5 Scientifically Backed Ways to Seem More Powerful

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    5 Scientifically Backed Waysto Seem More Powerful

    Martha C.White

    July 21, 2014

    http://time.com/author/martha-c-white/http://time.com/author/martha-c-white/
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    Compassionate Eye Foundation/Jamie GrillGetty ma!es

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    Mail clerk? Administrative assistant? Make the honchos look at you in a whole newlight. Heres how social scientists say you can make people think youre morepowerful.

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    Take up lots of space.MIT researcher Andy Yap says the way we stand and sit can

    give oth those around us as well as ourselves the sense that were powerful.

    !pecifically" what Yap calls #e$pansive poses"% where people adopt a wide stance

    when standing" put their hands on their hips instead of at their sides and stretch out

    their arms and legs when seated. #High&power posers e$perienced elevations in

    testosterone" decreases in cortisol" and increased feelings of power"% Yapwrites. #That

    a person can" y assuming two simple '&min poses" emody power and instantly

    ecome more powerful has real&world" actionale implications.%

    !cientists who study the effects of these hormonal changes saytheyre associated with

    status" leadership and dominance ( and all you have to do is take up more space.

    Tap into the red sneaker effect.This is why Mark )uckererg can get away

    with wearing a hoodie. *esearchers from Harvard +usiness !chool studiedhow

    sometimes looking out of place can have a positive effect. #,nder certain conditions"

    nonconforming ehaviors can e more eneficial than efforts to conform and cansignal higher status and competence to others"% they write. -They give the e$ample of

    someone wearing a pair of red sneakers in a professional setting as an e$ample.

    !ince most of us try to conform to social norms" we tend to think that people who

    delierately dont do so ecause they have enough social status that they dont have to

    care what the rest of us think.

    Use big-picture language.Yes" it pays to e detail&oriented" ut when you

    communicate" think in terms of roader ideas" ecause it makes people think youre

    more powerful. *esearchers discoveredthat when people use astract languages inphrases" sentences and short paragraphs" e$periment su/ects were more likely to

    perceive of them as powerful than when they used more concrete veriage.

    Call the shots on eye contact.!ocial scientists oserve that people with lower

    status tend to make eye contact more than those with higher status ( proaly

    ecause the higher&status person doesnt need to seek approval or isnt as concerned

    with the other persons response. More powerful people also arent afraid to reak eye

    contact" according to Audrey 0elson" writing inPsychology Today.

    http://time.com/3262550/silicon-valley-free-lunch-tax/http://time.com/3257737/job-interview-tips/http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/whats-blog-see-chuck-todds-first-meet-press-appearance-n192196http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/whats-blog-see-chuck-todds-first-meet-press-appearance-n192196http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/whats-blog-see-chuck-todds-first-meet-press-appearance-n192196http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/parting-shot-notre-dame-hands-michigan-its-first-last-shutout-n197451?cid=par-time_20140907http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/parting-shot-notre-dame-hands-michigan-its-first-last-shutout-n197451?cid=par-time_20140907http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wreckage-glazers-plane-may-have-sunk-searchers-say-n197521?cid=par-time_20140907http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wreckage-glazers-plane-may-have-sunk-searchers-say-n197521?cid=par-time_20140907http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wreckage-glazers-plane-may-have-sunk-searchers-say-n197521?cid=par-time_20140907http://pss.sagepub.com/content/21/10/1363.abstracthttp://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Faculty/Josephs/pdf_documents/finalHB2010.pdf%20http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45809http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/minds-business/you-look-more-powerful-when-you-avoid-talking-details-study-shows.html%20http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/he-speaks-she-speaks/201009/the-politics-eye-contact-gender-perspectivehttp://time.com/3262550/silicon-valley-free-lunch-tax/http://time.com/3257737/job-interview-tips/http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/whats-blog-see-chuck-todds-first-meet-press-appearance-n192196http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/whats-blog-see-chuck-todds-first-meet-press-appearance-n192196http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/parting-shot-notre-dame-hands-michigan-its-first-last-shutout-n197451?cid=par-time_20140907http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wreckage-glazers-plane-may-have-sunk-searchers-say-n197521?cid=par-time_20140907http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wreckage-glazers-plane-may-have-sunk-searchers-say-n197521?cid=par-time_20140907http://pss.sagepub.com/content/21/10/1363.abstracthttp://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Faculty/Josephs/pdf_documents/finalHB2010.pdf%20http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45809http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/minds-business/you-look-more-powerful-when-you-avoid-talking-details-study-shows.html%20http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/he-speaks-she-speaks/201009/the-politics-eye-contact-gender-perspective
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    #Investigators found that people who are more dominant reak a greater numer of

    mutual ga1es than those who are more sumissive or in the power&down position"%

    she says. 2ust as Andy Yap finds with our odies" the amount of space a persons ga1e

    takes up also telegraphs how high they are on the social or corporate food chain.

    Stand at the back of the elevator.In an Australian study" researcher *eekah

    *ousi" a 3h4 candidate at the ,niversity of 2yv5skyl5" 6inland" oservedpeoples

    interactions in an office comple$ elevator. #As a result of 78 elevator /ourneys -'9 in

    each uilding a clear social order could e seen regarding where people positioned

    themselves inside the elevators.% !he found that senior male staffers" who she

    suggests have a greater relative amount of power" tended to cluster along the ack

    wall of the elevator.

    http://ethnographymatters.net/blog/2013/04/02/an-uplifting-experience-adopting-ethnography-to-study-elevator-user-experience/http://ethnographymatters.net/blog/2013/04/02/an-uplifting-experience-adopting-ethnography-to-study-elevator-user-experience/