Study: Power Poses Can Change Your Behavior


From the original article on November 5, 2013. Author: Chateau Heartiste.

More evidence emerges that the game principle of “fake it till you make it” has real world validity.

How your posture might make you more likely to cheat, steal, and commit traffic violations.

Here, the researchers tested whether a person’s posture — specifically, how “expansive”, or spread out, it is — affects their willingness to perform dishonest acts. Turns out that tricking people into adopting an expansive body position make them more willing to steal money, cheat on a test, and even commit traffic violations in a driving simulation. Not only that, but cars with wider seats were more likely to be found illegally parked on the streets of New York City. The authors hypothesize that the effects they see are due to the expansive body position making people feel more powerful — and, as we know, powerful people tend to be both dishonest and hypocritical.

And sexy to the ladies. mrowr.

Yes, adopting “alpha male” power poses will actually make you FEEL more alpha and ALTER your behavior, even your hormonal profile, so that it is aligned more closely with the behavior of rubber-stamped alpha males.

In short, faking the alpha male demeanor turns you into a living, breathing alpha male. It’s more precise to say that you should “fake it till you create it”. Incorporating game concepts into your life will create an alpha male version of yourself. If you’re already alpha, it’ll make you alpha-ier.

The first three experiments showed that individuals who assumed expansive postures (either consciously or inadvertently) were more likely to steal money, cheat on a test, and commit traffic violations in a driving simulation. Results suggested that participants’ self-reported sense of power mediated the link between postural expansiveness and dishonesty. Study 4 revealed that automobiles with more expansive driver’s seats were more likely to be illegally parked on New York City streets. Taken together, the results suggest that, first, environments that expand the body can inadvertently lead people to feel more powerful, and second, these feelings of power can cause dishonest behavior.”

If you sit (or stand) like a powerful man, i.e., an alpha male, you’ll feel more powerful. This feeling of power produces real consequences for other people, whom you will be more likely to screw over for your personal benefit. It also produces another benefit: girls will want to sleep with you.


Library of Chadnet | wiki.chadnet.org