How to “Fake” Your Way to Being Confident

By: Ye Wang

For many of us who want to become advertising professionals, having confidence can be crucial to success in the workplace. Being confident can help you stand out among your peers, do well in school or even nab that job interview. I saw this video on TED.com by social psychologist, Amy Buddy, who shows how simply changing our body language could affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain and change other people’s and our own perceptions of ourselves. Her famous research on nonverbal behavior has revealed how power posing can help people to become more powerful.

I think this video is really inspiring and useful, especially for people lacking in self-confidence or people who are looking to improve their communication skills. Dr. Cuddy says that our bodies can change our minds, and in turn our minds can change our behavior, and our behavior then change our outcomes. She told her own story of how she suffered from a head injury that affected her mental capacity and how she eventually changed the fate doctors gave to her by “faking it.” Her words of advice to her students and the audience were to, “not fake it till you make it, but fake it till you become it.” I hope that this video will be helpful to all of us who have to face finals week. In between all your readings, papers and studying, don’t forget to do a power pose!

References:

1. http://www.ted.com/speakers/amy_cuddy.html

2. http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html