So I want to start by offering you a free no-tech life hack, and all it requires of you is this: that you change your posture for two minutes. But before I give it away, I want to ask you to right now do a little audit of your body and what you're doing with your body. So how many of you are sort of making yourselves smaller? Maybe you're hunching, crossing your legs, maybe wrapping your ankles. Sometimes we hold onto our arms like this. Sometimes we spread out. (Laughter) I see you. So I want you to pay attention to what you're doing right now. We're going to come back to that in a few minutes, and I'm hoping that if you learn to tweak this a little bit, it could significantly change the way your life unfolds.
Vou comezar dándovos un truco útil non tecnolóxico e todo canto require de vós é isto: que cambiedes de postura durante dous minutos. Pero antes de revelárvolo, quero pedirvos agora mesmo que observedes o voso corpo e o que estades a facer con el. A ver, cantos de vós estades dalgún xeito encollidos? Encurvados, coas pernas cruzadas, os nocellos enleados. Ás veces poñemos os brazos así. Ás veces estirámolos. (Risos) Ollo que vos vexo. Prestade atención ao que facedes agora mesmo. Imos volver a isto nuns minutos e espero que se aprendedes a modificalo un pouco poida mudar considerablemente o desenvolvemento da vosa vida.
So, we're really fascinated with body language, and we're particularly interested in other people's body language. You know, we're interested in, like, you know — (Laughter) — an awkward interaction, or a smile, or a contemptuous glance, or maybe a very awkward wink, or maybe even something like a handshake.
Ben, estamos fascinados coa linguaxe corporal e interésanos especialmente a linguaxe corporal doutras persoas. Xa sabedes, interésanos... isto, vaia... (Risos) unha interacción torpe, un sorriso unha ollada despectiva, unha chiscadela torpe de ollo ou mesmo algo coma unha aperta de mans.
Narrator: Here they are arriving at Number 10. This lucky policeman gets to shake hands with the President of the United States. Here comes the Prime Minister -- No. (Laughter) (Applause)
Narrador: Aquí están chegando ao número 10. Este policía ten sorte e dálle a man ao presidente dos Estados Unidos. Aí vén o primeiro ministro... Non. (Risos) (Aplausos)
(Laughter) (Applause)
(Risos) (Aplausos)
Amy Cuddy: So a handshake, or the lack of a handshake, can have us talking for weeks and weeks and weeks. Even the BBC and The New York Times. So obviously when we think about nonverbal behavior, or body language -- but we call it nonverbals as social scientists -- it's language, so we think about communication. When we think about communication, we think about interactions. So what is your body language communicating to me? What's mine communicating to you?
Amy Cuddy: Unha aperta de mans, ou a súa ausencia, pode darnos que falar durante semanas e semanas; mesmo á BBC e ao New York Times. Entón cando pensamos en expresión non verbal ou linguaxe corporal (nós os sociólogos chamámoslle non verbal) falamos de linguaxe, polo tanto de comunicación. Cando falamos de comunicación pensamos en interaccións. Que me comunica a túa linguaxe corporal? Que che comunica a miña a ti?
And there's a lot of reason to believe that this is a valid way to look at this. So social scientists have spent a lot of time looking at the effects of our body language, or other people's body language, on judgments. And we make sweeping judgments and inferences from body language. And those judgments can predict really meaningful life outcomes like who we hire or promote, who we ask out on a date. For example, Nalini Ambady, a researcher at Tufts University, shows that when people watch 30-second soundless clips of real physician-patient interactions, their judgments of the physician's niceness predict whether or not that physician will be sued. So it doesn't have to do so much with whether or not that physician was incompetent, but do we like that person and how they interacted? Even more dramatic, Alex Todorov at Princeton has shown us that judgments of political candidates' faces in just one second predict 70 percent of U.S. Senate and gubernatorial race outcomes, and even, let's go digital, emoticons used well in online negotiations can lead you to claim more value from that negotiation. If you use them poorly, bad idea. Right?
Hai razóns para crer que é válido este enfoque. Os sociólogos pasamos moito tempo observando os efectos da nosa linguaxe corporal, ou da doutras persoas, sobre os xuízos. Facemos xuízos e deducións da linguaxe corporal. Eses xuízos poden predicir proxeccións importantes na vida como a quen contratamos ou promovemos ou a quen lle pedimos unha cita. Por exemplo Nalini Ambady, investigadora na Universidade de Tufts, demostra que cando alguén ve 30 segundos de vídeos sen son de interaccións reais médico-paciente os seus xuízos sobre a simpatía do médico predín se ese médico vai ser demandado ou non. Así que non ten que ver tanto con se o médico era ou non incompetente senón con se nos gustou esa persoa e como interactuou. Aínda máis drástico, Alex Todorov, de Princeton, demostrounos que os xuízos dos rostros de candidatos políticos predín nun segundo o 70 por cento do resultado da carreira cara ao Goberno e o Senado dos EEUU e mesmo, no eido dixital, as emoticonas ben usadas nas negociacións en liña poden conducir a darlle máis valor a esa negociación. Se fas un mal uso deles é mala idea, non?
So when we think of nonverbals, we think of how we judge others, how they judge us and what the outcomes are. We tend to forget, though, the other audience that's influenced by our nonverbals, and that's ourselves. We are also influenced by our nonverbals, our thoughts and our feelings and our physiology.
Falar de linguaxe non verbal é falar de como xulgamos aos outros, como nos xulgan a nós e cales son as consecuencias. Pero tendemos a esquecer a outra audiencia na que inflúe a nosa linguaxe non verbal, que somos nós mesmos. Inflúenos a nosa linguaxe non verbal, os nosos pensamentos, sentimentos e fisioloxía.
So what nonverbals am I talking about? I'm a social psychologist. I study prejudice, and I teach at a competitive business school, so it was inevitable that I would become interested in power dynamics. I became especially interested in nonverbal expressions of power and dominance.
De que linguaxe non verbal estou a falar? Son psicóloga social. Estudo os prexuízos e dou clases nunha competitiva escola de negocios, así que era inevitable que me interesasen as dinámicas de poder. Interesábanme sobre todo expresións non verbais de poder e dominación.
And what are nonverbal expressions of power and dominance? Well, this is what they are. So in the animal kingdom, they are about expanding. So you make yourself big, you stretch out, you take up space, you're basically opening up. It's about opening up. And this is true across the animal kingdom. It's not just limited to primates. And humans do the same thing. (Laughter) So they do this both when they have power sort of chronically, and also when they're feeling powerful in the moment. And this one is especially interesting because it really shows us how universal and old these expressions of power are. This expression, which is known as pride, Jessica Tracy has studied. She shows that people who are born with sight and people who are congenitally blind do this when they win at a physical competition. So when they cross the finish line and they've won, it doesn't matter if they've never seen anyone do it. They do this. So the arms up in the V, the chin is slightly lifted.
Que son as expresións non verbais de poder e dominación? Ben, pois son isto. No reino animal teñen que ver coa expansión, con facerse grande, estirarse, acaparar espazo, basicamente abrirse. Trátase de abrirse. E funciona así en todo o reino animal, non se limita só aos primates. Os humanos facemos o mesmo. (Risos) Fan así cando teñen poder de xeito permanente e tamén cando se senten poderosos no momento. Isto é especialmente interesante porque nos demostra o antigas e universais que son estas expresións de poder. Esta expresión, coñecida como orgullo, foi estudada por Jessica Tracy, que nos di que tanto as persoas que ven desde que naceron coma as persoas que son cegas conxénitas fan o mesmo cando gañan unha competición física. Así que que cando cruzan a liña de meta e gañan non importa se nunca viron ninguén facelo. Fan así. Os brazos erguidos en V, o queixo algo elevado.
What do we do when we feel powerless? We do exactly the opposite. We close up. We wrap ourselves up. We make ourselves small. We don't want to bump into the person next to us. So again, both animals and humans do the same thing. And this is what happens when you put together high and low power. So what we tend to do when it comes to power is that we complement the other's nonverbals. So if someone is being really powerful with us, we tend to make ourselves smaller. We don't mirror them. We do the opposite of them.
Que facemos cando nos sentimos impotentes? Facemos xusto o contrario. Pechámonos. Envolvémonos. Facémonos pequenos. Non queremos tropezar con quen está ao noso carón. E tanto os animais coma os humanos facemos o mesmo. E isto é o que acontece cando xuntas poder con impotencia. O que tendemos a facer cando se trata de poder é complementar a linguaxe non verbal dos outros. Así que se alguén se mostra moi poderoso con nós, tendemos a facernos máis pequenos. Non o imitamos. Facemos o contrario.
So I'm watching this behavior in the classroom, and what do I notice? I notice that MBA students really exhibit the full range of power nonverbals. So you have people who are like caricatures of alphas, really coming into the room, they get right into the middle of the room before class even starts, like they really want to occupy space. When they sit down, they're sort of spread out. They raise their hands like this. You have other people who are virtually collapsing when they come in. As soon they come in, you see it. You see it on their faces and their bodies, and they sit in their chair and they make themselves tiny, and they go like this when they raise their hand.
Se vexo este comportamento na clase, que noto? Noto que os alumnos do MBA presentan toda a linguaxe non verbal de poder. Hai persoas que son caricaturas dos alfa, entran na aula, sitúanse no medio mesmo antes de empezar a clase, como se quixesen ocupar espazo. Cando sentan, parecen expandirse. Erguen a man así. Logo hai outras persoas que entran practicamente esboroándose. Así como entran xa o notas. Velo no seu rostro e no seu corpo, sentan na cadeira e fanse diminutos, e fan así cando erguen a man.
I notice a couple of things about this. One, you're not going to be surprised. It seems to be related to gender. So women are much more likely to do this kind of thing than men. Women feel chronically less powerful than men, so this is not surprising.
Aquí observo dúas cousas. Unha non vos ha sorprender. Semella ter que ver co sexo. As mulleres son máis propensas a facelo que os homes. As mulleres séntense sempre menos poderosas cós homes, así que isto non é sorprendente.
But the other thing I noticed is that it also seemed to be related to the extent to which the students were participating, and how well they were participating. And this is really important in the MBA classroom, because participation counts for half the grade.
Pero a outra cousa que notei é que semella estar relacionado co grao de participación dos alumnos e co seu nivel de participación. E isto é moi importante na clase do MBA porque a participación conta para a media da nota.
So business schools have been struggling with this gender grade gap. You get these equally qualified women and men coming in and then you get these differences in grades, and it seems to be partly attributable to participation. So I started to wonder, you know, okay, so you have these people coming in like this, and they're participating. Is it possible that we could get people to fake it and would it lead them to participate more?
As escolas de negocios levan loitando coa diferenza de notas segundo o sexo. Ves mulleres e homes igualmente cualificados e logo ves estas diferenzas nas notas, que semellan ser atribuíbles en parte á participación. Entón empecei a preguntarme: se hai persoas que entran con esa actitude e participan, sería posible facer que outras a finxisen e que iso as levase a participar máis?
So my main collaborator Dana Carney, who's at Berkeley, and I really wanted to know, can you fake it till you make it? Like, can you do this just for a little while and actually experience a behavioral outcome that makes you seem more powerful? So we know that our nonverbals govern how other people think and feel about us. There's a lot of evidence. But our question really was, do our nonverbals govern how we think and feel about ourselves?
A miña colaboradora Dana Carney, que está en Berkeley, e eu queriamos saber se se pode finxir ata facelo. É dicir, podes facelo só por un intre e experimentar un resultado no teu comportamento que te faga sentir máis poderoso? Sabemos que a linguaxe non verbal condiciona o que outras persoas senten e pensan de nós. Hai moitas probas. Pero a nosa pregunta era: condiciona a linguaxe non verbal o que sentimos e pensamos de nós mesmos?
There's some evidence that they do. So, for example, we smile when we feel happy, but also, when we're forced to smile by holding a pen in our teeth like this, it makes us feel happy. So it goes both ways. When it comes to power, it also goes both ways. So when you feel powerful, you're more likely to do this, but it's also possible that when you pretend to be powerful, you are more likely to actually feel powerful.
Hai probas de que así é. Por exemplo, sorrimos cando estamos contentos, pero tamén cando nos obrigamos a rir suxeitando un boli cos dentes así, fainos sentir contentos. Funciona nas dúas direccións. Cando se trata de poder, tamén funciona nas dúas direccións. Cando nos sentimos poderosos é máis probable que fagamos isto, pero tamén é posible que cando finximos ser poderosos é máis probable que realmente nos sintamos poderosos.
So the second question really was, you know, so we know that our minds change our bodies, but is it also true that our bodies change our minds? And when I say minds, in the case of the powerful, what am I talking about? So I'm talking about thoughts and feelings and the sort of physiological things that make up our thoughts and feelings, and in my case, that's hormones. I look at hormones. So what do the minds of the powerful versus the powerless look like? So powerful people tend to be, not surprisingly, more assertive and more confident, more optimistic. They actually feel they're going to win even at games of chance. They also tend to be able to think more abstractly. So there are a lot of differences. They take more risks. There are a lot of differences between powerful and powerless people. Physiologically, there also are differences on two key hormones: testosterone, which is the dominance hormone, and cortisol, which is the stress hormone.
Pois a segunda pregunta en realidade era, ben, xa sabemos que a mente modifica o noso corpo, pero é certo tamén que o corpo modifica a nosa mente? E cando digo mente, no caso dos poderosos, de que estou a falar? Pois falo de pensamentos e sentimentos e de compoñentes fisiolóxicos que forman eses pensamentos e sentimentos, e no meu caso, falo das hormonas. Observo as hormonas. Como é a mente dos poderosos comparada coa dos que non o son? As persoas poderosas tenden a ser, non é sorprendente, máis asertivos e seguros, máis optimistas. Teñen a sensación de que van gañar mesmo en xogos de azar. Tamén tenden a pensar dun xeito máis abstracto. Existen moitas diferenzas. Asumen máis riscos. Hai unha chea de diferenzas entre os poderosos e os que non o son. Fisioloxicamente tamén se dan diferenzas en dúas hormonas clave: a testosterona, que é a hormona da dominación, e o cortisol, que é a hormona do estrés.
So what we find is that high-power alpha males in primate hierarchies have high testosterone and low cortisol, and powerful and effective leaders also have high testosterone and low cortisol. So what does that mean? When you think about power, people tended to think only about testosterone, because that was about dominance. But really, power is also about how you react to stress. So do you want the high-power leader that's dominant, high on testosterone, but really stress reactive? Probably not, right? You want the person who's powerful and assertive and dominant, but not very stress reactive, the person who's laid back.
Os machos alfa con moito poder nas xerarquías de primates teñen niveis altos de testosterona e niveis baixos de cortisol. E os líderes poderosos e eficientes tamén teñen testosterona alta e cortisol baixo. Que significa isto? Ao falar de poder, adoitábase falar só da testosterona, porque tiña que ver coa dominación. Pero o poder tamén ten que ver coa nosa reacción ante o estrés. Queremos un líder dominante, con moito poder, con niveis altos de testosterona pero sensible ao estrés? Probablemente non, verdade? Queremos unha persoa que sexa poderosa, asertiva e dominante pero non moi sensible ao estrés, unha persoa que sexa tranquila.
So we know that in primate hierarchies, if an alpha needs to take over, if an individual needs to take over an alpha role sort of suddenly, within a few days, that individual's testosterone has gone up significantly and his cortisol has dropped significantly. So we have this evidence, both that the body can shape the mind, at least at the facial level, and also that role changes can shape the mind. So what happens, okay, you take a role change, what happens if you do that at a really minimal level, like this tiny manipulation, this tiny intervention? "For two minutes," you say, "I want you to stand like this, and it's going to make you feel more powerful."
Sabemos que nas xerarquías de primates, se un alfa ten que tomar o control, se alguén ten que asumir o mando, tomar de súpeto ese papel, no prazo duns días, a súa testosterona elévase moito e o cortisol descende igualmente. Temos esa evidencia, que o corpo pode moldear a mente, polo menos a nivel facial, e tamén que o papel asumido pode moldear a mente. Entón, que ocorre cando se asume un cambio de papel? Que sucede se se fai a un nivel mínimo, como esta pequena manipulación ou intervención? Dicímoslle: "quero que durante 2 minutos te ergas así, iso fará que te sintas máis poderoso".
So this is what we did. We decided to bring people into the lab and run a little experiment, and these people adopted, for two minutes, either high-power poses or low-power poses, and I'm just going to show you five of the poses, although they took on only two. So here's one. A couple more. This one has been dubbed the "Wonder Woman" by the media. Here are a couple more. So you can be standing or you can be sitting. And here are the low-power poses. So you're folding up, you're making yourself small. This one is very low-power. When you're touching your neck, you're really protecting yourself.
E iso foi o que fixemos. Decidimos traer xente ao laboratorio e facer un pequeno experimento, esas persoas adoptaron, por dous minutos, ambas as posicións, de poder ou debilidade. Vouvos mostrar xusto agora cinco desas poses, aínda que eles probaron só dúas. Esta é unha. Un par máis A esta a prensa chamoulle a "Muller marabilla". Aquí temos un par máis. Poden estar de pé, ou sentados. Aquí están as posicións de debilidade. Agora dóbranse, fanse pequenos. Esta é de moi baixo poder. Cando tocas o pescozo estaste protexendo, realmente.
So this is what happens. They come in, they spit into a vial, for two minutes, we say, "You need to do this or this." They don't look at pictures of the poses. We don't want to prime them with a concept of power. We want them to be feeling power. So two minutes they do this. We then ask them, "How powerful do you feel?" on a series of items, and then we give them an opportunity to gamble, and then we take another saliva sample. That's it. That's the whole experiment.
Isto é o que ocorre. Eles veñen, cospen nun frasco, e dicímoslles durante dous minutos: "tes que facer isto ou aquilo." Eles non ven as fotos das posicións. Non queremos inducilos cun concepto de poder. Queremos que sintan o poder. Fan isto dous minutos. Logo preguntámoslles, "como de poderoso te sentes? entón dámoslles a oportunidade de apostar, ao final tomamos outra mostra de saliva. Iso é todo. Este é todo o experimento.
So this is what we find. Risk tolerance, which is the gambling, we find that when you are in the high-power pose condition, 86 percent of you will gamble. When you're in the low-power pose condition, only 60 percent, and that's a whopping significant difference.
Isto foi o que atopamos. Tolerancia ao risco, a apostar; atopamos que cando están nunha posición de alto poder arríscanse a apostar o 86%. Cando están nas posicións de baixo poder, só o 60%. É unha diferenza moi significativa.
Here's what we find on testosterone. From their baseline when they come in, high-power people experience about a 20-percent increase, and low-power people experience about a 10-percent decrease. So again, two minutes, and you get these changes. Here's what you get on cortisol. High-power people experience about a 25-percent decrease, and the low-power people experience about a 15-percent increase. So two minutes lead to these hormonal changes that configure your brain to basically be either assertive, confident and comfortable, or really stress-reactive, and feeling sort of shut down. And we've all had the feeling, right? So it seems that our nonverbals do govern how we think and feel about ourselves, so it's not just others, but it's also ourselves. Also, our bodies change our minds.
Vexamos o que atopamos coa testosterona. Partindo da súa situación normal ao chegar, a xente poderosa experimenta un incremento do 20% e os débiles experimentan una diminución do 10%. De novo, 2 minutos, e obtéñense eses cambios. Agora os resultados co cortisol. Os máis poderosos experimentan un 25% de diminución, os máis débiles experimentan un aumento de arredor do 15%. Só dous minutos provocan estes cambios hormonais que configuran o teu cerebro para facelo asertivo, seguro ou confortable, ou ben susceptible ao estrés, e sentíndose como apagado. Todos coñecemos esa sensación, non si? Semella que a nosa linguaxe non verbal rexe o xeito de vernos a nós mesmos, non só aos demais, senón a nós mesmos. O corpo pode cambiarnos a mente.
But the next question, of course, is, can power posing for a few minutes really change your life in meaningful ways? This is in the lab, it's this little task, it's just a couple of minutes. Where can you actually apply this? Which we cared about, of course. And so we think where you want to use this is evaluative situations, like social threat situations. Where are you being evaluated, either by your friends? For teenagers, it's at the lunchroom table. For some people it's speaking at a school board meeting. It might be giving a pitch or giving a talk like this or doing a job interview. We decided that the one that most people could relate to because most people had been through, was the job interview.
A seguinte pregunta, por suposto, é... pode un xesto de poder nuns minutos cambiarche a vida de xeito significativo? Isto é no laboratorio, este experimento, son só dous minutos. Onde podes realmente aplicar isto? Iso é o que nos preocupa. Pensamos que onde se necesita é en situacións nas que te avalían, como nas situacións sociais esixentes, nas que te avalían mesmo os teus amigos. Para os adolescentes é na mesa do comedor. Para algunha xente é falar na xunta da escola. Pode ser ao presentar un negocio ou dar unha charla coma esta ou ir a unha entrevista de traballo. Escollemos unha coa que a maioría da xente se identifica porque moitos pasaron por ela, a entrevista de traballo.
So we published these findings, and the media are all over it, and they say, Okay, so this is what you do when you go in for the job interview, right?
Entón publicamos os resultados, a prensa interesouse e dixo... ben, isto é o que hai que facer cando vas a unha entrevista, non?
(Laughter)
(Risos)
You know, so we were of course horrified, and said, Oh my God, no, that's not what we meant at all. For numerous reasons, no, don't do that. Again, this is not about you talking to other people. It's you talking to yourself. What do you do before you go into a job interview? You do this. You're sitting down. You're looking at your iPhone -- or your Android, not trying to leave anyone out. You're looking at your notes, you're hunching up, making yourself small, when really what you should be doing maybe is this, like, in the bathroom, right? Do that. Find two minutes. So that's what we want to test. Okay? So we bring people into a lab, and they do either high- or low-power poses again, they go through a very stressful job interview. It's five minutes long. They are being recorded. They're being judged also, and the judges are trained to give no nonverbal feedback, so they look like this. Imagine this is the person interviewing you. So for five minutes, nothing, and this is worse than being heckled. People hate this. It's what Marianne LaFrance calls "standing in social quicksand." So this really spikes your cortisol. So this is the job interview we put them through, because we really wanted to see what happened. We then have these coders look at these tapes, four of them. They're blind to the hypothesis. They're blind to the conditions. They have no idea who's been posing in what pose, and they end up looking at these sets of tapes, and they say, "We want to hire these people," all the high-power posers. "We don't want to hire these people. We also evaluate these people much more positively overall." But what's driving it? It's not about the content of the speech. It's about the presence that they're bringing to the speech. Because we rate them on all these variables related to competence, like, how well-structured is the speech? How good is it? What are their qualifications? No effect on those things. This is what's affected. These kinds of things. People are bringing their true selves, basically. They're bringing themselves. They bring their ideas, but as themselves, with no, you know, residue over them. So this is what's driving the effect, or mediating the effect.
Naturalmente quedamos arrepiados e dixemos: Non, por Deus, non, non é o que queriamos dicir. Por moitas razóns, non, non fagades iso. De novo, non se trata de falarlle a outra xente. Trátase de falar contigo mesmo. Que fas antes de ir a unha entrevista de traballo? Fas isto. Estás sentado. Miras o teu iPhone... ou o teu Android, non imos deixar ninguén fóra. Repasas as túas mensaxes, estás encurvado, facéndote pequeno, cando realmente o que deberías estar facendo é isto, quizais no baño, vale? Faino. Lévache dous minutos. Iso é o que queremos avaliar, vale? Convidamos a xente ao laboratorio, e adoptaron posturas de alto e baixo poder outra vez, pasaron unha entrevista de traballo estresante de cinco minutos de duración. Estanos gravando. Tamén os están xulgando, e os xuíces están adestrados para non dar retroalimentación non verbal Vense así. Imaxinade que esta persoa vos entrevista. Durante cinco minutos, nada, é peor ca que te interrompan. A xente odia isto. É o que Marianne LaFrance chama "estar en areas movedizas sociais". Isto dispara o cortisol. Esta é a entrevista á que os sometemos, porque queriamos ver o que acontecía. Temos analistas mirando as cintas, catro en total. Eles non coñecen a hipótese. Tampouco coñecen as condicións. Non teñen nin idea de que posición tomou cada persoa e ao rematar de ollar todas as cintas, dixeron, "queremos contratar estas persoas", todas as de posicións de poder. "Non queremos contratar esoutras. Dámoslles unha avaliación moito máis positiva en xeral". Que estaba acontecendo? Non se trata do contido do discurso. Trátase da presenza que lle achegaban ao discurso. Porque os avaliamos en todas esas variables relativas á competencia: Estruturan ben o discurso? Exprésanse ben? Que cualificacións teñen? Estas cousas non afectan. Isto e o que afecta. Esta clase de cousas. Cada persoa móstrase a si mesma, basicamente. Amosan o que son. Amosan as súas ideas, por si mesmos, sen ningún extra. Así que isto é o que provoca ou condiciona o efecto.
So when I tell people about this, that our bodies change our minds and our minds can change our behavior, and our behavior can change our outcomes, they say to me, "It feels fake." Right? So I said, fake it till you make it. It's not me. I don't want to get there and then still feel like a fraud. I don't want to feel like an impostor. I don't want to get there only to feel like I'm not supposed to be here. And that really resonated with me, because I want to tell you a little story about being an impostor and feeling like I'm not supposed to be here.
Cando lle falo á xente sobre isto, que o noso corpo cambia a nosa mente e o comportamento pode cambiar a nosa forma de ser, dinme: "Parece finxido". Ai si? Eu dígolles: fínxeo ata que o fagas. Eu non son así. Eu non quero chegar alí e sentirme coma unha fraude. Non quero sentirme coma un impostor. Non quero chegar alí para sentir que non debía estar alí. Isto é moi importante para min, porque quero contarvos unha pequena historia sobre ser un impostor e sobre sentirse como que non debía estar alí.
When I was 19, I was in a really bad car accident. I was thrown out of a car, rolled several times. I was thrown from the car. And I woke up in a head injury rehab ward, and I had been withdrawn from college, and I learned that my IQ had dropped by two standard deviations, which was very traumatic. I knew my IQ because I had identified with being smart, and I had been called gifted as a child. So I'm taken out of college, I keep trying to go back. They say, "You're not going to finish college. Just, you know, there are other things for you to do, but that's not going to work out for you."
Cando tiña 19 anos sufrín un terrible accidente de coche. Saín despedida del e dei varias voltas de campá. Saín despedida do coche. Espertei na UCI cunha ferida na cabeza. Botáronme da universidade e dixéronme que o meu CI baixara dúas desviacións estándar. Foi moi traumático. Coñecía o meu CI porque me cualificaran como superdotada, e consideráranme nena prodixio. Así que me botaron da universidade e tentei volver. Dicíanme: "non poderás terminar a carreira. Tes que aceptar que hai outras cousas que podes facer, pero no teu caso isto non."
So I really struggled with this, and I have to say, having your identity taken from you, your core identity, and for me it was being smart, having that taken from you, there's nothing that leaves you feeling more powerless than that. So I felt entirely powerless. I worked and worked, and I got lucky, and worked, and got lucky, and worked.
Tiven que lidar con iso e teño que dicir que que che quiten a túa identidade, o que realmente es, que para min era ser intelixente, que che arrebaten iso, é a cousa que máis impotente te pode facer sentir. Sentíame totalmente impotente. Entón traballei e traballei, e tiven sorte. e traballei, e tiven sorte, e traballei.
Eventually I graduated from college. It took me four years longer than my peers, and I convinced someone, my angel advisor, Susan Fiske, to take me on, and so I ended up at Princeton, and I was like, I am not supposed to be here. I am an impostor. And the night before my first-year talk, and the first-year talk at Princeton is a 20-minute talk to 20 people. That's it. I was so afraid of being found out the next day that I called her and said, "I'm quitting." She was like, "You are not quitting, because I took a gamble on you, and you're staying. You're going to stay, and this is what you're going to do. You are going to fake it. You're going to do every talk that you ever get asked to do. You're just going to do it and do it and do it, even if you're terrified and just paralyzed and having an out-of-body experience, until you have this moment where you say, 'Oh my gosh, I'm doing it. Like, I have become this. I am actually doing this.'" So that's what I did. Five years in grad school, a few years, you know, I'm at Northwestern, I moved to Harvard, I'm at Harvard, I'm not really thinking about it anymore, but for a long time I had been thinking, "Not supposed to be here."
Finalmente gradueime na universidade. Tardei catro anos máis cós meus compañeiros, e logrei convencer alguén, o meu anxo da garda, Susan Fiske, para que me aceptase, e acabei en Princeton, e eu sentía como que non debía estar alí. Son unha impostora. A noite antes da exposición de 1º curso, e esa exposición en Princeton é de 20 minutos para 20 persoas. É así. Tiña tanto medo de verme excluída o seguinte día que eu chameina e díxenlle: "Vouno deixar". Ela díxome: "Non vas deixar nada, porque eu apostei por ti e vas quedar. Vas quedar, e isto é o que vas facer. Vas finxir. Vas facer todas as exposicións que che encarguen. Simplemente valas facer, e facer e facer. aínda que esteas asustada ou incluso paralizada e tendo una experiencia extracorpórea, ata que chegue o momento que digas "Arre demo, logreino". Eu cheguei ata aquí. Estou a facelo agora. E iso foi o que fixen. Cinco anos de grao universitario, uns poucos anos, sabedes, en Northwestern, Mudeime a Harvard, agora estou en Harvard, xa non penso nunca niso pero por moito tempo tiven a sensación de que non debía estar alí.
So at the end of my first year at Harvard, a student who had not talked in class the entire semester, who I had said, "Look, you've gotta participate or else you're going to fail," came into my office. I really didn't know her at all. She came in totally defeated, and she said, "I'm not supposed to be here." And that was the moment for me. Because two things happened. One was that I realized, oh my gosh, I don't feel like that anymore. I don't feel that anymore, but she does, and I get that feeling. And the second was, she is supposed to be here! Like, she can fake it, she can become it.
A finais do meu primeiro ano en Harvard, unha estudante que non falara na clase en todo o semestre, á que lle dixeran, "mira, tes que participar ou vas suspender", veu ao meu despacho. Eu non a coñecía de antes. Totalmente derrotada, díxome: "Non debería estar aquí". Ese foi o meu momento. Porque sucederon dúas cousas. A primeira que me decatei: Vaites! Eu xa non me sinto así. Xa non me sentía así pero ela si e póñome no seu lugar. A segunda foi, claro que debe estar aquí! Vamos, que pode finxilo e pode facelo.
So I was like, "Yes, you are! You are supposed to be here! And tomorrow you're going to fake it, you're going to make yourself powerful, and, you know --
Así que lle dixen: " Si, por suposto. Si que debes estar aquí!". Mañá vas finxilo, vas facerte poderosa, e sabes qué...
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And you're going to go into the classroom, and you are going to give the best comment ever." You know? And she gave the best comment ever, and people turned around and were like, oh my God, I didn't even notice her sitting there. (Laughter)
Vas ir á clase e vas dar o mellor discurso de todos." E sabedes? Fixo o mellor discurso de todos, a xente xirábase e dicía: vaia, nin sequera me fixara en que se sentaba aí. (Risos)
She comes back to me months later, and I realized that she had not just faked it till she made it, she had actually faked it till she became it. So she had changed. And so I want to say to you, don't fake it till you make it. Fake it till you become it. Do it enough until you actually become it and internalize.
Veu xunta min uns meses despois e comprobei que xa non finxía senón que se transformara, finxiuno ata transformarse. De modo que cambiara. Agora quero dicirvos que non hai que finxilo ata facelo. Hai que finxilo ata transformarse. Hai que facelo o suficiente ata transformarse e internalizalo.
The last thing I'm going to leave you with is this. Tiny tweaks can lead to big changes. So, this is two minutes. Two minutes, two minutes, two minutes. Before you go into the next stressful evaluative situation, for two minutes, try doing this, in the elevator, in a bathroom stall, at your desk behind closed doors. That's what you want to do. Configure your brain to cope the best in that situation. Get your testosterone up. Get your cortisol down. Don't leave that situation feeling like, oh, I didn't show them who I am. Leave that situation feeling like, I really feel like I got to say who I am and show who I am.
O último que vos vou dicir é isto. Pequenos cambios poden levar a grandes transformacións. Son só dous minutos. Dous minutos, dous minutos, dous minutos. Antes de enfrontarvos á seguinte situación onde vos avalíen, durante dous minutos, intentade isto, no ascensor, no cuarto de baño, no despacho coa porta pechada. Isto é o que tedes que facer. Configurar o cerebro para acadar o mellor desa situación. Subide a testosterona. Baixade o cortisol. Non saiades desa situación sentindo como que non lles mostrei quen son. Saíde desa situación coa sensación de que vou dicir quen son e vouno demostrar.
So I want to ask you first, you know, both to try power posing, and also I want to ask you to share the science, because this is simple. I don't have ego involved in this. (Laughter) Give it away. Share it with people, because the people who can use it the most are the ones with no resources and no technology and no status and no power. Give it to them because they can do it in private. They need their bodies, privacy and two minutes, and it can significantly change the outcomes of their life.
Quero pedirvos antes de nada que adoptedes unha posición de poder, e tamén quero convidarvos a compartir a experiencia, porque é moi simple. O meu ego non depende disto. (Risos) Compartídeo, mostrádello á xente, porque os que mellor poden usalo son aqueles sen recursos nin tecnoloxía, sen posición nin poder. Compartídeo con eles porque poden facelo en privado. Só necesitan o seu corpo, privacidade e dous minutos para cambiar significativamente as proxeccións da súa vida.
Thank you.
Grazas.
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