Power Poses For Confidence
Superheroes all stand the same way, with their chest proud, head high, legs spread, elbows bent, and hands propped on their hips. Comic book artists draw superheroes this way to project power because superheroes, many of whom have superpowers, are pretty…ummmmm…powerful.
What if I told you that this comic book trope, the “superhero stance”, has real world implications?
Because that’s what I’m tellin’ ya!!!
Research has shown that standing like a superhero for two minutes raises testosterone by 20 percent and lowers the stress hormone cortisol by about 25 percent.
The change in body chemistry that sees testosterone rise and cortisol fall is the hormonal representation of elevated confidence, a change that research says not only alters the way you feel about yourself but also how you act.
The superhero pose, technically known as a high-power position, makes you feel strong and confident, the same effect that weight training and having a hot body has! So if you’re not too keen on putting that much of an effort into exercise and nutrition, you can just strike a pose.
…but if you want to be strong and confident all the time without having to always stand a certain way like some fucking weirdo, you could always just lift!
Your parents did a doozy on you with all their belittling and saying you’d never amount to anything. And it doesn’t help that I constantly belittle you about how right they were about you not amounting to much. So of course your confidence is in the shitter. But thanks to what you’ve just read, you now know it doesn’t have to be that way, right?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
As it currently *cough*stands*cough* the research on power posing is all over the place on whether or not it works, as the most common criticism is that the original findings have yet to be replicated by other independent researchers not associated with the initial study.
So if that’s the case that power posing more than likely doesn’t work, then why did I waste your time by having you read this?!?!, you ask.
Ummmmmmm, because, as was alluded to earlier, this post is less about feeling better about yourself via a two-minute intervention that involves imagining yourself as powerful and more about doing so through a lifestyle change that involves regular exercise.
THAT’S WHY!!!
Glossary: chest, exercise, nutrition
