Fake it until you Make it
By Caroline Wong
We are not always proud of ourselves. In this world full of ambitions, imperfections, and disappointments, we enter a large hole, moving downward, full of self-reflection questions starting with “what if?”. Indeed, “what if I was more confident?”, what if life wasn’t that hard, afterward?”, “what if people weren’t seeing me the way I usually see myself as?”. Invading questions that no one could pursue answers but our own selves. It is not easy to answer them, and to be honest, it might even be impossible to do it sometimes. The planet we live in is not perfect. Nothing on it is. That is why creating our own responses is permissible. Researchers throughout generations kept on trying to find ways of making human creatures perceive their world differently, no matter who they are. Conclusions shape the Society whether they choose to follow the logic or not.
It is all about the way we think; psychology. Amy Cuddy, an American Social Psychologist shared one of her conclusions. During her first Ted Talks, she asked two questions: “Do our non-verbal behaviors govern how others think and feel about ourselves?”, and “Do our non-verbal govern how we think and feel about ourselves?”. The first question is one that many could think about, but the second one is a question that truly, can mark one’s life. In fact, according to Cuddy, when you pretend to be powerful, you tend to feel powerful. Our body changes our mind in so many ways. Depending on how we position ourselves, our thoughts, feelings, and other inner parts of our body are being influenced.
For Cuddy, powerful people tend to be more confident, optimistic, and take more risks. One thing that she came up with is physiological differences. Indeed, within this category hides testosterone (dominance hormone) and cortisone (stress hormone), and those two sub-categories represent statistics for high power alpha males as well as for the most powerful and effective leaders. The two groups of people share the same average statistics meaning that they both have high testosterone and low cortisone. Cuddy wants to light our mind in believing that power does not only include one component of a person’s physiology but two of them. Managing stress is one fact that makes a leader a powerful leader.
Both, testosterone and cortisone need each other. Believing in pretending that the fact that we are more powerful than we think we are would shape the way our mind functions is also needed for anyone who seeks to develop on their physiological components. After taking saliva samples from each person within a group study to test the accuracy of the hypothesis that an individual would feel more powerful if he positions himself in a powerful way, Cuddy concluded that role changing also shapes the mind of an individual.
I agree with Cuddy when she says in her talk that we are not who we are only because of others, but also because of ourselves. The body of ours tells a lot about our inner characteristics, but the way we position ourselves also influences our thinking process. Cuddy’s talk has been very impactful to me as it provided resourceful information. Indeed, answering those self-conscious questions by replacing them with pretending we are what we are not yet could be one way of experimenting life. It could be impactful. It could be impacting as well.
We are not always proud of ourselves. In this world full of ambitions, imperfections, and disappointments, we enter a large hole, moving downward, full of self-reflection questions starting with “what if?”. Indeed, “what if I was more confident?”, what if life wasn’t that hard, afterward?”, “what if people weren’t seeing me the way I usually see myself as?”. Invading questions that no one could pursue answers but our own selves. It is not easy to answer them, and to be honest, it might even be impossible to do it sometimes. The planet we live in is not perfect. Nothing on it is. That is why creating our own responses is permissible. Researchers throughout generations kept on trying to find ways of making human creatures perceive their world differently, no matter who they are. Conclusions shape the Society whether they choose to follow the logic or not.
It is all about the way we think; psychology. Amy Cuddy, an American Social Psychologist shared one of her conclusions. During her first Ted Talks, she asked two questions: “Do our non-verbal behaviors govern how others think and feel about ourselves?”, and “Do our non-verbal govern how we think and feel about ourselves?”. The first question is one that many could think about, but the second one is a question that truly, can mark one’s life. In fact, according to Cuddy, when you pretend to be powerful, you tend to feel powerful. Our body changes our mind in so many ways. Depending on how we position ourselves, our thoughts, feelings, and other inner parts of our body are being influenced.
For Cuddy, powerful people tend to be more confident, optimistic, and take more risks. One thing that she came up with is physiological differences. Indeed, within this category hides testosterone (dominance hormone) and cortisone (stress hormone), and those two sub-categories represent statistics for high power alpha males as well as for the most powerful and effective leaders. The two groups of people share the same average statistics meaning that they both have high testosterone and low cortisone. Cuddy wants to light our mind in believing that power does not only include one component of a person’s physiology but two of them. Managing stress is one fact that makes a leader a powerful leader.
Both, testosterone and cortisone need each other. Believing in pretending that the fact that we are more powerful than we think we are would shape the way our mind functions is also needed for anyone who seeks to develop on their physiological components. After taking saliva samples from each person within a group study to test the accuracy of the hypothesis that an individual would feel more powerful if he positions himself in a powerful way, Cuddy concluded that role changing also shapes the mind of an individual.
I agree with Cuddy when she says in her talk that we are not who we are only because of others, but also because of ourselves. The body of ours tells a lot about our inner characteristics, but the way we position ourselves also influences our thinking process. Cuddy’s talk has been very impactful to me as it provided resourceful information. Indeed, answering those self-conscious questions by replacing them with pretending we are what we are not yet could be one way of experimenting life. It could be impactful. It could be impacting as well.
Yes, Amy Cuddy’s research supports that of Communication Studies. It also supports acting theory, from the theatre. It’s called "working from the outside in." Humans are very adaptive to body movements—famous theatre actor/director Meyerhold states "Words...are only a design on the canvas of motion," meaning that it is our body that communicates more than our words. Yes, as this blogger is suggesting, I think, why not "pretend" to be kind, to be our best selves, always? To do so we must listen intently, consciously, to others & behave according to the Platinum Rule, rather than even the Golden Rule: Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.
ReplyDelete