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Carmen Eugenia Guevara

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What is the impact of Amy Cuddy's body language practice, in cognitive terms?

The part of how the posture can stimulate hormones and make you behave in a most efficient way, I get it. But I feel as if we are missing what happens in between, in terms of thoughts.

If the posture generates chemical changes in terms of hormones, how does this relate to (or happen as the same time as) the mind-change here? Does cognitive disonnace occur between the thought "I am not sure I can do this" and the thought "I am perfectly capable of doing this"? Does one thought supress the other or just makes it less powerful for a few moments?

Thanks in advance for your comments, I am a psychologist and I find the idea of "fake it till you become it" absolutely wonderful, which is why I'd love to understand better the whole mental process that allows this to happen.

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    Casey Christofaris 10+

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    Oct 19 2012: personal choice has nothing to do with body language. if you are a flight person and you stand in a certain position, no matter what your body is saying to the other person you are still going to flight. Body language is for the observer not the self. Now if you are in a situation were you are not comfortable body language might help with the chemical uptake. And give you more confidence in that specific situation. Body might represent the mind, but the mind does not represent the body
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      Carmen Eugenia Guevara

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      Oct 19 2012: I think that body language can be, indeed, observed by others, but we can become aware of our own body language and as a result, induct changes in it. Since it's all connected, I also think (and that's the core argument of Amy Cuddy's talk) that these posture changes do have an impact at other levels, for example our attitude at the moment we practice that change. I think it goes both ways, and as some already mentioned in this conversation, maybe the key word here is "awarness", being capable of observing ourselves. Thanks a lot for your comment!
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        Casey Christofaris 10+

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        Oct 19 2012: Never in the history of me taking to someone, when I crossed my arms did that mean I was not engaged in the conversation.

        Confidence does not come from body language, its a choice
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          Colleen Steen 500+

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          Oct 19 2012: Casey,
          I agree with you that confidence is a choice, and don't you think that how we move and position the body facilitates the flow of energy, and may influence our choice?
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        Casey Christofaris 10+

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        Oct 19 2012: Sure, about energy flow, but even then it could be screaming at them to jump, but it still takes the mind to grab that choice and run with it.

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