Watch Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk: Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are at https://
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Question
Watch Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk: Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are at https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are and answer the following questions.
1. Amy Cuddy "faked it till she made it" as a graduate student at Harvard. Can you think of a situation in your life where the methods she describes could change the outcome for the better or worse?
2. Try one of the power poses in this video. What was the impact/effect?
3. In the five years since Cuddy’s talk, much research has been done investigating the power pose effect. Some studies have failed to replicate what Cuddy et al. found in the original study, particularly whether power poses could affect hormone levels. However, other studies did find beneficial impacts from expansive posture. Cuddy’s premise is that adopting expansive postures causes people to feel more powerful. Do you agree? Explain the reasoning behind your response.
3. How, if at all, has learning more about nonverbal communication affected your communication abilities?
Explanation / Answer
Amy Cuddy’s argument about the impact of body language in social behaviour is quite insightful. In her talk for TED, Cuddy presents her research work on the dynamics of power positions and thief outcomes one academic performance of college students. The research found a significant increase in the actual participation in class and consequently grades by encouraging the amiable or socially shy participant students to assume more expansive postures. After hearing her talk, I can reflect on the similar experiences in my own life an interpersonal interactions where I notice that a similar power play happens in the cafeteria or in the recess grounds where female students are more likely to sit cross legged or talk in softer tones and sit in the corners while more of the Male students tend to talk loudly and occupy more of the tables in the center of the room. Interestingly enough, the tend to make their presence felt in the queues as well and are more likely than the female students to receive a larger serving of the food. Thus, irrespective of any actual incidence of discrimination on the part of the cafeteria staff, perhaps this difference in behaviour between the two genders can be explained in terms the implicit non verbal communictaion about power and the feeling of social entitlement which is exchanged between the two identifiable groups. If female students could be led to take more powerful looking positions in the mess hall such as by stretching their legs a little while sitting, or expanding their boundaries by using aids like bags, books, etc. then perhaps they would feel more confident at occupying the spaces of center and become more proactive in other domains as well such as the student editorial team or the student governing body, etc.
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