In 2010, three psychologists published a paper on "power poses", with their finding that people who adopted "power poses" — think of superheroes on skyscrapers — felt more powerful and took more risks.
One of those authors, Harvard's Amy Cuddy, has done a TED Talk about power posing that's garnered more than 35,000,000 views and has been part of a successful career built on the alleged science of power-posing.
But attempts to replicate the study have failed. The study itself had a tiny sample-size, which may account for its irreproducible findings. Last weekend, Dana Carney, co-author of the study and faculty member at UC Berkeley, repudiated the study's findings, saying that her "views have updated to reflect the evidence" and "I do not
believe that 'power pose' effects are real."
Where do I Stand on the Existence of “Power Poses”1. I do not have any faith in the embodied effects of “power poses.” I do not think the effect is real.
2. I do not study the embodied effects of power poses.
3. I discourage others from studying power poses.
4. I do not teach power poses in my classes anymore.
5. I do not talk about power poses in the media and haven’t for over 5 years (well before skepticism set in)
6. I have on my website and my downloadable CV my skepticism about the effect and links to both the failed
replication by Ranehill et al. and to Simmons & Simonsohn’s p-curve paper suggesting no effect. And this
document.
'Power Poses' Co-Author: 'I Do Not Believe The Effects Are Real' [Maquita Peters/NPR]
(Image: Bruce Springsteen Victory pose, Manuel Martinez Perez, CC-BY-SA)
(via Skepchick)
