Politicians are very experienced - maybe too experienced - at using body language to signal power and competence. But what these politicians are much more likely to struggle with, or just neglect to do altogether, is communicate warmth and trustworthiness.

Amy Cuddy

Categorized in : Struggle Power Body Language

Our bodies change our minds and our minds can change our behavior and our behavior can change our outcomes.

motivation inspiration mind

Don't fake it till you make it. Fake it till you become it. by Amy Cuddy

Don't fake it till you make it. Fake it till you become it.

fake motivation inspiration

The whole body-mind thing comes into play, when you are feeling that self-doubt and your body is not going to help you if you're not paying attention. Your body's going to go with the self-doubt and make you feel worse, so by making the adjustments - pulling your shoulders back, standing up straight, walking in a more sort of expansive way - all sorts of little things will help pull you out of that self-doubt.

self play feelings

Trust is the conduit for influence; it's the medium through which... by Amy Cuddy

Trust is the conduit for influence; it's the medium through which ideas travel.

mediums influence ideas

When we close ourselves off, we're not just closing ourselves off to other people, we're closing ourselves off from ourselves and impeding ourselves. When you open up, you allow yourself to be who you are.

closing be-who-you-are people

Everyone is walking around with these self doubts, so there's something reassuring about that. And self-doubt in one or a few areas doesn't mean that you have generally low self-esteem. And you have the power to get yourself out of feeling that way.

self-esteem feelings mean

Tiny tweaks can lead to big changes. by Amy Cuddy

Tiny tweaks can lead to big changes.

tiny bigs monday

Your body language shapes who you are by Amy Cuddy

Your body language shapes who you are

shapes language body

Our nonverbals govern how other people think and feel about us. by Amy Cuddy

Our nonverbals govern how other people think and feel about us.

feels people thinking

Even more dramatic, Alex Todorov at Princeton has shown us that judgments of political candidates' faces in just one second predict 70 percent of U.S. Senate and gubernatorial race outcomes, and even, let's go digital, emoticons used well in online negotiations can lead to you claim more value from that negotiation. If you use them poorly, bad idea. Right? So when we think of nonverbals, we think of how we judge others, how they judge us and what the outcomes are. We tend to forget, though, the other audience that's influenced by our nonverbals, and that's ourselves.

race ideas thinking

That's the dream scenario: when people approach these stressful situations not focused on that concrete outcome but just focused on being there and being themselves and enjoying connecting with people. You're not going to be present all the time, but if you can figure out how to connect with yourself and bring that self forth in those moments, you will probably be feeling a lot better over time, and it's likely that even though you're not focused on the outcome, the outcomes will be better.

stressful-situations self dream

My primary goal is really to get people to open up and when they feel themselves contracting and collapsing to reduce that, and to know when that happens, "Oh, something's going on that's making me feel this way, and if I force my body open a bit, I will feel less powerless."

body goal people

I would say there is a conversation happening between your body and mind all the time. Even when you're sleeping, your body is communicating the information to your mind. And so to me it feels like, why not harness that? If it's happening all the time, why not control the content of the conversation?

why-not mind sleep

When we think of nonverbals, we think of how we judge others. … We tend to forget, though, the other audience that's influenced by our nonverbals: ourselves.

motivation inspiration thinking

I hear from so many women who really started to pay attention to it at all times and stopped, you know, touching their faces and necks and playing with their hair and twisting their legs. I think women become more aware of it when they learn about this stuff, and you see their body language change.

touching hair thinking

I've been studying sexism for many years, and it's much easier to document the existence of sexism than it is to document the existence of interventions that reduce it. It's really hard to find ways to change the way people see people in different groups. It should be our goal, and we're working for that, but it's hard.

goal people years

Power is generally defined as control over resources and control over access to resources, which often means control over other people because we're thinking about things like financial resources or shelter, or even love and affection, but we also possess resources that we sometimes can't access.

mean people thinking

Charisma seems to be more about the intoxicating quality that you have on other people, as opposed to presence, which is more about the self in relation to others, and how you feel you represented yourself in a situation, and how you were able to engage. So it's less about how others see you and more about how you see yourself.

yourself you quality people

Trust comes before strength, and it becomes a conduit of influence. Your strength is a little bit threatening before people trust you.

you trust strength people

The mind shapes the body, and the body shapes the mind. by Amy Cuddy

The mind shapes the body, and the body shapes the mind.

shapes body mind