Power Poses Author Questions Previous Research

'Power Poses' Author Questions Previous Research The research community seems to have accepted the concept of “power posing,” or the notion that adopting a powerful pose can have a positive psychological effect during high-pressure professional situations. The theory was posited by Dana Carney and Andy Yapâ€"at the time, of Columbia Universityâ€"and Amy Cuddy of Harvard. The researchers found that when groups of students adopted the body language of a dominant boss, they had higher levels of assertiveness, lower levels of stress hormones, and were more likely to take risks in a gambling task. Their findings became widely circulated. Cuddy became an expert on the topic. Her TED Talk on power poses is one of the series’ most-viewed videos of all time, and she’s received hefty speaking fees to talk on the topic, according to New York Magazine. Video Player is loading.Play VideoPlayMuteCurrent Time  0:00/Duration  0:00Loaded: 0%Stream Type  LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time  -0:00  SharePlayback Rate1xChaptersChaptersDescriptionsdescriptions off, selectedCaptionscaptions settings, opens captions settings dialogcaptions off, selectedAudio TrackFullscreenThis is a modal window. This video is either unavailable or not supported in this browser Error Code: MEDIA_ERR_SRC_NOT_SUPPORTED Technical details : No compatible source was found for this media. Session ID: 2019-12-30:70c9fe7242e1086dcd12c77 Player Element ID: jumpstart_video_1 OK Close Modal DialogBeginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal DialogEnd of dialog window.PlayMuteCurrent Time  0:00/Duration  0:00Loaded: 0%Stream Type  LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time  -0:00  Playback Rate1xFullscreenClose Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.Close Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. However, Carney, now a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, published a memo on her website in which she expresses skepticism about her previous research on power poses. The main takeaway? “I do not believe that ‘power pose’ effects are real,” she wrote. Read More: Strike a Power Poseâ€"But Do It in Private One of the main reasons for her doubts is certain decisions she, Cuddy, and Yap made during the research process. For instance, she pointed to their practice of “p-hacking,” an ethically dubious way of making one’s research seem more conclusive than it actually is. Put simply, it involves running a variety of tests and reporting only the results that support a desired conclusion, thus allowing researchers to overstate the significance of some of their findings. Carney also noted that too many of the people studied were aware of the hypothesis being tested. That’s generally considered bad scientific practice, since their knowledge can affect how they respond to an experiment. Additionally, those who participated in the gambling task were informed that they had won, which may have been why they felt a surge of confidence, rather than because they adopted a power pose. Carney’s note concludes with a harsh rejection of her research. “I do not teach power poses in my classes anymore. I do not talk about power poses in the media and haven’t for over 5 years,” she wrote. “I do not think the effect is real.”