The Benefit of Power Posing Before a High-Stakes Social

Evaluation

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Cuddy, Amy J.C., Caroline A. Wilmuth, and Dana R. Carney.

"The Benefit of Power Posing Before a High-Stakes Social
Evaluation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13027, September 2012.

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The Benefit of Power Posing

Before a High-Stakes Social
Evaluation
Amy J. C. Cuddy
Caroline A. Wilmuth
Dana R. Carney

Working Paper
13-027
August 31, 2012

Copyright 2012 by Amy J. C. Cuddy, Caroline A. Wilmuth, and Dana R. Carney

Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and
discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working
papers are available from the author.

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 1

RUNNING HEAD: Preparatory Power Posing Affects Performance

The Benefit of Power Posing Before a High-Stakes Social Evaluation

Amy J. C. Cuddy & Caroline A. Wilmuth, Harvard University
Dana R. Carney, University of California at Berkeley

Corresponding Author: Amy Cuddy, [email protected]

Key Words: Power, Power Posing, Social Evaluation, Nonverbal Behavior

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 2

Abstract
The current experiment tested whether changing ones nonverbal behavior prior to a high-stakes
social evaluation could improve performance in the evaluated task. Participants adopted
expansive, open (high-power) poses, or contractive, closed (low-power) poses, and then prepared
and delivered a speech to two evaluators as part of a mock job interview, a prototypical social
evaluation. All speeches were videotaped and coded for overall performance and hireability, and
the potential mediators of speech quality (e.g., content, structure) and presentation quality (e.g.,
captivating, confident). As predicted, high power posers performed better and were more likely
to be chosen for hire, and this relationship was mediated only by presentation quality, not speech
quality. Power pose condition had no effect on body posture during the social evaluation, thus
highlighting the relationship between preparatory nonverbal behavior and subsequent
performance.
Word count as is: 133
Word count limit: 150

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 3

Although virtually every social interaction involves reciprocal evaluations, the stakes are
often higher in one direction than the other. That is, one party often has more power to impact
the future of the other, controlling access to coveted resources such as college admissions, jobs,
and venture capital. For example, in a job interview, the interviewer has power over the job
candidates future, and consequently the importance of the interviewers evaluations of the
candidate dwarf the importance of the candidates evaluations of the interviewer. However, in
the moments before walking into high-stakes social evaluation many people shrink in their chairs
and hunch over their phones, adopting nonverbal postures that can cause them to feel even more
powerless (Carney, Cuddy, & Yap, 2010). But what if people did the opposite stretching out
and occupying more space, rather than slouching and taking up less?
In both human and non-human primates, expansive, open postures reflect high power,
whereas contractive, closed postures reflect low power (Carney, Hall, & Smith LeBeau, 2005;
Darwin, 1872/2009; de Waal, 1998; Hall, Coats, & Smith LeBeau, 2005). Not only do these
postures reflect power, they also produce it; in contrast to adopting low power poses, adopting
high power poses increases explicit and implicit feelings of power and dominance, risk-taking
behavior, action orientation, pain tolerance, and testosterone (the dominance hormone), while
reducing stress, anxiety, and cortisol (the stress hormone; Bohns & Wiltermuth, 2011; Carney,
Cuddy, & Yap, 2010; Carney, Yap, Lucas, Mehta, Ferrero, McGee, & Wilmuth, under review;
Huang, Galinsky, Gruenfeld, & Guillory, 2011). Moreover, compared to classic power
manipulations that do not involve nonverbal behavior, such as role assignments and power recall
primes, adopting high-power poses leads to stronger effects on thought abstraction and action
orientation (Huang et al., 2011).

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 4

The acquisition of power causes individuals to feel more positive, in control, and
optimistic about the future, and to become more goal-oriented and likely to take action
(Anderson & Galinsky, 2006; Burgmer & Englich, 2012; Anderson & Berdahl, 2002; Galinsky
et al., 2008; Guinote, 2007; Smith, Jostmann, Galinsky, & van Dijk, 2008). Thus, power could
improve performance in high-stakes social evaluations by positively orienting people toward
goals and by liberating them from the psychological constraints that could prevent them from
performing to their full potential. Given that it is often difficult or risky to overtly change the
power dynamics in such a situation, assuming a high-power pose represents a subtle way of
making oneself feel more powerful.
The aim of the current research was to test whether adopting high- vs. low-power poses
before a high-stakes social evaluation can improve an individuals performance on the evaluated
task. We also sought to identify the mechanism through which power posing could improve
performance by considering two possible mediators: speech quality and presentation quality.
Speech quality the extent to which the content of the speech is intelligent, clear, and well
structured influences potential investors evaluations of and level of interest in pursuing
entrepreneurs proposed investment opportunities, for example (Clark, 2008). Presentation
quality the extent to which the presentation of the speech is enthusiastic, confident, and
captivating significantly predicts interviewers general evaluations of applicants and final
hiring decisions (Young & Kacmar, 1998). Similarly, an examination of 185 videotaped twominute VC pitches revealed that venture capitalists were far more likely to invest in
entrepreneurs who displayed confidence, passion, and enthusiasm (Balachandra, under review).
The enhanced cognitive functioning resulting from power (Smith et al., 2008) suggests that highpower poses may boost speech quality; however, considerably more research implies that high

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 5

power poses would impact presentation quality. Power reduces stress, anxiety, and negative
affect, which would presumably make an individual more confident, captivating, and enthusiastic
(Carney et al., under review; Anderson & Berdahl, 2002). Furthermore, high testosterone and
low cortisol, a hormone profile that is characteristic of high-status and effective leaders and is
induced by power posing, is associated with reduced stress, increased sense of personal control,
and increased engagement and performance in competitive tasks all of which underlie
presentation quality (Carney, Cuddy, & Yap, 2010; Sherman, Lee, Cuddy, Renshon, Oveis,
Gross, & Lerner, in press; Mehta, Jones, & Josephs, 2008; Mehta & Josephs, 2010).
Preparatory power posing might serve as a simple, free tool that has the potential to be
adopted by and beneficial to almost anyone. Thus, the current experiment tested the hypotheses
that (1) power posing before a high-stakes social evaluation improves performance in the
evaluated task, and (2) this effect is mediated by presentation quality, not speech quality.
Methods
Participants and Procedure.
Sixty-six Columbia University students participated in a study called Physical Motion
and Performance, and were paid $15 for their participation. Five participants were excluded
from analyses: four did not understand the instructions for the speech task and one did not
maintain the power poses during speech preparation, reducing the total N to 61 (40 women and
21 men; 22 white, 12 black, 20 Asian, 5 Latino, 2 other). Participants were randomly assigned
to adopt either two (one standing, then one sitting) high-power (i.e., expansive and open) or two
low-power (i.e., contractive and closed) postures for one minute each. While in the poses,
participants engaged in an impression formation task, wherein they watched a slideshow of
pictures on the computer and were asked to form opinions about the people in the pictures.

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 6

After completing the power manipulation, participants engaged in an adaptation of the
Trier Social Stress Test (Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993). They were asked to imagine
that they are about to interview for their dream job and then to prepare and perform a five-minute
speech detailing their strengths, qualifications, and why they should be chosen for the job to two
experienced evaluators. To reinforce the power manipulation, participants were instructed to
maintain the second high- or low-power pose during the five-minute preparation phase, bringing
the total time participants spent in the poses to 7 minutes. Speech preparation and performance
were videotaped to verify that the poses were maintained in the preparation phase and to code for
the performance measures in the performance phase. Immediately after giving their speeches,
participants completed a three-item measure of self-reported feelings of power, answering how
dominant, in control, and powerful they felt on a 5-point scale (1 = not at all, 5 = a lot), = .82.
Variable Coding & Inter-Rater Reliability.
Four trained, hypothesis- and condition-blind coders coded the videotaped speeches on
two dependent and two mediator variables. The two main dependent variables were (1) overall
performance (Overall, how good was the interview? 1 = awful, 7 = amazing), and (2)
hireability (Should this participant get the job? 1 = no, 2 = maybe, 3 = yes). The two potential
mediating variables were coded using 7-point Likert-style scales (1 = not at all, 7 = extremely);
each was a composite of multiple individually-coded variables: (1) speech quality (qualifications,
intelligent, structured, straightforward; = .89), and (2) presentation quality (captivating,
confident, enthusiastic, awkward (reverse scored); = .79). As is typically done, two coders
rated the same subset of 10% of the videos, and inter-rater reliability was calculated on that
subset for each variable (Carney et al., 2005). After inter-rater reliability was determined to be
substantially high (i.e., > .70), one of the coders went on to rate the remaining 90% of the

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 7

videos. The average inter-rater reliability for all of the variables was .90, with a range of .80 to
.98. Table 1 presents inter-rater reliabilities for all variables.
Results
Manipulation Check.
As expected, high-power posers felt significantly more powerful (M = 2.56) than lower
power posers (M = 2.07), F(1)=4.021, p = .05, p2 = .065.
Overall Performance and Hireability
One-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) examined the effect of power poses on
performance and hireability. As hypothesized, coders rated high-power posers significantly
higher on performance (M = 4.63) than low-power posers (M = 3.81), F(1)=8.33, p =.005, partial
p2 = .124; and rated high-power posers significantly higher on hireability (M = 2.43) than lowpower posers (M = 2.00), F(1)=7.22, p=.009, p2 = .109.
Mediation
To better understand why high-power posers experienced better job interview outcomes
on the critical DVs, performance and hireability, both possible mediators were regressed onto the
dependent variables. Presentation quality predicted both performance ( = .772, t(60) = 6.24 p =
.000) and hireability ( =.405, t(60) = 2.238, p = .029). Speech quality predicted neither
performance ( = .049, t(60) = .398 p = .692) nor hireability ( = .139, t(60) = .766 p = .447).
Our next set of analyses tested mediation. Two separate series of analyses one for
performance and one for hireability -- regressed (a) performance/hireability (the criterion) onto
power pose (the predictor); (b) presentation quality (the mediator) onto power pose; and (c)
simultaneously performance/hireability onto both power pose and presentation quality. Figures 1
and 2 present the results of those analyses. As predicted, presentation quality fully mediated the

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 8

effects of power pose on both overall performance (Sobel Z=2.21, p = .027) and hireability
(Sobel Z = 2.03, p = .042).
Body Expansiveness DURING the Speech
To rule out the possibility that body expansiveness during the interview was inflating
performance ratings, by signaling high vs. low power, we also coded the videos for body
expansiveness during the speeches on a 7-point scale (1=very contractive, 7=very expansive). A
one-way ANOVA revealed no significant difference between high- (M = 0.48) and low-power
posers (M = 0.47) on body expansiveness during the interview F(1,59)=.001, p=.97, partial p2 =
.000.
Discussion
The current experiment demonstrated that preparatory power posing affects participants
presentation quality during a job interview, which influences judges evaluations and hiring
decisions. The high-power posers, in contrast to low-power posers, appeared to better maintain
their composure, project more confidence, and present more captivating and enthusiastic
speeches, in turn leading to higher overall performance evaluations. Power posing did not affect
speech quality.
Previous research has focused on how nonverbals that are enacted during interactions affect
how a perceiver evaluates and responds to the actor. For example, smiling, hand gesturing,
nodding, and leaning forward during an interview increase a persons chance of being selected
(Gifford, Ng, & Wilkinson, 1985; Parsons & Liden, 1984; Word, Zanna, & Cooper, 1973). The
experiment presented here goes a step further, demonstrating how nonverbal behavior that is
enacted before an interaction can also influence how a perceiver evaluates and responds to the
actor, even when the perceiver has not observed the actual nonverbal display. As reported, high-

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 9

and low-power posers did not differ in the extent to which they adopted expansive vs. contractive
postures during the interview; it was preparatory power posing that impacted perceivers
evaluations of and responses to the actor.
It is possible that power posing boosted participants performance during the preparation
phase, which then improved performance during the actual interview. As previous research has
shown, psychological power enhances executive function (Smith et al., 2008), which is critical to
the ability to effectively plan and prepare for challenging situations. If power posing caused
participants to better prepare, it may have improved interview performance via one or both of the
following routes: by improving the quality of the speech itself, or by boosting confidence as a
result feeling more prepared. The results of this study do not support the former given that
speech quality was not affected by power pose condition. Future research could explore whether
and how power posing impacts preparation for social evaluations.
High-stakes social evaluations are characterized by a power asymmetry in the sense that the
evaluator has control over the future of the individual being evaluated. By nonverbally
manipulating power, the high-power posers were effectively imbued with the psychological and
physiological perks typically associated with high power, despite being low-power in relation to
the evaluators. This suggests that preparatory power posing can serve as a simple, free,
nonverbal tool that has the potential to be adopted by and beneficial to almost anyone, including
those who are chronically powerless due to lack of physical resources or hierarchical status.

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 10

Table 1. Variable Descriptions and Inter-Rater Reliabilities
Variable

Description / Coder Instructions

Expansiveness

How expansive was the speakers body?

Inter-rater
reliability (r)

.96

Performance:
How good was the interview?
Overall performance
Hireability

.97
Should this person get the job?

.80

Enthusiastic

How enthusiastic was the speaker?

.88

Captivating

Extent to which the speaker captured your attention.

.81

Confident

Extent to which the speaker seemed confident.

.95

Awkwardness (reversescored)

Extent to which the speaker seemed awkward.

.92

Structured

How structured and organized was the speech?

.89

Straightforward

How straightforward was the speech?

.93

Intelligent

How smart and intelligent did the speaker come

across?

.94

Qualifications

How impressive were the qualifications that the

speaker mentioned in the speech?

.87

Presentation Quality:

Speech Quality:

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 11

Figure 1

.283, p = .03

Power
Pose

Presentation
Quality

.811, p = .000

Overall
Performance
.133, p = .095
(.352, p = .005)

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 12

Figure 2

.283, p = .03

Power
Pose

Presentation
Quality

.513, p = .000

Hireability
.201, p = .084
(.330, p = .009)

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 13

Figure Captions
Figure 1. Regression analyses showing that presentation quality mediated the effect of power
pose on overall job interview performance. The coefficient in parentheses represents the direct
effect of power pose on performance, whereas the adjacent coefficient was observed when
presentation quality was added to the model. Broken lines indicate nonsignificant effects. Sobel
test: Z = 2.21, p = .027.
Figure 2. Regression analyses showing that presentation quality mediated the effect of power
pose on ratings of whether or not the person should be hired. The coefficient in parentheses
represents the direct effect of power pose on hireability, whereas the adjacent coefficient was
observed when presentation quality was added to the model. Broken lines indicate nonsignificant
effects. Sobel test: Z = 2.03, p = .042.

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 14

Acknowledgments
The authors enthusiastically thank Madeline Bernstein, Christina Leonelli, Emily Rutter, and
Vera Sundstrm for their contributions to this research, and Pam Smith for her very helpful
feedback on a draft of this paper

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 15

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Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 17

Supplementary Online Materials
Power Posing Instructions:
High-power Condition
This study is about physical motion and performance and so there is a physical position
wed like you to try out. Please stand up and stand with your two feet apart and hands on your
hips like this [experimenter demonstrates for participant]. You will maintain this pose for one
minute and then after one minute is up, I notify you to get into a second pose. The second pose
involves you sitting in the chair with your hands behind your head and your feet up on the table
like this [experimenter demonstrates for participant]. While you are maintaining these positions,
you will be viewing pictures on the computer screen. Please form an opinion or impression of
the people in the pictures.
Low-power Condition
This study is about physical motion and performance and so there is a physical position
wed like you to try out. Please stand up and stand with your two feet crossed over one another
and your hands crossed over your hips like this [experimenter demonstrates for participant]. You
will maintain this pose for one minute and then after one minute is up, I notify you to get into a
second pose. The second pose involves you sitting in the chair with your hands crossed over
your knees and your feet crossed at the ankles [experimenter demonstrates for participant].
While you are maintaining these positions, you will be viewing pictures on the computer screen.
Please form an opinion or impression of the people in the pictures.
Trier Social Stress Test Instructions:
Now what we are going to do is to have you prepare a speech. Imagine that you are
about to interview for your dream job. Wed like you to stay in this position and think about
what you will say. You will have 5 minutes to prepare then you will deliver your speech for 5
minutes to 2 evaluators. The other experimenter and I will evaluate your performance on the
speech task. We will be evaluating your nonverbal behavior and what you say and how you say
it. Remember, (It was written in the incorrect way because Dana thought it was more impactful
even though it was grammatically incorrect. Should we just put it as the correct way as you
corrected because otherwise people who read it will think we dont know the correct phrasing?)
you really want this job. You should be honest and straightforward and talk about your
experiences, strengths, and why YOU should be chosen for this job. You should keep this
physical position while you are preparing the speech. To prepare just think through what you
want to say and you may practice. I am going to turn on this video camera while you prepare.
The camera is so that we can later verify that you maintained this physical position. Remember,
you are preparing for 5 minutes then you will deliver a five-minute speech to two evaluators. Do
you have any questions? I am turning on the video camera now and I will leave the room while
you prepare. I will be back in 5 minutes.
Additional Instructions Given After Speech Preparation Phase
You can now stand however you like. I am X and this is Y. We are both experienced
evaluators. We will be evaluating how you perform on your speech on a number of different

Preparatory Power Posing and Social Evaluation 18

dimensions. We will be observing your nonverbal behavior, listening to what you say, and how
you say it. We will be taking some notes while you are giving your five-minute speech. The
camera is rolling and you may begin whenever you are ready. Please begin by stating what your
ideal job is.