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Power poses don’t work, according to new research

Andy Morris
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https://flic.kr/p/5cDtTG

A 2012 TED Talk on power poses popularized the idea that sitting and standing in ways that take up more space could make you more confident.

Eleven studies in total, spearheaded by researchers at MSU, show power poses have no impact outside of a strict laboratory environment.

Joseph Cesario is a professor at Michigan State University who helped debunk the Power Pose myth.

“I think it’s really clear why people want that to be true and why it’s so attractive. It’s a really intriguing idea. The simplicity of it and the ease with which people who are powerless could do that sort of thing makes it enormously attractive.”

Cesario said the idea has not held up to research.

“My guess is either that the initial studies were so isolated that only under very specific conditions does it occur or the initial studies had such low evidential quality to begin with that there was really never any effect there at all.”

Cesario said part of the problem comes from the scientific community and what’s known as publication bias.

“Where it’s virtually impossible to get null results published. You have to find something to get that published and so what happens is there a lot of people not finding things and no one ever knows about that.”

Cesario said one method that his psychology journal is using is accepting research for publication before the results are known.

But, he said, overall the scientific community needs to be cautious about making information public before it can be verified.