There has been quite a discussion on the merits (or not) of 'Power posing' as advocated by Amy Cuddy in the USA. She basically claimed (advocating 'fake it until you make it') that adopting a high-power pose (a la Wonder Woman) for as little as 2 minutes a day could improve both confidence and success. Cuddy was not even the lead author on the initial paper but the 'fad' was launched into the stratosphere by David Brooks, the NY-based author of 'The Social Animal'. The Cuddy Study basically described how adopting strong poses could increase levels of testosterone in the blood whilst reducing cortisol values. There are similar claims made about hormonal changes in response to winning an encounter in judo, karate, tennis or chess and performing well in examinations (with being defeated producing the opposite effects). Interestingly, 'undeserved' winning such as getting a lottery prize appeared to have no effect on hormone levels. This might suggest that the effects (if any) might depend on whether you believe your own hype (other studies are at variance with the initial study). Personally, I think that this type of use of 'scientific' data is both over-simplistic and unlikely to prove helpful in real life. I prefer doers to posers.
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