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Annabelle Thomas

Professor Hellmers

English 1201

17 March 2019

Online Casebook

My research paper will attempt to explain the different types of power poses and analyze

their efficacy. I want to know if power poses have a positive effect on one’s performance. I will

be using a variety of reliable sources, primarily information from academic journals based on

different studies of power posing.

“Cortisol | Hormone Health Network.” Hormone.org, 2019, www.hormone.org/hormones-and-

health/hormones/cortisol.

https://www.hormone.org/hormones-and-health/hormones/cortisol

The article “What is Cortisol,” was published on Hormone Health Network in 2019.

Although it does not have a specific author, the information was collected by qualified

endocrinologists. This article explains the hormone cortisol and its different functions in the

human body. It explains the problems associated with too high or too low levels of cortisol.

Finally, this article describes the process in which cortisol is generated in the human body.

The main purpose of this article is to inform people about the hormone cortisol and the

ways in which it functions. This is primarily aimed at an academic audience who wants to learn

more about the functions of hormones in the human body. This article is extremely recent and is

written on a website that focuses only on hormones, which makes this information more reliable.
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This source does not have an author explicitly stated. Although this source does not have

a specific named author, the article is published by Hormone Health Network which makes this

source reliable. The Hormone Health Network is primarily dedicated to the various hormones of

the human body and how they function. Its resources are based on the clinical and scientific

expertise of The Endocrine Society, which is made up of qualified physicians and scientists

involved in endocrinology. This article was published in 2019, so its information is up to date

with the latest developments in endocrinology.

This source will be used to explain the hormones triggered by power poses. This source

will provide information that describes the hormones’ uses and processes in the human body

with and without power poses.

“Power Poses Affect Risk Tolerance and Skin Conductance Levels.” 2018 IEEE 30th

International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI), Tools with

Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI), 2018 IEEE 30th International Conference on, ICTAI,

2018, p. 1033. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1109/ICTAI.2018.00159.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Davide_Saggese/publication/329743585_Power_Poses_Aff

ect_Risk_Tolerance_and_Skin_Conductance_Levels/links/5c1d4ed392851c22a33d3346/Power-

Poses-Affect-Risk-Tolerance-and-Skin-Conductance-Levels.pdf

“Power Poses Affect Risk Tolerance and Skin Conductance Levels,” is a conference

paper composed by David Saggese, Gennaro Cordasco, Mauro N. Maldonato, Nikolaos

Bourbakis, Alessandro Vinciarelli, and Anna Esposito that was published in 2018 by the 30th

International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence. This paper seeks to explain the

study conducted in which the participants responded positively to power poses. The study
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conducted tested numerous subjects and examined their responses to high-powered and low-

powered poses. The results concluded that the subjects who held high-powered poses had

increased levels of risk tolerance and the feeling of power. The subjects who held low-power

poses, however, had increased levels of stress and a decreased feeling of power.

The purpose in this article was to collect data on high-powered and low-powered poses

and examine how the subjects responded. This article targets the academic audience, specifically

those involved in the field of social psychology. This study was conducted in an academic setting

which makes the results more reliable for the audience.

This article is made up of a variety of qualified authors. It includes David Saggese,

department of psychology at Università della Campania, Gennaro Cordasco, department of

psychology at Università della Campania, Mauro N. Maldonato, department of neuroscience at

Università di Napoli, Nikolaos Bourbakis, department of Computer Science and Engineering at

Wright State University, Alessandro Vinciarelli, from the School of Computing Science at the

University of Glasgow, and Anna Esposito department of psychology, Università della

Campania. Each of these authors have studied specific subjects for numerous years, proving their

reliability. This study was conducted in 2018 showing the data is not outdated but instead very

recent. These authors have various areas of expertise that contribute to the overall topic of power

posing, which makes this article credible.

This source will be used to show the difference between high-powered poses and low-

powered poses. I will use the results of this study that show high-powered poses generated

feelings of power and risk-taking whereas low-powered poses had the opposite effect.
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Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, et al. “Corrigendum: Yoga Poses Increase Subjective Energy and

State Self-Esteem in Comparison to ‘Power Poses’.” Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 9

(2018), 2018. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00149/full.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5425577/

The source “Corrigendum: Yoga Poses Increase Subjective Energy and State Self-Esteem

in Comparison to ‘Power Poses,’” is an academic journal written primarily by Agnieszka Golec

de Zavala and was published to Frontiers in Psychology in 2018. This article focuses on the

successful use of yoga poses instead of the traditional power poses. This source explains the

psychological effects of basic body positioning on a human person and explains how the

practicing of yoga yields similar effects. The study conducted compared the uses of high and

low-powered power poses and open yoga poses among a group of subjects. The data collected

showed the open and expansive yoga poses had a positive effect on the subjects feeling of power

and confidence. However, the traditional high-powered poses continued to have the best effect

among subjects as those poses generated the greatest feelings of power and confidence.

The purpose of this article is to compare the effectiveness of power poses with yoga

poses. It focuses on an alternative form of posing that may have better effects on subjects. This

article is directed at an academic audience that is interested in the psychology of power posing.

Because this study was conducted in 2018, some people may believe the data to be more reliable.

However, this study was also conducted with subjective data, which may make some researchers

challenge the study.

The main author of this article is Agnieszka Golec de Zavala. Zavala has earned her Ph.

D. in psychology and is a professor in the department of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of

London. Her research primarily includes the areas of Intergroup Conflict, Prejudice and
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Collective Narcissism in psychology. This article was published in 2018, so the date collected is

recent. This source is from EBSCO which contains reliable sources that can be used for

academic purposes.

In my paper, I will use this source to contrast the effectiveness of typical power poses

with the yoga poses presented in this article. The results from this study show that yoga poses are

just as effective, if not more effective than power poses. Although yoga poses are not the typical

power poses described in some of my other sources, the success of a basic pose is still visible.

Cuddy, Amy J. C., et al. “Preparatory Power Posing Affects Nonverbal Presence and Job

Interview Performance.” Journal of Applied Psychology, no. 4, 2010, p. 1286.

EBSCOhost,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=edsggo&AN=edsgcl.427459213&site=eds-live.

http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/dana_carney/pp_performance.pdf

The academic journal “Preparatory Power Posing Affects Nonverbal Presence and Job

Interview Performance,” written primarily by Amy Cuddy and later published in 2010 by the

Journal of Applied Psychology, was one of the first studies conducted on power poses. This

study conducted shows the positive effects power poses have on an individual’s performance in

stressful situations. In this original study of power poses, Cuddy tested both high-powered and

low-powered power poses on individuals before a stressful interview in an attempt to see if the

poses would have an effect on the subject’s success during the interview. The low-powered

poses included positions that constricted the subjects’ body whereas the high-powered poses

included positions that made the subjects’ body expansive. The results garnered showed that
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expansive positions produced more confident subjects who were more likely to receive the job at

the interview.

Amy Cuddy’s purpose in this article was to collect data on power posing and show the

positive effects that came from it. This article targets the academic audience, specifically those

involved in the field of social psychology. Because this study was one of the first studies

conducted on this subject, many people believed this information to be reliable.

Amy Cuddy’s academic journal was published by the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Cuddy has acquired a bachelor’s degree in psychology and both her master’s and Ph.D. in social

psychology. She has worked as an assistant psychology professor at Rutgers University,

Northwestern University, and Harvard Business School. She has conducted various research

studies on social psychology. This source was also found on EBSCO which is known to contain

trustworthy academic sources. Although this piece was published in 2010, making the data

relatively older, the information included remains valuable and supported by other studies.

This source will be one of my main sources for my research paper. I will include various

parts of this article including the ways the study was conducted along with the results that

showed power posing had a positive effect on the subjects.

Hanna, Julia. “Power Posing: Fake It Until You Make It.” HBS Working Knowledge, 20 Sept.

2010, hbswk.hbs.edu/item/power-posing-fake-it-until-you-make-it.

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/power-posing-fake-it-until-you-make-it

“Power Posing: Fake It Until You Make It,” is an article written by Julia Hanna that was

published on Harvard Business School Working Knowledge in 2010 that is aimed at explaining

the positive effects of power poses. This article uses Amy Cuddy’s original study to explain
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power poses and their uses. This source analyzes the methods in Cuddy’s experiment and the

results that supported the use of high-powered poses.

Julia Hanna’s purpose in this article is to inform various people about the positive effects

of power posing. This is targeted at people who struggle with interviews or presentations because

of their nerves or anxiety. Because this article was written in 2010, this information is slightly

older and does not contain the most recent information on the subject of power posing. However,

it still contains reliable information pertinent to the subject. This article also examines the sense

of dominance that comes from the subjects who held the high-powered poses during the study.

Julia Hanna’s article on power poses was published by Harvard Business School

Working Knowledge. Hanna has been a writer and editor for over 30 years in print and digital

publishing. For the past two decades she has worked at Harvard Business School as a senior

content producer, associate director. Hanna has gained information from psychology studies on

power poses, including the study conducted by Cuddy. Although this source is older, it still

contains information that explain the basic idea of power poses and their benefits. It is published

by Harvard Business School Working Knowledge which is made up of qualified writers.

This source will be used to explain power poses in my paper. My other sources explain

the effects of different power poses, but this source includes information about different power

poses and their possible effects.

Smith, Kristopher M., and Coren L. Apicella. “Winners, Losers, and Posers: The Effect of Power

Poses on Testosterone and Risk-Taking Following Competition.” Hormones and

Behavior, 2017. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.11.003.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27840104
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In “Winners, Losers, and Posers: The Effect of Power Poses on Testosterone and Risk-

Taking Following Competition,” written by Kristopher M. Smith and Coren L. Apicella and later

published by Hormones and Behavior in 2017, the study challenges the efficacy of power poses

seen in previous studies. In contrast to other studies conducted on power poses, this academic

journal seeks to discredit the stigma that high-powered poses yield positive effects.

The purpose of this article is to challenge studies that support the idea of power posing.

The article is targeted at an academic audience, especially those who have studied previous

studies on power posing. Because this article was published in 2017 and is one of the more

recent studies conducted on power posing, the audience is more likely to trust some of the newer

information presented in this study. Unlike previous studies conducted on power poses, this

study uses the context of competition among its subjects. The study used the game tug-of-war to

determine the winners and losers among subjects. From there, the subjects were assigned to hold

high-powered, low-powered, and neutral poses. Their changes in testosterone and cortisol were

recorded and created results that were not as substantial as the original experiments on power

poses. The significant results gathered showed the winners who held high-powered poses had an

increase in testosterone, losers who also held high powered poses had a decrease in testosterone

and cortisol. However, the other results of the experiment, specifically the changes cortisol and

testosterone, showed little change among the various groups after different types of posing.

The authors of this article are Coren L. Apicella and Kristopher M. Smith. Apicella has

earned her bachelor’s dree in psychology, MS in evolutionary psychology, MA in biological

anthropology, and her Ph.D. in biological anthropology. Apicella has conducted various research

projects involving psychology. Kristopher M. Smith is earning his Ph.D. in psychology while
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studying under Apicella. This article was published in 2017, making the data in the source recent

and reliable. This source was also found on EBSCO which contains credible sources.

In my research paper, I will use this source as an alternative viewpoint of power poses.

Since the results in this experiment show little to no correlation between power poses and

effectiveness, this data will be used to contrast other studies on power posing.

Weineck, Felicitas, et al. “Improving Interoceptive Ability through the Practice of Power Posing:

A Pilot Study.” Plos One, vol. 14, no. 2, Feb. 2019, pp. 1–23. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0211453.

https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=e5590468-7764-

47e2-aeb4-04f11e491c47%40sdc-v-

sessmgr04&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=134568485&db=fsr

In Olga Pollatos’s and Felicitas Weineck’s “Improving Interoceptive Ability through the

Practice of Power Posing: A Pilot Study,” an academic journal published by Plos One in 2019, a

study was conducted to examine if power poses generated feelings of confidence and higher self

esteem among subjects. This article focuses on interoception, or how individuals understand the

signals and what is happening in their body. Decreased levels of interoception have been linked

to increases in mental illnesses. However, this study tested the effect of power poses to see if

these positions would increase interoceptive accuracy among subjects. The results concluded that

the consistent use of power poses had a positive effect among subjects. Their interoceptive

accuracy increased along with their feelings of power.

The purpose of this article is to show the positive effects power posing had on subjects’

interoceptive accuracy, which ultimately plays a major role in how the subjects conduct their
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lives. This study is aimed at an academic audience of those interested in studying psychology.

This academic study from 2019 supports previous studies on this subject and contains

information that is believable by other researchers.

The main authors of this article are Felicitas Weineck and Olga Pollatos. Weineck has

earned her bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology. She is currently working for her Ph.D.

by investigating the effects of embodiment interventions on interoceptive abilities, studying

under Pollatos. Pollatos has earned her Ph.D. in biological psychology and completed her

doctoral studies in neuroradiology. Pollatos has continually studied the areas of emotion in

psychology for many years and has been a member of various psychological studies. This article

is an extremely recent study that contains data that contributes to the topic of power posing.

I will use this source in my research paper to support the success of power poses. The

data in this study shows that power poses improved the subjects feeling of power over a long-

term session.