Non verbal communication

TED TALK: Amy Cuddy

Amy cuddy a social psychologist who speaks on her research on how our nonverbal behaviour affects our lives in more ways in which we initially realise. Also on how minor tweaks can benefit our perspective and behaviour towards life essentials, such as work. Nonverbal’s can influence how others judge us and how we judge others for example an individual with poor posture and who avoids eye contact can be judged negatively as someone who is lazy or lacks interest. Secondly our own body language  influences our perspective towards life and our physiology. She believes that choosing to adopt a more positive attitude towards nonverbal commination or “faking it” can help us progress and improve our own self-esteem while motivating us. She claims that there are two different types of attitudes towards body language: High Power and Low Power. People who adopt a higher power are more involved in discussions, more upbeat, more motivated and tend to have higher success rates. While in contrast people who adopt a lower power are more reserved, less confident, less involved and tend to not succeed at a higher rate than those with a higher power attitude. She has identified the different ways in which people communicate what type of power they fall under, through the study of Kinesics (body movement) these ways of communication can consist of :

·         Gestures

·         Facial expressions

·         Body Posture

·         Body Movement (nods, shrugs..etc.)  

Furthermore she has identified methods in which you can improve the way in which you communicate with others and achieve a higher power attitude, this will lead you to a happier more driven, be more optimistic and succeed in life. Power posing is a technique she has developed and studied under the acts of power posing. These acts include: Standing in a wide or assertive manner e.g. hands on your hips or open wide arms, sitting straight while seated,holding your arms behind your head etc.. . Adopting this small routine of using power poses while “Faking” a more confident attitude in your everyday life will actually have a positive effect on your mind. As a result you will embrace the positivity and it will become a more natural behaviour, guiding you to take more risks and live a happier and more successful life.