Power Posing As A College Freshman
As a Freshman, college can be daunting. A new school with new people, new classes, new professors, and a new environment. Alison Graham (A sophomore at Indiana University) points out that four of the things that most incoming college students worry the most. These four things are: meeting friends, class difficulty, partying, and finals. All of this can be (as expected) nerve wrecking. Amy Cuddy presents a tool that applies to college freshman in order to calm these nerves and be confident when it comes to the four things that Graham points out. This tool can be referred to as power posing.
Power poses are certain stances and body language positions that can boost testosterone and decrease cortisol (stress inducing hormone). The increase in testosterone and decrease in cortisol can certainly be helpful when trying to be confident without being stressed. Doing some of these high power poses:
for just 2 minutes (according to Cuddy) at some point during the day can boost confidence when trying to conquer meeting new people, going to a class for the first time or meeting with a new professor. It can also be beneficial for students to avoid slouching into the low power positions (above) throughout the day. This will keep the cotrisol level consistantly low and the testosterone levels high all day.
Though doing these power posing can be beneficial when trying to rid of those first year nerves Cuddy makes it clear in her text that you should not just do them nonchalant where ever, there is a certain time and place when they are appropriate. Cuddy suggests “maybe …in the bathroom, right?” (13:20), doing these power posing boldly during a class or conversation could be seen as rude. So using Cuddy’s suggestion maybe 15 minutes before a new class or before meeting new people go into a bathroom stall and do a power pose (like the wonder woman pose) for 2 minutes. This can help to lower the cortisol levels that can otherwise make the stress even worse, and increase testosterone levels that can help aid in confidence. As a freshman having that confidence can be key when entering a new classroom or meeting new people.
Power posing can also be effective after college. Amy Cuddy’s study was focused on job interviews (which can also be applied to the college freshman). Amy Cuddy mentions that before a job interview “You’re sitting down. You’re looking at your IPhone—or your Android…you’re hunching up, making yourself small” (13:20). Instead of doing what is typical of people before a job interview, you can again use power posing and for 2 minutes in the bathroom to make yourself big. This can boost confidence right before the interview, which can sometimes make or break getting the job.
In conclusion Amy Cuddy’s power posing techniques can be extremely useful as Freshman in college as well as after college. A mere 2 minutes of power posing can make a huge difference in the success of making friends and mastering new classes as well as something as important as landing a job after college.
Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk that specifically addresses power posing.
References
Title image: http://www.hackcollege.com/blog/2013/04/24/surviving-freshman-year.html
http://www.fastweb.com/student-life/articles/4117-calming-college-nerves
http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are/transcript?language=en
