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When someone is successful, we think they are lucky to have a bright head and a sharp mind. In fact, success can be achieved without the help of transcendental intelligence, just by competently managing your body. Why is it better to have body language than to be smart?
Social psychologist Amy Cuddy suffered a car accident when she was 19. The brain injury caused her IQ to drop by 30 points. Before the disaster, a talented student could match the intelligence of a genius, and after the accident, her performance dropped to the average level.
This accident was a tragedy for a girl who planned to devote her life to science, and made her feel helpless and insecure. Despite brain damage, she still graduated from college and even went to graduate school at Princeton.
A woman once discovered that it wasn’t intelligence that helped her succeed, it was self-confidence.
This was especially noticeable during difficult negotiations, presentations, or in those moments when it was necessary to defend one’s point of view. The discovery led Amy Cuddy to study body language and its impact on self-confidence and therefore success.
Her biggest discoveries are in the field of positive body language. What it is? It is body language that includes eye contact, active engagement in conversation, listening skills, purposeful gestures that emphasize the message you are trying to convey.
Research shows that people who use «positive» body language and «strong» postures are more likely to win over people, are more persuasive, and have higher emotional intelligence. Here are eight reasons why positive body language is better for you than just high intelligence.
1. It changes your personality
Amy Cuddy found herself consciously adjusting her body language (straightening her back, lifting her chin, straightening her shoulders), which gave her confidence and lifted her spirits. So body language affects our hormones. We know that our mind changes our body, but it turns out that the opposite is also true — the body changes our mind and our personality.
2. Increases testosterone levels
This hormone is produced in us during sports, during competitions and gambling. But testosterone is important for more than just sports. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman, it increases self-confidence and makes other people look at you with different eyes — as a reliable person who is confident in the good result of his work. Positive body language increases testosterone levels by 20%.
3. Reduces cortisol levels
Cortisol is a stress hormone that interferes with your productivity and creates negative long-term health effects. Reducing cortisol levels reduces stress and allows you to think more clearly, make decisions faster, especially in difficult situations. After all, it is much better to have a boss who is not only confident in himself, but also calm, than one who screams and breaks down. Positive body language reduces blood cortisol levels by 25%.
4. Creates a Powerful Combination
Influential people tend to be more aggressive, confident, and optimistic. They really think they can win and take risks more often. There are many differences between strong and weak people. But the main physiological difference is in these two hormones: testosterone, the hormone of leadership, and cortisol, the stress hormone. Domineering alpha males in the primate hierarchy have high testosterone levels and low cortisol levels.
Strong and effective leaders also have high testosterone and low cortisol.
This combination creates confidence and mental clarity that are ideal for working under tight deadlines, making tough decisions, and being able to handle large amounts of work. But if you have a different set of hormones, you can use positive body language to change things that don’t happen naturally. Powerful poses will change hormone levels and help you relax before an exam or an important meeting.
5. Makes you more attractive
In one Tufts University study, students were shown videos without sound. These were conversations between doctors and patients. Just by observing the body language of doctors, the students were able to guess in which cases the patient later sued the doctor, that is, he considered himself a victim of incorrect treatment.
Body language affects how others perceive you and may be more important than your tone of voice or even what you say. Knowing how to use it correctly makes people trust you more. When you feel confident, you assume certain power poses. But by pretending to be confident, you really feel the power.
6. Transfers competence
A Princeton study found that it only takes one video of senatorial or gubernatorial candidates to accurately predict which one will win the election. While this may not affect your choice, it does show that the perception of competence is largely dependent on body language.
Body language is a powerful tool in negotiations (even virtual ones). And there is no doubt that it plays a huge role in your ability to convince others of your way of thinking, including during a video conference.
7. Improves emotional intelligence
The ability to communicate effectively is central to the development of emotional intelligence. By learning strong postures, you can improve your EQ and measure those improvements with a test. But their point is not to pretend to be competent and smart for the duration of the interview, but to make it part of your personality.
Do this until the changes take hold in your character.
It’s like with a smile — even if you forced yourself to smile, the mood still rose. To do this, it is enough to take strong postures for two minutes a day or for two minutes before a stressful situation. Tune your brain for the best developments.
8. Puts it all together
We often think of body language as a result of our emotions, moods, feelings. This is true, but the opposite is also true: it changes our mood, emotions and shapes our personality.