17:10and I convinced someone,
my angel advisor, Susan Fiske,17:15to take me on,
and so I ended up at Princeton,17:17and I was like,
I am not supposed to be here.17:20I am an impostor.17:22And the night before my first-year talk,17:24and the first-year talk at Princeton
is a 20-minute talk to 20 people.17:27That's it.17:28I was so afraid of being
found out the next day17:31that I called her
and said, "I'm quitting."17:34She was like, "You are not quitting,17:35because I took a gamble
on you, and you're staying.17:38You're going to stay, and this is
what you're going to do.17:41You are going to fake it.17:42You're going to do every talk
that you ever get asked to do.17:45You're just going to do it
and do it and do it,17:48even if you're terrified
and just paralyzed17:50and having an out-of-body experience,17:52until you have this moment where you say,
'Oh my gosh, I'm doing it.17:56Like, I have become this.
I am actually doing this.'"17:59So that's what I did.18:00Five years in grad school,18:01a few years, you know,
I'm at Northwestern,18:03I moved to Harvard, I'm at Harvard,18:05I'm not really thinking about it anymore,
but for a long time I had been thinking,18:09"Not supposed to be here."18:11So at the end of my first year at Harvard,18:14a student who had not talked
in class the entire semester,18:18who I had said, "Look, you've gotta
participate or else you're going to fail,"18:22came into my office.
I really didn't know her at all.18:25She came in totally defeated,
and she said,18:28"I'm not supposed to be here."18:35And that was the moment for me.18:37Because two things happened.18:38One was that I realized,18:40oh my gosh,
I don't feel like that anymore.18:43I don't feel that anymore,
but she does, and I get that feeling.18:46And the second was,
she is supposed to be here!18:48Like, she can fake it, she can become it.18:50So I was like, "Yes, you are!
You are supposed to be here!18:54And tomorrow you're going to fake it,18:56you're going to make yourself
powerful, and, you know --18:58(Applause)19:04And you're going to go
into the classroom,19:08and you are going to give
the best comment ever."19:10You know? And she gave
the best comment ever,19:13and people turned around and were like,19:15oh my God, I didn't even notice her
sitting there. (Laughter)19:18She comes back to me months later,19:20and I realized that she had not just
faked it till she made it,19:23she had actually faked it
till she became it.19:25So she had changed.19:27And so I want to say to you,
don't fake it till you make it.19:31Fake it till you become it.19:34Do it enough until you actually
become it and internalize.19:38The last thing I'm going
to leave you with is this.19:40Tiny tweaks can lead to big changes.19:45So, this is two minutes.19:47Two minutes, two minutes, two minutes.19:49Before you go into the next stressful
evaluative situation,19:52for two minutes, try doing this,
in the elevator,19:55in a bathroom stall, at your desk
behind closed doors.19:58That's what you want to do.20:00Configure your brain
to cope the best in that situation.20:03Get your testosterone up.
Get your cortisol down.20:05Don't leave that situation feeling
like, oh, I didn't show them who I am.20:09Leave that situation feeling like,20:11I really feel like I got to say
who I am and show who I am.20:14So I want to ask you first, you know,
both to try power posing,20:20and also I want to ask you to share
the science, because this is simple.20:25I don't have ego involved in this.
(Laughter)20:27Give it away. Share it with people,20:29because the people who can use it the most20:31are the ones with no resources
and no technology20:35and no status and no power.20:37Give it to them
because they can do it in private.20:40They need their bodies,
privacy and two minutes,20:42and it can significantly change
the outcomes of their life.20:45Thank you.20:46(Applause)
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