In my quest to improve my interview skills, I’ve been doing some research on body language. What I’ve found is that body language is useful not only to gauge others’ feelings, but also to change your own attitudes. In other words, body language works both ways. For example, when someone is being open and honest, they tend to gesture with their palms facing upward. However researchers have also found that if you gesture with upward palms, you are more likely to be open and honest, and that it’s harder to lie. Here are three ways to improve the way you’re perceived as well as the way you feel.
Tip 1: Smile
Research shows that people who smile more live longer. In a 2010 Wayne State University research project, researchers looked at pre-1950’s baseball cards of Major League Baseball players, and found that players who didn’t smile in their pictures had an average lifespan of 72.9 years. Players who did smile lived an average of almost 80 years. In fact laughing or smiling, even when you don’t feel particularly happy can activate part of your brain associated with happiness.
Smiling is not only a way to show people you are happy, it’s also a way to show others that you are nonthreatening; a way to ask them to accept you on a personal level. If you smile at someone, they will automatically reciprocate. So smile; even if it’s fake it can still cause another person to smile back at you, inducing positive feelings in both of you which could eventually lead to real smiles.
Smiling back at someone when they smile at you is also a good way to tell whether their smile is real or fake. In one mimicking study, participants were told to look at pictures of people smiling and identify if the smile was real or fake. On their own, they did fairly well, but when they were told to put a pen in their mouth (to suppress the smiling muscles), their judgements weren’t as accurate. If you really have trouble with identifying fake smiles, look at the eyes. In a real smile, the orbicularis oculi muscles are activated, causing wrinkle lines at the corners of the eyes. Also, the fleshy part between the eyebrow and the eye moves downward and the ends of the eyebrows dip slightly.
As a caveat, there are situations in which it might be better not to smile. For example, if you want to appear authoritative or more powerful, it will actually work in your favour to smile less. In business situations, mirroring the amount others smile, or smiling less in general can make you appear more credible and authoritative.
Tip 2: Don’t cross your arms
In research conducted in the United States, researchers had two groups of volunteers listen to the same lecture. One group of students were told to adopt an open, relaxed position, with legs and arms uncrossed. The second group was told the opposite – to keep their arms and legs tightly crossed for the entire lecture. At the end, the researchers tested both groups on the material in the lecture to compare retention rates. They found that the second group retained on average 38% less of the lecture. They also had more negative opinion of the lecturer and the material than the second group did.
In general, crossed arms are associated with defensiveness. Depending on the context, they could mean the person is cold, has a sore back, or is holding back negative feelings (fear, anxiety, disagreement, lack of understanding). In the third case, as long as the crossed arms continue, the negative feelings will persist as well.
If you encounter folded arms during a presentation, or in an interview, you’ll want to find out what’s causing it. In an interview it might be effective to ask something like “is there anything else you would like to know?” Similarly in a conversation, or presentation, you might lean forward and ask “What’s your opinion?” Another way to break the crossed arms position is to give your audience something to hold onto, such as a pen, notes or a book, or to ask them to lean forward to show them something, such as a visual presentation.
Thus, the folded arms position not only makes you look less open, it also makes you feel more defensive. Adopting an open position can literally make you look and feel more open-minded.
Tip 3: Improve your Posture
You’ve probably seen that powerful dominant leaders stand confidently. They take up space. They stand up straight and tall. The less powerful tilt their heads down in submission. They pull their elbows in and hunch up their shoulders in an attempt to appear smaller.
Amy Cuddy, a researcher at Harvard, found that adopting high power or low power poses for just two minutes has a significant effect on testosterone and cortisol levels. Testosterone is associated with aggression and confidence – higher levels mean more powerful presence. Cortisol is released when you’re stressed. In the study, volunteers adopted the poses for two minutes before giving saliva samples, and were then given the opportunity to gamble. 86% of the participants who adopted high power poses gambled, compared to only 60% of participants in the low power pose condition. Moreover, high power participants experienced about a 20% increase in testosterone, and a 25% decrease in cortisol. Participants in the low power condition experienced the opposite – about a 10% decrease in testosterone, and a15% increase in cortisol. These changes had a marked effect in how they were perceived. In a similar study, participants once again adopted either high or low power poses for two minutes, but then went into a stressful five minute job interview. Regardless of factors such as competence, qualifications, speaking ability, the people in the high power condition were evaluated more positively. People watching the tape, oblivious to the conditions of the experiment, wanted to hire people from the high power condition.
Now you know a few more ways that changing the way you move can change the way you think. Smile more and you’ll feel happier. Unfold your arms and you can open your mind. Pose like you’re powerful, and increase your confidence.
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