Power poses
The message from the video is that the way we pose could reflect highly on how people perceive us. Posing can also highly reflect on our personalities. There are specific poses that are considered power poses because they depict strength and assertiveness as well as confidence. There are also poses that depict timidity and weakness in a person. The video establishes that the way we pose can determine our confidence levels and the levels of confidence are determined by two types of hormones. The determining hormones are therefore testosterone and cortisol. Testosterone is the hormone that is associated with dominance assertiveness, power, and confidence. It means that people who have higher levels of testosterone are more confident than those with lower levels. The other hormone cortisol is associated with timidity. Cortisol is considered the stress hormone which means that the hormone facilitates the inability of a person to adapt well to high-stress situations. People with high levels of cortisol are therefore viewed as weak and timid.
There are several resources used to establish this message in the video. One of the ways this speaker passes across her message is by showing how people in powerful positions pose. The power poses used by Obama were an example of how body language can assert dominance. The speaker therefore explains and shows through different images that power poses are those that tend to make people look bigger such as holding hands on the hips or holding your hands behind your head. Weak poses are defined as those that tend to make a person look smaller. Closed legs and hands clutched together while sited is a weak pose. Other resources used were test experiments before and after using either power poses or weak poses. The study conducted included testing the participants’ saliva for their normal levels of cortisol and testosterone hormones before beginning the test. The test itself included placing the participants in either power poses or weak poses to determine how these positions changed their hormone levels. The results were established by checking the heart respiratory rates and the level of hormones after the test. The results of the study were very positive in that they established that after being put in the power position, participants developed higher levels of testosterone hormones. It means that they became more confident. Their levels of cortisol decline suppressing stress. The results were vice versa for those in weak positions since their cortisol levels increased while testosterone levels fell.
There are many benefits to understanding the concept of power poses. Understanding power poses can help a person better understand non-verbal cues. With this knowledge, it is easy to notice when someone is taking power poses or trying to be assertive. It is also easy to determine the level of confidence in a person especially by understanding what poses show timidity and weakness. Apart from helping us to have more non-verbal cues awareness, this knowledge can help us build our image in front of other people. Using the power poses one can appear more assertive and confident which are very desirable traits. According to the video, those who use power poses in the outside world are viewed more positively and are more likely to win a job position in a hiring situation. There are therefore many benefits that can be acquired from using power poses every day. While trying the power poses before a high-stress situation, I realized that I was able to relax a bit more. The positions I took helped me have a higher level of confidence and I felt like there was less pressure. Maybe it was all in my head or maybe it was because I knew I was doing it to try and relax more before getting into a high-pressure shift. Either way, I believe it worked for me since I went to work feeling less anxious about the problems that I would face. I figured that I appeared more confident at work and my friends thought I was in a really good mood. They did not realize the extra confidence was from my power poses.