10 Simple Body Postures Tricks To Boost Brain Power
Christopher Philip
Embodied cognition says that the brain is not just in a jar connected to our bodies through a set of neural wring. Rather, the brain is neatly integrated with our body acting as a total unit. Therefore, what happens in our bodies has a profound effect on our perception, wellbeing, mood as well as impressions formed in others.
With a few simple body tricks we can shift our sense of power in a positive way. In other words, our bodies can produce profound effects on our mind.
Here are a few simple tricks to create desirable changes.
1. Power Pose For Power
Research by Carney et al. (2019) made famous by fellow researcher Amy Cuddy found that by placing the arms akimbo (on the hips) tilting the chin upwards and puffing out the chest has the effect of releasing esteem producing testosterone while simultaneously reducing the release of the stress hormone cortisol. This posture produces the effects in as little as one minute and can be done through sitting or standing. In fact, any open body posture such as placing the feet on one’s desk, or throwing the arms over the chair next to you, should produce the same desired effect. By just taking up more space than ordinary produces feelings of dominance and superiority.
Researcher Jessica Tracy at UBC has also argued that the ‘power pose’ is in fact a universal expression of pride and recognized as a symbol of embodied status. By taking on the posture, one is telling others that he or she is worthy of special attention because they have achieved social dominance and success.
2. Smile To Boost Happiness
Many researchers have found that smiling primes the body in a feedback loop. As the lips turn upward, the brain responds by thinking that it’s happy. Thus, not only do we smile because our brains tell us we are happy, but our bodies tell our brain that we are happy when we smile.
To secretly stimulate a smile in experiments, researchers placed pens in the mouths of subjects. The researchers found that those who had pens in their mouths found cartoons to be funnier than those who didn’t.
3. Persist By Crossing Your Arms
In 2008 researchers Friedman and Elliot found that participants who crossed their arms when taking part in a difficult task lasted much longer than those who didn’t. During the task, the participants worked on a set of anagrams and worked nearly twice as long as those who did not cross their arms. In turn, this created more correct solutions.
4. Lay Down Supine For Creativity
In 2005 researchers Lipnick and Byrne found that subjects who laid down while working on anagrams solved them faster than those who worked on them in an upright position. It seems that laying down unlocks our minds creativity. Perhaps laying down is a relaxing and safe position as it is done while sleeping, nearing sleep, or at the end of sleep. Perhaps our minds embody creativity through dreaming and so by taking up a dream-ready posture we unlock our creativity.
5. Flex Arms For Creativity
Researchers Ning Hao et al 2019 found that arms flexed rather than extended produced more creative thought. However, this was only found while seated. While laying down, arms extended, evoked more creativity. This is because each posture creates ‘approach’ versus ‘avoidance’ mechanisms in the mind. When we lie down, for example, we bring things nearer (approach them) by extending our arms outward and reach for them, but when sitting down, we approach by pulling things toward us. Thus, our minds are neatly tied to how our bodies will interact with the outside world.
6. Use Gesture To Persuade and Learn
Gesture isn’t just used to replace words. Research by Maricchiolo et al. 2008 has found that messages are also more persuasive when delivered with gesture than when no gesture is used. Perhaps gestures make our points easier to understand, however, equally as likely is that gesture makes us appear more dominant and free to use space and comfortable enough to be noticeable through movement.
Researche by Cook et al. 2007 found that gesture is effective in helping children learn. In fact, when children gestured, they also retained more information.
Thus gesture is effective to both persuade and retain.
7. Tense Your Muscles To Endure More Pain
Research by Hung and Labroo (2019) found that by firming up the muscles, participants were better able to not only withstand pain, but also resist the temptation to eat delicious food, take unpleasant medication, as well as pay attention to disturbing information. Therefore, tense muscles are a way that our bodies tell our minds to buck-up in the face of distasteful stimulus.
8. Use An Anger Face To Showcase Strength And Persuade
Researchers Aaron Sell, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby argue in their paper that the anger face is not a random facial expression, but rather a specific display of physical strength in humans. In fact, they argue that not only does the anger face showcase strength, but that the muscles used are far from arbitrary. In other words, they have a specific origin. “Specifically,” say the researchers “during conflicts of interest, natural selection favored displaying those configurations of muscle activation that amplified others’ assessments of the sender’s fighting ability—in the human case, those configurations that amplified cues of strength.” Thus, the anger face is a demonstration of a person’s fighting ability.
Research by Reed et al, 2019 has also found that an anger expression also lends itself to more effective persuasion. In other words, people are more likely to take you seriously if you show that you really ‘mean’ it.
9. Imitate and Mirror For Empathy
Copying someone’s gestures and postures produces not only likeness, but also sameness. This helps us understand other people and also creates bonding. When two people are in sync they seem to dance. Therefore, mirroring can produce feelings of empathy and trust in others. Mirroring other people can also be a great way to embody exactly how another person is feeling. In other words, by adopting another’s posture, we can begin to feel how another person really feels.
10. Avoid Looking Like A Loser With Winning Body Language
Research led by Philip Furley found that observers are easily able to detect who is winning or losing a match just by observing their body language. The winners showcase their position in the match through dominant postures such as chin held high, chest puffed out and more lose body language while those who are losing lower their heads in submissiveness and shame. The effect of demonstrating losing body language is that it boosts the confidence of the winners making it more difficult to dig one’s way out of the losing trough. So when you’re down, keep your chin up – and if you absolutely can’t win, at least you’ve lost with pride.
Image Credit: Beth Scupham
Resources
Adank, Patti; Peter Hagoort; Harold Bekkering. Imitation Improves Language Comprehension. Psychological Science December 2019. 21(12): 1903-1909. doi: 10.1177/0956797610389192.
Austin, Elizabeth E. and Naomi Sweller. Presentation and Production: The Role of Gesture in Spatial Communication. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2019. 122: 92-103.
Carney, Dana R.; Amy J.C. Cuddy; Andy J. Yap. Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance. Psychological Science, 2019; 21 (10): 1363-1368.
Cook, Susan Wagner; Zachary Mitchell and Susan Goldin-Meadow. Gesturing Makes Learning Last. Cognition. 106(2): 1047-1058. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2007.04.010
Friedman, Ron and Andrew J. Elliot. The Effect Of Arm Crossing On Persistence And Performance. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2008; 38, 449–461 (2008).
Hao, Ning; Huan Yuana; Yi Hua and Roland H. Grabner. Interaction Effect of Body Position and Arm Posture on Creative Thinking. Learning and Individual Differences. 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2019.03.025
Hung, Iris W. and Aparna A. Labroo. From Firm Muscles to Firm Willpower: Understanding the Role of Embodied Cognition in Self-Regulation. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 37, No. 6 (April 2019), pp. 1046-1064. Article DOI: 10.1086/657240
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/657240.
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Reed, Lawrence, Ian; Peter DeScioli and Steven A. Pinker. The Commitment Function of Angry Facial Expressions. Psychological Science. 2019 DOI: 10.1177/0956797614531027.
Sell, A., Cosmides, L. and Tooby, J., The Human Anger Face Evolved to Enhance Cues of Strength. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.05.008.
Tracy, Jessica L. and Richard W. Robins. The Nonverbal Expression of Pride: Evidence for Cross-Cultural Recognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2008. 94(3): 516–530. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.94.3.516.
