Amy Cuddy Summary

Within the TED Talk Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are, Amy Cuddy begins to bring about the idea of how body langue affects our own emotions and mental observation of ourselves. She believes that we have the ability to change our way of thinking and self-esteem by simply changing our body language. In her words “Fake it until you make it”. Cuddy goes on to talk about how in the animal kingdom, dominance and power are shown through open stance and spreading out. While those who are less dominant make themselves smaller. Cuddy talks about an experiment she conducted where she asked her students (both male and female) to hold either a high-power or low-power pose for two minutes. After that the students were asked “How powerful do you feel?”. They were then given the opportunity to gamble.  What the found was that those who felt more powerful after a high-power stance were more likely to gamble than those who did a lower-power stance.

Personally, I don’t agree with her idea that our body language shows how we feel mentally about ourselves and our own self-power. I don’t think that by changing or body language can change our habit of thought. So essentially we can’t “fake it until we make it”. Personally I don’t think that my body language shows my personal feelings of confidence at all. I tend to sit with my legs and arms tucked in, but that does not necessarily mean that I feel inferior to anyone, or that I am not confident and less likely to participate in class activities. I sit that way because  that positon is comfortable for me. No matter what way I position my body I will participate in class the same.

One thought on “Amy Cuddy Summary”

  1. Hi, Teagan,
    Nice work on your summary! You have outlined Cuddy’s main argument and the claims that support it. Did you think Cuddy’s experiment supported her conclusion about faking it until making it? Was there something about the experiment that you doubted, or is your personal experience your main reason for disagreeing with Cuddy?
    I am interested to see how your experiment with using a power pose goes.
    Thanks for your thoughtful response!

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