Power Poseur

Abstract

Strong claims have been made that power poses can significantly improve one’s life. Starting from an evolutionary perspective, we reason that expansive poses will have no impact in more realistic situations, as in the presence of an interaction partner or when participants are aware of what the pose should accomplish. Across four dyadic studies including both commonly used outcomes and a negotiation task (which could actually have direct benefits for one’s life), we find nearly uniform null effects of holding expansive poses, despite checks confirming the success of the manipulation. For example, in two of the studies, participants watched a popular TED talk on power poses, held an expansive pose, and then completed a negotiation in the presence of a partner, as might happen in real life. We argue that researchers should stop recommending power poses as an empirically supported strategy for improving one’s life.