Embodying Power

Abstract

Adopting expansive (vs. contractive) body postures may influence psychological states associated with power. The current experiment sought to replicate and extend research on the power pose effect by adding another manipulation that embodies power—eye gaze. Participants ( N = 305) adopted expansive (high power) or contractive (low power) poses while gazing ahead (i.e., dominantly) or down at the ground (i.e., submissively). Afterward, participants played a hypothetical ultimatum game, made a gambling decision, and reported how powerful and in charge they felt. Neither body posture nor eye gaze influenced the gambling decision, and contrary to the predictions, adopting an expansive pose reduced feelings of power. We also found that holding a direct gaze increased the probability of rejecting a low offer on the ultimatum game. We consider why power posing did not have the predicted effects.