At Affect Academics, we’ve been busy with mindful learning classes to help students combat common academic stressors. The idea is to explicitly teach healthy coping mechanisms to children of all ages, so that when they find themselves in a stressful situation, they have the tools to respond. Some of the more common techniques can easily be adapted to the classroom setting – and indeed would be more effective if they were incorporated into the daily rhythm of the class. So, I am going to try to create a series of posts that I hope will be helpful (try is the operative word here – I am obviously not a diligent bloggess). And here’s the first!

Power Poses
Harvard professor Amy Cuddy’s research on body language has serious implications for the classroom. In “Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance,” Cuddy demonstrated that by “power posing” for as little as two minutes, you can significantly decrease the body’s level of cortisol, the neurotoxic stress hormone that can cause problems from immune dysfunction to memory loss. What is a power pose? Simply put, you take up space, holding your body in an expansive “high-power” pose. You experience feelings of power and become more confident and willing to take risks.

In contrast, “low-power” poses, where you hunch over and slump your shoulders, trying to take up as little space as possible, causes power-sparking testosterone levels to drop and cortisol to spike. The kicker? Women tend to hold themselves in low-power poses, to the point of sleeping in the fetal position. In math, that matters. Women in math and science suffer from stereotype threat, where the false idea that women aren’t as good at math as men are becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. By actively teaching power poses in a math or science class, teachers can theoretically combat stereotype threat at the neurological level. And it’s not just women who benefit. Research by Smith in 2008 showed that psychological power enhances executive function capacity. Executive function is responsible for planning and executing and action, as well as envisioning outcomes and consequences. Pretty much every high school student everywhere would benefit from that!

Lately, Cuddy’s research has been called into question, as a German team attempted to replicate her findings and failed (you can read that research here). At Affect Academics, we pride ourselves on our scientific research base, so this was concerning to us, and we’re really looking forward to reading what happens next in the research arena. However, we’ve been using power poses in our standardized test prep and mindful learning classes for some time, and our experience is: they work. Students have reported using them to face fears before presentations, tests like the SATs, and in one case, a student told me she even went to the bathroom and stood in a superhero pose before confronting a group of boys who had been harassing her. She was flushed and proud when she told me about how she stood up for herself.

So what can teachers do? At the start of every math and science class, you can choose to devote two minute to a power pose. The “superhero pose” is the easiest. Stand with legs slightly wider than hip distance, hands on hips, chest full (this is hard for high school students so be careful here), chin held high. Explain that this is a tool they can use to help in any stressful situation, which for many students is math class, but could also be standardized tests or any academic stressor. Try having students brainstorm situations in which they might be helpful.

You can also recommend the “starfish pose,” where students, upon waking in the morning, roll over and stretch out their limbs, fingers and toes, in a big X across the bed, for as much as 5 minutes. Ms. Cuddy’s recent work shows that participants who did so increased their optimism for the entire day by 40%. Again, pretty much every high school student on the planet would benefit from that. And so would their teachers.

For more information, here are some good links to explore. The New York Times wrote a great article in 2014 that includes a link to Cuddy’s TedTalk, and you can also read the original research hyperlinked above. Of great interest to me, Katherine Isbister is also trying to combat math anxiety using power poses through a computer app. You can listen to an interview about it here. As for the controversy, you can read an excellent analysis here.

Why would I post a link refuting the research in a post about using it?  Because it’s important.  In an experiment designed to replicate her research, the scientists found no effect on outcomes, with a larger n to boot.  Power poses may be the cold fusion of social science – simply too good to be true.  For right now, I use them, because they have been effective for my students over the past five years. For right now, I appreciate the anecdotal effects of a brief activity that encourages my students, the girls especially, to stand proud on the earth and feel that they have the right to take up space.  However,  Eva Ranehill’s research shows us not to take it too far and hang our hats on an idea that something so small can change our entire lives. They are not a replacement for studying or being well-prepared for class – they are no silver bullet.

You can also download our teacher’s manual, Too Afraid to Learn, for an in-depth look at stereotype threat, math anxiety, and the research around it.