The Dance Cure by Dr Peter Lovatt

Author:Dr Peter Lovatt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780724126
Publisher: Short Books

Why not give it a go? You’ll be amazed at the results!

STANDING STILL

In 1990, Madonna released a song called “Vogue” whose opening line is “Strike a pose”. The basic premise of the song is that if you want to escape the pain of life and be something else, something better, then you should lose yourself on the dance floor, the idea being that “striking a pose” can help you unlock your imagination, where you’ll find inner beauty and inspiration. Of course, this is just a pop song, but several scientific studies seem to show that striking a pose (or standing in a particular way) can change the way people think and feel.

One of the most influential psychological studies published so far this century was carried out by Dana Carney, Amy Cuddy and Andy Yapp at Columbia and Harvard Universities in 2010.20 Forty-two people were divided into two groups and made to stand or sit in a number of poses. The people in the first group were placed in “high-power poses”. A high-power pose is a way of standing or sitting that looks confident, relaxed and self-assured. Imagine leaning back in your chair, with your arms behind your head and your feet up on the desk in front of you, or leaning over a desk with your arms spread wide. The people in the second group were placed in “low-power poses”, which are poses that look closed and constricted. Imagine sitting on a chair with both feet flat on the floor and your hands crossed over your lap or standing with your legs and arms crossed. All the participants were asked to hold their poses for a total of two minutes.

The research team took three measurements. First, they asked the participants how “powerful” and “in charge” they felt. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those who had been standing or sitting in high-power poses felt more powerful and more in charge than those who’d been standing or sitting in low-power poses.

Secondly, they set the participants a “risk-taking” gambling task. People were given $2 and a dice. They could either keep the money (the safe bet) or they could roll the dice (the high-risk bet). If they rolled the dice and got an odd number, they lost the $2. However, if they rolled an even number, they won $4. What would you do? The scientists found that 86% of those people who had been placed in the high-power poses took the high-risk bet, compared to only 60% of the people placed in the low-power poses. It seems to be the case that just standing or sitting in a particular pose for a couple of minutes is enough to change how powerful people feel and also influences their risk-taking behaviour. This implies that if you want to take a risk and you need to get into a riskier mindset, you should strike a powerful pose first.

What I find really amazing is the researchers’ third finding. Before the participants took up their poses, each had to provide a

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