User:Andy Simmons/power posing

Power Posing is the configuration of the body into expansive postures in order to evoke psychological changes, most typically to increase feelings of authority.

Research
Extensive research has been conducted on the effects of expansive versus contractive body postures. In a series of experiments conducted in 1982, researchers John Riskind and Carolyn Gotay found that subjects positioned in slumped postures exhibited significantly less persistence on an unsolvable puzzle than did subjects in upright positions. Riskind continued the research in 1984 and found that matching bodily posture with outcomes of success or failure can influence feelings of control as well as motivation. He determined that posture "incongruence," such as an upright posture after failure or a slumped posture after success, can lead to an external locus of control, increased feelings of depression, and decreased task motivation. Building off of this literature, Sabine Stepper and Fritz Strack assessed feelings of pride associated with different seatings positions and determined that upright seating positions lead to greater feelings of pride.

Basic Methods
Research on the psychological effect of power posing takes the form of a few basic methodologies. Subjects are shown a picture of an individual in an high or low-power posture and asked to mimic the posture , or they are configured into the specific posture by the experimenter. Subjects then are assessed of the effects of their power pose through tasks such as a stressful job interview, a pain tolerance task, or a gambling activity, or through direct communication of their feelings in the form of a questionairre.

Carney, Cuddy and Yap
In 2010, Dana Carney, Amy Cuddy and Andy Yap conducted research on the effect of expansive versus contractive postures on hormone levels. In the study, participants were tested of their hormone levels and then were instructed to configure themselves into either two high-power poses or two low-power poses. They were then reassessed of hormone levels and instructed to complete gambling task to measure risk tolerance. Results of the experiment showed that subjects posing in positions of power showed significant elevations in testosterone, decreases in stress levels, increases in tolerance for risk and an increase in self-reported feelings of power, while those instructed to pose in low-power positions trended in the opposite direction.

Replication efforts
In attempt to replicate the findings of Carney, Cuddy, and Yap, Eva Ranehill and other researchers conducted an experiment with a similar methodology, but a larger sample size of 200 participants compared to the 42 employed in the initial research. Like Carney et al., Ranehill's research also showed an increase in self-reported feelings of power in those posing in positions of power. However, Ranehill et al. failed to replicate the changes in neuroendocrine levels and risk-taking behavior associated with power posing.

In response to Ranehill's failed replication, Carney, Cuddy and Yap published a report providing a summary of all known experiments conducted on expansive vs. contractive posture. Almost all previous studies showed significant effects of expansive posture on some psychological or physiological outcome. The response also highlighted key differences between the original research and Ranehill's replication, noting Carney, Cuddy and Yap's nondisclosure of experimental intentions, use of a social task during the experiment, and shorter time spent in the power pose as moderators for the unsuccessful replication.

Two researchers at the Wharton School, Joseph Simmons and Uri Simonsohn, further analyzed the results of same 33 studies and reported the findings in their statistics blog and later had them published in Psychological Science. Through a p-curve analysis, the findings of Simmons and Simonsohn discredit evidence supporting the effects of power posing on psychological outcomes, citing publication bias as the reason for the excess of statistically significant test results.

In 2016, a second attempt at replicating and expanding upon the original research was carried out by Garrison, Tang and Schmeichel. To avoid publication bias, the researchers pre-registered the study prior to data collection. Garrison and colleagues added an additional manipulation to their replication, looking to determine the effect of both posture as well as eye gaze on feelings of power and risk taking. Garrison's results offer stark contrast to the results of the original experiment: neither posture nor gaze direction had an effect on risk taking and adoption of expansive postures actually reduced self-reported feelings of power.

In response to the failed replications and the statistical exposé of the original work, Dana Carney posted on her faculty webpage at the Haas School of Business an update on her current position with regards to the effect of power posing on psychological outcomes. In her response, she outlines several confounds in the original paper, including small sample size, flimsy data and an unintentional but influential "p-hacking" by way of running participants, and checking the effect, in chunks rather than all at once. At the end of the letter, Carney admits to having "no faith in the embodied effects of power posing," and discourages anyone from further studying the topic.

In response to the replications and extensive denouncement of the ineffectiveness of power poses, Amy Cuddy released a statement on her current standing with power posing through her publisher, Hachette Book Group, that was covered in an article by New York Magazine. In her statement, Cuddy addressed the failed replication efforts but notes that "failed" is a misnomer, given that Ranehill et al did indeed find power posing to increase self-reported feelings of power. She claims that the debated physiological effects are secondary to the "key effect" of power posing, citing 9 other published studies, 4 impending studies, and 46 other exploratory studies outlining the effect of power posing on making people feel more powerful.

Other Research
Research on power posing extends beyond its effect on feelings of power. In a study by Yap, Cuddy and others, expansive postures were shown to increase the likelihood of stealing money, and the same study also showed that disobedience of traffic laws and cheating on a test also became significantly more likely when expansive postures were struck inadvertently because of an intentional change in testing conditions.

A study by Vanessa Bohns and Scott Wiltermuth examined power posing's effect on pain tolerance and through blood circulation restriction usingtourniquet, and found that participants posing in expansive, "dominant" ways had greater pain thresholds than participants in submissive poses.

In 2015, Amy Cuddy studied the effect of power posing on confidence, specifically in the job interview setting; those who struck power poses prior to taking part in a stressful job interview performed better in the interview and were more likely to be hired.

Researchers at Monash University Malaysia Campus found that older adults were more likely to perceive gerontechnology as useful and easy to use and had greater intentions of using it after adopting an expansive seating position.

Research has also been done on the effect of power posing on consumption of food as it relates to body image concern, with the results showing that when seated in expansive positions women with higher body image concern felt less restrained because their body position reflected self-perceptions, and thus ate more than women with higher body image concern seated in constrained positions.

In the Media
Amy Cuddy, one of the researchers on the original power posing experimentation, delivered a TED Talk  detailing her research on power posing at the 2012 TEDGlobal in Edinburgh. Since the talk was posted on the TED website in 2012 it has received over 40 million views, placing it second all-time in most-viewed TED Talks.

Since its exposition in a TED Talk, power posing has been written about extensively on popular media platforms. New York Times contributor David Brooks summarized Cuddy's findings in his blog in a 2011 article entitled "Mind over Matter." In 2013, Sue Shellenbarger of The Wall Street Journal outlined the Carney, Cuddy and Yap's findings and expounded on their benefits in the workplace, citing the testimonies of various businessmen and women who have found success in occupational use of power posing.