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The Healf Source
Power Poses: Do They Work?
Written by: Pippa Thackeray
Written on: April 6, 2025
Thought to be held in high regard as a hack for interviews, public speaking, and mental wellbeing, power posing is now subject to some debate. Here’s what the evidence says.
Introducing power posing
In 2012, Amy Cuddy delivered a TED Talk entitled ‘Your body language may shape who you are,’ which swung the concept of power posing into the view of mainstream consciousness.
Arguably popularised by a simple quote from Amy: "Tiny tweaks can lead to big changes," the talk suggested that adopting certain poses in various situations in day-to-day life, with enough consistency and awareness, could significantly improve a person’s confidence, reduce their stress levels and lead to them attracting success.
Despite the accomplishment of the TED Talk in the public realm, it was however met with a degree of scrutiny from the scientific community.
What are power poses?
Before we get into the evidence and the arguments for their use, it’s worth being aware that ‘power posing’ is simply defined as a contrast between ‘high-power’ and ‘low-power poses’.
High-power poses are expansive, open postures (such as standing with hands on hips or arms spread wide), while low-power poses are contractive and closed (like hunching the shoulders or crossing the arms).
What’s the evidence for power poses?
The original study by Cuddy in 2010, found that holding two one-minute power poses increased testosterone, lowered cortisol, boosted confidence and encouraged constructive risk-taking behaviour.
Moreover, participants in the ‘high-power group’ (those who held expansive, open poses) showed all three effects: hormonal shifts, increased willingness to gamble, and stronger self-reported feelings of power and control.
Why scientists started questioning power posing
However, by 2015, questions arose about the validity of the claims.
Early excitement about power posing fuelled by the 2010 study, which claimed it could boost confidence and influence behaviour, soon buckled. Follow-up research from various papers by other authors, raised some doubt, showing that the original results by Cuddy may not reliably be repeated.
What’s more, Dana Carney, the original lead author, later publicly stated she no longer believed in power poses, famously saying: "I do not believe that 'power pose' effects are real."
Further blows for power posing evidence
After Carney’s retracted statement, a wave of studies compounded this narrative. They found no real effect on behaviour or hormones from power posing, only a boost in self-reported confidence. One of the clearest examples came from a series of studies published in 2017, led by Joseph Cesario.
"Feeling powerful may feel good, but on its own does not translate into powerful or effective behaviours."
Lead researcher Joseph Cesario.
The authors backed this up and suggested the problem might be more to do with how bad people feel in contractive poses (like hunching over or folding in on yourself), rather than any special benefit from expansive ones (like standing tall with your chest open and arms spread).
So, what exactly do power poses offer for our confidence and self-perception?
A review in 2020 of 73 studies backed up the 2017 findings, showing no real benefit from power posing overall. However, it could be said that such results paint power posing in a negative light, with little consideration for the nuances and complexities of human behaviour.
Away from the setting of a controlled study, further evidence highlights in a more pragmatic sense that power posing can still boost confidence for some people, especially in stressful situations. The belief in it might also make it genuinely helpful due to a placebo effect. Cuddy stands by that fact
What can ultimately be gained from the power pose?
This debate on power posing has now spanned over a decade. There has been controversy over the design of the studies and the limits of ‘pop psychology’. Yet, power poses still remain ingrained in our culture, as much as our common sense.
Even if power poses don’t reliably change your hormones or behaviour, they might influence how you're perceived by others in that brief window of ‘first impression’, and, in turn, how you ultimately feel about yourself, all in as little as 100 milliseconds.
So yes, the perception of body language and posing absolutely counts, both in how we form impressions of others and how we form impressions of ourselves.
Shop MOVE and MIND at Healf to find and reinforce your stance: enduring, relentless and unique to you.
This article is for informational purposes only, even if and regardless of whether it features the advice of physicians and medical practitioners. This article is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should never be relied upon for specific medical advice. The views expressed in this article are the views of the expert and do not necessarily represent the views of Healf
This article is for informational purposes only, even if and regardless of whether it features the advice of physicians and medical practitioners. This article is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should never be relied upon for specific medical advice. The views expressed in this article are the views of the expert and do not necessarily represent the views of Healf
Pippa is a content writer and qualified Nutritional Therapist (DipNT) creating research-based content with a passion for many areas of wellbeing, including hormonal health, mental health and digestive health.
As a contributor to The Healf Source, she regularly attends seminars and programmes on a plethora of contemporary health issues and modern research insights with a drive to never stop learning. In addition, interviewing experts and specialists across The Four Pillars: EAT, MOVE, MIND, SLEEP.
In her spare time, she is an avid swimmer, mindfulness and yoga lover, occasionally bringing a raw, honest approach to the topics she faces. You may also discover some personal accounts of eye-opening wellbeing experiences amidst the reality of a disorientating, and often conflicting, modern wellbeing space.
- 1. Introducing power posing
- 2. What are power poses?
- 3. What’s the evidence for power poses?
- 4. Why scientists started questioning power posing
- 5. Further blows for power posing evidence
- 6. So, what exactly do power poses offer for our confidence and self-perception?
- 7. What can ultimately be gained from the power pose?
