Power Poses Myth: Do They Really Change Your Confidence?
Striking a power pose may lift how powerful you feel, but the hormone claim did not hold up in a larger test. The idea became famous through a 2010 study that said two one-minute poses changed testosterone, cortisol and risk-taking, and this guide shows what the follow-up work found, which parts survived, and what to do in a nervous moment.
What did the 2010 power pose study claim?
Carney, Cuddy and Yap published the study in Psychological Science in 2010, and forty-two participants, 26 women and 16 men, were posed into either high-power or low-power positions. Each person held two poses for one minute apiece. The paper reported that high-power posers had higher testosterone, lower cortisol, more feelings of power and more tolerance for risk. The authors described this as embodiment: the body changing the mind and the hormones at the same time.
Quick facts
- The 2010 claim: Two one-minute poses raised testosterone, lowered cortisol, and increased feelings of power and risk tolerance.
- The 2015 replication: 200 participants, with the feeling of power still higher after high-power poses.
- The hormone and risk claims: Not confirmed in the larger test.
- Honest verdict: A short feeling effect, not a body chemistry trick.
- Rule of thumb: Standing tall may change how powerful you feel for a moment, but the hormone claim did not survive a bigger test.
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What did the 2015 replication find?
In 2015, Ranehill and colleagues ran a conceptual replication with 200 participants, 98 women and 102 men, and each person was randomly assigned to a high-power or low-power pose, while the team closely followed the original design but held each position for three minutes instead of one. They also measured a second risk task and willingness to compete. The table below sets the original findings against the replication.
| Outcome | Carney et al. 2010 | Ranehill et al. 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| Feeling of power | Higher after high-power poses | Higher, statistically significant (p = .017) |
| Testosterone | Higher | No significant change (p = .162) |
| Cortisol | Lower | No significant effect |
| Risk tolerance | Higher | No significant effect (p = .215) |
The replication confirmed the self-reported result. The team wrote that they “failed to confirm an effect of power posing on testosterone, cortisol, and financial risk taking.” They also found that the two other behavioral tasks showed no significant differences between the groups. In other words, the posing changed how people reported feeling, and that change did not carry over into hormones or choices in the lab.
Why did the results differ, and what did the original author say?
The replication team pointed to differences in protocol, including the longer hold time, and they also tested whether discomfort explained the gap, finding that limiting the analysis to people who found the poses comfortable did not substantively change the results, according to the paper.
The lead author of the 2010 study has since moved away from the claim. That is a notable shift. In a position statement on her university faculty page, Dana Carney wrote, “I do not believe that ‘power pose’ effects are real.” Her concerns about the original study included a small sample, experimenters who knew the hypothesis, and choices about which measures to keep. She also wrote, “I do not teach power poses in my classes anymore.”
So does a power pose do anything at all?
The honest verdict is smaller than the headline. A short time in an open, expansive pose may change how strong you feel, and that feeling effect held up in the larger test, but the claim that the pose shifts your hormones or makes you take bigger risks did not hold up. Smaller, and only the feeling part survived the replication. The “fake it until you make it” idea goes further than the evidence, because a feeling does not automatically become better performance.
The feeling was recorded at the end of a single lab session. The lab sessions say nothing about whether any boost lasts through a meeting, an exam or a long day. Keep that in mind.
How do I steady my nerves before a tense moment?
Use the pose for what the evidence supports: a short, calm reset that helps you start. No magic here. Let the real preparation do the rest of the work. That part matters most.
- Stand and plant your feet. Set your feet a comfortable width apart and let your weight settle through them.
- Breathe out slowly. Let each out-breath run a little longer than the in-breath, for about a minute.
- Open your posture. Relax your shoulders, uncross your arms and take up a little more room. Hold it for a minute or two.
- Start with a slow first sentence. Say your opening line aloud, slowly, before the moment begins.
The one-minute reset
Before a call or a presentation, stand with your feet apart, breathe out slowly and say your first sentence aloud. Treat it as a calm way to begin, not as a hormone trick. It may help you start, but the evidence does not support a hormone change from it.
Confidence that depends on a pose may not last once the pose ends. Two of our guides address the deeper side. For trusting your own judgment, read how to stop second guessing yourself, and for the pull of other people’s approval, read how to stop seeking validation from others. If a nervous moment ended badly, how to recover after making a mistake at work covers the next steps.
When are nerves more than a passing feeling?
A one-minute reset will not fix nerves you are struggling to cope with. If the things you are trying yourself are not helping, raise it with a doctor or a qualified mental health professional. Feeling powerful for a few minutes is not a substitute for that support.
See a doctor or a qualified professional if you are struggling to cope with nerves, if the things you are trying yourself are not helping, or if nerves stop you doing things you need to do. Do not use posing or confidence tricks to push through symptoms you have not had checked. If the pressure comes from someone who controls or threatens you, that is beyond everyday advice, so contact local support services.
Common questions about power poses and confidence
Do power poses really work?
They can change how powerful you feel for a short time, and the 2015 replication confirmed that feeling effect. They did not change hormones or risk-taking in the same test. Those are different claims.
Is power posing a myth or a fact?
The hormone and risk claims are not supported by the larger replication, so they are best treated as a myth, while the feeling effect is a smaller finding that held up when it was tested again.
Does power posing raise testosterone?
No. The 2015 replication of 200 people found no significant change in testosterone, although the 2010 study reported a rise that did not carry over to the larger test.
Can a power pose before a job interview help?
It may steady your nerves through the feeling it creates, but the replication did not test interview performance, and it found no effect on the behavioral tasks it measured.
What is power posing?
It means holding open, expansive positions that take up space for a short time. The original study used two poses, each held for one minute.
Did Amy Cuddy’s power poses get replicated?
Only in part. The 2015 study confirmed the self-reported feeling of power, but not the hormone or behavior findings from 2010.
Can body language change how confident you feel?
The evidence supports a small change in how powerful people report feeling at the end of a lab session. It does not show a lasting change in confidence.
How long should you hold a power pose?
The original study held each pose for one minute, and the replication held each for three, so neither study identifies an ideal length, which makes a minute or two a reasonable thing to test for yourself.
Do power poses lower stress hormones?
Not on the evidence we have. The 2010 study reported lower cortisol, but the 2015 replication found no significant effect on cortisol, so the stress-hormone claim is not supported by the larger test.
More on how we approach these questions is in Mind & Everyday Psychology.
Sources
- Carney, Cuddy and Yap (2010), “Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance,” Psychological Science
- Ranehill et al. (2015), “Assessing the Robustness of Power Posing: No Effect on Hormones and Risk Tolerance in a Large Sample of Men and Women,” Psychological Science 26(5)
- Dana Carney, “My position on ‘Power Poses’,” position statement on her faculty page
- NHS: Stress (when to see a GP about stress)