by Peter T. Coleman

The nonverbals on display in mediation settings can be quite telling. It is often easy to tell which disputants are feeling confident, poised and powerful during the session and which are feeling the opposite – depressed and defeated.

However in a striking new study published in Psychological Science by Columbia University Professor Dana Carney, the reverse also seems to be true. The study found that people who stand or sit in positions that are open and expansive (high-power nonverbal displays) versus closed and contracted (low-power displays) experienced significant differences in their neuroendocrine levels and behaviors. Both male and female high-power posers experienced elevations in testosterone levels (which reflect and reinforce dominance), decreases in the stress hormone cortisol (associated with negative health consequences such as impaired immune systems), and increased feelings of powerfulness and tolerance for risk. Low power posers showed the opposite pattern.

In other words, participants in the study who were instructed to simply hold a high-power pose for 2 minutes experienced significantly advantaged and adaptive psychological, physiological and behavioral changes when compared to those who held low-power poses for the same amount of time. Let me stress that it was not just that people felt better in the high-power pose – their physiology changed in ways consistent with more and less dominant and adaptive states.

These extraordinary findings have many real-world applications, but particularly for situations of conflict. For example, consider the possible implications for helping to balance power imbalances in mediations. Simple recommendations or sets of guidelines on how to sit and stand for employees entering into mediation with their boss, or managers engaging in salary negotiations with their superiors, or even lower-power communities (illegal immigrants, youth groups, etc.) who attempt to negotiate with formal authorities could have remarkable consequences.

We’ve always known that powers matters in conflict. Now it seems that just posing as if in power matters as well.