Should You Stand Like Superman at Work or 'Man-Spread' When You Sit Down?

KATOWICE, POLAND – DECEMBER 03: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Patricia Espinosa (C), Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Hindou Ibrahim, an indigenous peoples’ activist, participate in a panel discussion at the COP 24 United Nations climate change conference on December 03, 2018 in Katowice, Poland. The two -week conference is taking place in the wake of recent scientific reports that point to an even more dire situation of global warming and its consequences. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Study: The Power Pose Really Does Work – ‘Man Spread’ May or May Not

If you need to feel more confident you may want to adjust the way you stand.

Researchers say adopting a “power pose” can make you feel and behave more confidently.

It involves standing in a posture of dominance, for example “standing or sitting in a very expansive way, taking up a lot of space.”

Researchers from three universities looked at data from over 130 experiments with a total of 10,000 participants, and found mixed results. For example, participants were found to be more persistent with tasks when they adopted a power pose, but there was no link found between the power pose and hormone levels.

Here are where the results continue to twist:

If you take up a lot of space, when you’re seated – and others may need it (like, on a train or a bus or a plane or in a waiting area) – you may be perceived as inconsiderate or selfish, or just pretty oblivious or unaware.
If there’s no need for seating, near you, then you’ll look confident and comfortable.

Study author Professor Astrid Schutz says, “The findings on the physiological effects of power posing are not robust, and have not been replicated by independent research groups.”

The researchers also pointed out that there were some limitations in previous studies about power posing, including that most did not involve a control group; and almost all of them took place in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (aka WEIRD) societies.

This means it’s unclear if the findings can be applied to other cultures.

There’s more, here: (Daily Mail)