Sawyer Ohman

CMM110-A

10/2/23

Journal #9

Cuddy is a professor of business and she is very interested in the differences between her students and how their body language relates to their class participation. She has found that there are two types of students in her classroom, those that are eager to raise their hands and participate, and those who would rather remain silent or not fully engaged in class communication. Not only did Cuddy find that this had a relationship with gender but scientifically different body positions can affect the way our brains work. If our body language is “high-power” our brains will respond accordingly, hormones are released generally making us more confident and outspoken. So yes Our nonverbals govern how we think and feel about ourselves.

If we remain in a high power position for two minutes almost 90% of us would be more likely to gamble, we receive a 20% increase in testosterone levels, and roughly a 25% decrease in cortisol. These chemicals in our body make us more likely to express dominance, or maintain high-power body language. It’s almost like a cycle which can help explain to us why it is so hard to alter our personalities. It would be difficult for an introverted person to raise their hand in class or give a public speech. An extroverted person on the other hand might find themselves right at home in a public setting able to lead the conversation through body language and outward thinking.