The Embodiment of Power and Visual Dominance Behaviour

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify whether the changes in assuming power poses during a conversation between a pair of individuals, who were previously familiar with each other, influence the hierarchy of power, changes in it, as well as maintenance and adoption of different roles in the hierarchy. We assumed changes in roles of power on the basis of changes in visual dominance behaviour, which proved to be a reliable indicator of the social power of the individual in previous researches. Each pair conversed on predefined topics three times for three minutes. By placing individuals in a neutral or expansive posture, the purpose of which was covered by the use of a cover story, we created a difference in nonverbal expression of power between the two individuals. In the first conversation, both individuals adopted a neutral pose. In the second conversation, one individual adopted an expansive posture, while the other remained in a neutral one, and vice versa in the third conversation. Interactions were filmed with two cameras, which enabled us to analyse nonverbal behaviour. The results show that the differences in displays of power with expansive body postures between individuals are not associated with changes in visual dominance behaviour of individuals. From this we conclude that in the relations in which the social hierarchy of power is already established, the use of power poses does not help increase the power of the individual who adopts the posture.

Power pose effects on approach and avoidance decisions in response to social threat

“…Moreover, very few power posing studies have so far used designs that allow attributing the change to the expansive or contracted poses by including a neutral condition. Within-subject studies observed either a change only after expansive poses [91,92] or no significant effect [33]. Similarly, only a few studies included a control group, and observed a significant difference only for the contracted pose [36] or no significant effects [21,26].…”

“…By demonstrating pose effects on elementary social behavior with reasonable statistical power, the present study makes a valuable contribution to the literature. Most importantly, it is the first larger study investigating elementary social behavior, with the only earlier study having a very small sample (n = 22 [33]). Although power poses are primarily a social signal of dominance in many animal species, most previous studies have focused on non-social behavior or high-level cognitive processes, such as risky gambling, abstract thinking, or sales negotiations [20,90].…”

“…Crucially, our study focuses on lower-level processes of social interactions, specifically the ability to perceive and respond to others' social signals. With one exception [33], earlier work using behavioral outcomes has so far neglected such low-level social behaviors, focusing either on cognitively complex (and sometimes only reported) behaviors [20,34] or non-social behaviors [35,36].…”