In a recently published meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletinopens in new window, a team of psychologists from Germany and the United States collaborated to shed light on the possible physical, behavioral, and psychological effects of power poses and other body positions. Initial studies on power posing indicated that engaging in expansive body positions will raise testosterone levels, lower cortisol levels, and increase risk taking. A number of these studies received a lot of media attention when they were published but faced enormous criticism because their results could not be replicated. Since then, additional studies on the effects of body positions have been published, but their results have been mixed.
To see which body position effects are stable and which are not, the team conducted a preregistered meta-analysis. They searched 12 scientific databases using terms such as “body position” and “power pose” and found over 24,000 potentially relevant studies. Only studies that used an experimental design with random assignment, which would allow causal inferences to be drawn, were retained. To avoid publication bias, the team also sent out requests for unpublished data. The resulting sample is the largest sample of studies on body positions so far, consisting of 128 experiments with a total of almost 10,000 participants.
The team distinguished between high (vs. low) power poses and upright (vs. slumped) postures. Both body positions are expression of status. Theoretically and empirically, it has been suggested that power poses are nonverbal expressions of dominance, whereas upright postures are nonverbal expressions of prestige. The team found clear evidence for the effects of both body position types on self-perception. These nonverbal expressions of status clearly produced larger effects than did other forms of embodied feedback (e.g., facial feedback or arm flexion): When experimental participants took power or upright postures, they felt better and were more confident than when they took contractive or hunched body positions. The effects held for males and females of all ages in both Western and Eastern countries. There were also some effects on behaviors, such as task persistence and antisocial behavior. However, these findings were less robust and might be influenced by outliers and/or publication bias. There was no evidence for effects on hormones (e.g., testosterone, cortisol) or other physiological indicators (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance).
Some questions remain unanswered. Because many studies did not have a control group, it is not clear whether the observed effects were due to low power poses and hunched postures or to high power poses and upright positions. For example, does standing upright and wide make you feel better, or does standing contractive and hunched make you feel worse? Additional experimental studies that include a neutral body position are needed. Because most research was conducted in Western countries, more research is needed in other parts of the world. Finally, it is unclear how long the effects of body positions persist.
To advance research in the field and facilitate further insights on the effects of body positions, the team created an app called Dynamic Meta-Analysis of Body Positions, which allows researchers to enter new data and download the most recent results.
These results suggest that body positions can be useful for training, coaching, and therapy. People who observe their bodily expression may experience a change in their self-evaluations and may also behave differently. Thus, taking a certain body position could be a first step in increasing positive self-perceptions and a basis for further stabilizing these perceptions with cognitive behavior techniques.
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