Melia Robinson/Business Insider
Leaning forward while standing shows you're engaged and in a position of dominance.
Power posing: The act of taking a posture of confidence, even when you don't feel so confident, to make yourself more dominant.
Go straight to the poses »
Social psychologist Amy Cuddy struck a chord in the business world at TEDGlobal 2012 when she gave a talk about the scientific evidence behind power posing. Her research showed that standing or sitting a certain way triggers immediate changes in your body chemistry.
They can affect the way you do your job and interact with other people. They might even have an impact on your chances of success.
Here's how it works: High-power posing is about "opening up," Cuddy says. You stretch and expand your body to take up as much space as possible. It's similar to how primates behave in the wild. They puff out their chests and extend their limbs to make themselves appear - and feel - big.
After assuming a high-power pose for just two minutes, your testosterone levels (the "dominance" hormone) can rocket 20% while your cortisol levels (the "stress" hormone) fall sharply. This allows you to better handle stressful situations.
We decided to test out some of the poses. Some of them have names created by Cuddy; others we came up with. We'll break down which to use in eight common situations that affect your work success.