Feeling Fearful or Insecure? Strike a Pose!

Tame Timidity with Body Language

“Victory!” was the giddy exclamation of Susan La Pierre, wife of National Rifle Association’s Executive Vice President, Wayne La Pierre, Jr. moments after severing the tail of her conquest, an African bush elephant. The La Pierre’s traveled to Botswana in Southern Africa during a filmed hunting trip in 2013. Both husband and wife seemed to delight in their individual kills, with Wayne eliminating a large bush elephant after several shots at close range. Directed by guides, a highly-groomed Susan spots her mark- an elephant standing nearby, looking directly at her. After aiming for a crease between the animal’s eyes, she shoots, immediately wounding her intended target and ending most of its life. Another shot executed at close range finishes the existence of the African beast.

From Mongolian ruler Ghengis Khan to Lucy from Peanuts, power is not only desired but pursued, as it equates with confidence and feelings of success. Surely, there’s a better method for increasing confidence and feelings of power, sans destruction and death.

While it’s widely known that emotions influence actions, behavior, relationships, and general well-being- what if the reverse were also true? What if a minor behavioral change could enhance and elevate mood? Research demonstrates just that- with the power of body language. Body language alone is a constructive, effective mode to alter mood and change feelings of timidity to competence in moments!

Posture Power

Research correlates sagging moods with a slumped posture. In one study, 74 participants were instructed to sit in either erect or slouched positions while given an assignment designed to induce stress. The research concluded that participants using proper, erect posture demonstrated less fear, were more alert and had a more elevated mood than their slouched counterparts. Slouched participants also engaged in negative or sad talk, post-test. Intentional upright posture is an easy, effective way to buffer stress and improve overall mood.

Posing Power

Posing can even influence whether or not we get that next desired job. An experiment conducted at Harvard Business school tested the idea that altering body position before a stressful situation could affect the outcome. Participants stood in either open, high-power poses (think Superman or Wonder Woman- hands on hips, chin up, chest out, feet apart), or the opposite- closed, low-power poses (think Bashful from Snow White- hunched shoulders, head lowered, feet close together) before a mock interview. Both high and low-power posers had prepared speeches for the interview. Amazingly, the high-power posers were more likely to be chosen for the job. The findings showing the interviewer’s decisions were based on the participant’s presentation rather than what they actually said.

Studies conclude that high-power postures express confidence and even more remarkably, actually produce it; High-power posing increases external and internal feelings of power, positivity, and even elevates the dominance hormone, testosterone while decreasing stress and its hormone, cortisol.

This discovery can be especially useful for introverts, who tend to close in upon themselves before stressful events, thereby increasing feelings of fear, low self-confidence, and adversely affecting outcome. Like the well-known finding that smiling creates some feelings of happiness, intentionally adjusting stance can also create feelings of power and confidence, minus the usual subjugation associated with typical power-seekers.

For that next anxiety-producing event, why not try the simple yet effective strategy of body language? As the cliche goes, “knowledge is power,” and so is the pose.