Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ
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SCIENCE

The Claim

Power posing significantly increases confidence and success.

The Short Version

The best available evidence — including large pre-registered studies and meta-analyses — shows power posing produces a real but small effect on subjective feelings of power. It does not reliably change hormones, and behavioral or cognitive outcomes that would constitute "success" are weak or absent. The claim's use of "significantly" overstates the effect size, and pairing "confidence" with "success" implies downstream real-world benefits that the evidence does not support. The original 2010 findings have been substantially undermined by replication failures.

Caveats

  • The word 'significantly' conflates statistical significance (a technical threshold) with practical significance (a meaningful real-world impact) — the actual effect on subjective confidence is small.
  • No reliable evidence supports that power posing leads to measurable 'success' outcomes such as improved performance, decision-making, or risk-taking behavior.
  • The original 2010 hormonal and behavioral claims that popularized power posing have not been replicated and are considered unsupported by current meta-analyses.

The Receipts

  1. Power pose effects on approach and avoidance decisions in ... - PMC

    PMC (PubMed Central)

  2. In brief: Power poses, therapy appointment stigma, and more research

    American Psychological Association

  3. A decade of power posing: where do we stand? | BPS

    British Psychological Society (BPS)

  4. No evidence that power posing works

    Iowa State University News Service

  5. Power posing will not turn you into Superwoman - Aarhus BSS

    Aarhus BSS

  6. Eleven new studies suggest 'power poses' don't work | MSUToday

    Michigan State University (MSU Today)

  7. Can power posing make you feel more confident?

    BBC Science Focus

  8. 'Power poses' don't work, eleven new studies suggest - ScienceDaily

    ScienceDaily (Michigan State University)

  9. Power Posing: Fake It Until You Make It | Working Knowledge

    Harvard Business School Working Knowledge

  10. Power poses don't help boost confidence after all, Penn research ...

    Penn Today (University of Pennsylvania)

+ 3 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Power Posing