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Power posing
2010· Finding or experiment
Weak or failed to replicateFamous but not holding up in careful repeats.
The claim that holding an expansive 'power pose' for two minutes changes hormones and boosts confidence and risk-taking.
See it on the Psychology map →What it says
In 2010 Dana Carney, Amy Cuddy and Andy Yap had 42 people hold either expansive poses (hands on hips, feet on desk) or hunched ones for two minutes. Power posers reportedly showed higher testosterone, lower cortisol, the stress hormone, and more willingness to gamble. Cuddy's 2012 TED talk, among the most viewed ever, urged posing before job interviews. Larger replications found no hormone or risk-taking effects, and in 2016 Carney said she no longer believed the effects were real.
Why it matters
It became the most public casualty of the replication crisis, showing how a small study plus a viral talk can outrun the evidence.
The evidence
Status: weak or failed to replicate. A 2015 Zurich study with 200 people found no hormone or behavior changes. Some analyses still find a small rise in self-reported feelings of power.
Open questions
Whether the small boost in feeling powerful is a genuine posture effect or simply what participants expect to feel.
Connections (2)
▸The replication crisis overturned the hormone claims of Power posingWell replicated
The connection
Power posing was an early, highly visible target. A 2015 study with 200 participants found no hormone or risk-taking effects. In 2016 lead author Dana Carney disowned the findings, citing analysis choices that had inflated them. A 2017 review of 33 power-pose studies found no evidence of a real effect; Cuddy's 2018 rebuttal found support only for feeling more powerful.
Who showed it and when
Eva Ranehill and colleagues in Zurich, 2015; Dana Carney's online statement, September 2016; Joseph Simmons and Uri Simonsohn at the University of Pennsylvania, 2017.
The evidence
Larger replications, some preregistered, found no change in testosterone, cortisol or risk-taking, and an original author withdrew support.
Open questions
How such findings should be communicated: the TED talk reached tens of millions before any large replication, and Cuddy and her critics still disagree about what remains.
▸Power posing claimed to cut cortisol in Stress, cortisol and fight-or-flightWeak or failed to replicate
The connection
The 2010 study reported that two minutes of expansive posing raised testosterone about 20% and cut cortisol, the main stress hormone, about 25%, while hunched poses did the opposite. Cuddy pitched posing as a way to feel less stressed before interviews and talks. Larger studies measuring saliva hormones found no such changes.
Who showed it and when
Carney, Cuddy and Yap at Columbia and Harvard, 2010, with 42 participants; Eva Ranehill's 2015 Zurich replication with 200.
How solid is it?
The original saliva tests showed the effect, but larger replications did not, and Carney later described analysis choices that inflated it.
Open questions
Whether posture affects stress at all; a 2015 New Zealand study found upright sitting slightly improved mood and self-esteem under stress, but such effects are small.