Sybil Dunlop, The Daily Record Newswire
I had always assumed that there was no cure for imposter syndrome; we all just needed to suffer through it. Identified in the 1970s by a pair of clinical psychologists, the syndrome refers to “individuals marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as ‘fraud.’” Initially, researchers believed that the syndrome plagued high-achieving women in particular, but new research suggests that men and women are probably equally affected.
In my day-to-day existence, the syndrome can manifest when I am the first to offer my interpretation of a complicated legal issue. I’ll hear it whisper, “What if you missed something obvious?” Before a big oral argument, it may strike again, predicting, “The judge is going to ask you a question that you can’t answer.” And when dealing with credentialed opposing counsel, it can rear its head as well: “They had Supreme Court clerkships; they must be right.” I had assumed that the impact of the syndrome wasn’t actually so terrible — it led me to prepare thoroughly and obsess over details. It turns out, I was wrong. Research shows that the experience of feeling like a phony likely impacts the quality of my presentations. Luckily, that very same research, from Harvard social psychologist Amy Cuddy, suggests that there may also be a cure.
Amy Cuddy’s research starts from the established premise that body language matters, and Cuddy emphasizes the variety of ways that we all make sweeping inferences from body language. To illustrate, Cuddy cites research indicating that when people watch 30-second soundless clips of physicians interacting with patients, their judgments of the physician’s “niceness” predict whether or not that physician will ever be sued for malpractice.
Cuddy decided, however, to take this premise one step further, testing whether we can be influenced by our own non-verbal body language in ways that can impact our confidence levels. To this end, Cuddy first categorized powerful and non-power poses, noting that people (and monkeys) take up space when they feel powerful (picture Serena Williams winning a match and sticking her arms out in a victory pose) and take up less space when they feel a lack of power (picture a hunched over person, arms folded against the body).
Observing these differences, Cuddy set out to assess whether assuming a powerful pose could change how people think about themselves. She observed that powerful folks (and monkeys too) tend to have higher levels of testosterone (which she calls the dominance hormone) and lower levels of cortisol (the stress hormone). And she invited folks into her lab where she asked them to spit into a vile to record their baseline testosterone and cortisol levels. She then asked her research subjects to adopt either high-power poses (poses in which they took up a lot of space) and low-power poses (arms crossed, shoulders hunched) for only two minutes.
At the end of the two minutes, she asked the subjects to spit in the vile again. The differences were striking. From their baseline, people who assumed high-power poses had a 20 percent increase in testosterone. Low-power posers experienced a 10 percent decrease. Conversely, high-power posers had a 25 percent decrease in cortisol and lower-power posers had a 15 percent increase in cortisol. In other words, just two minutes of posing changed peoples’ hormone levels.
Cuddy suggests that her research can be most helpful when individuals are placed in evaluative situations. And this is where the rubber hits the road because our profession is filled with evaluative situations. Whether we are making a client pitch, attempting to convince an opponent to drop claims, arguing before a court, or teaching a CLE, we are evaluated as part of our day-to-day practice.
Now the trick, of course, is not to assume power poses in front of the judge in the courtroom because the benefits don’t accrue from convincing the judge that we are powerful, but from convincing ourselves. My takeaway? Head to the bathroom before your oral argument and assume a power pose for two minutes before entering the courtroom. Cuddy, in fact, tested just this approach in a mock interview setting, and the power posers dominated in the interviews.
Indeed, interviewers viewed the power posers as more confident, passionate, enthusiastic, comfortable and authentic as compared to low-power posers. And isn’t that exactly the effect that we as attorneys aim to have on clients, opponents, and the court alike?
Cuddy ties her research back to imposter syndrome by noting that her research suggests we need to fake it until we make it. Or fake it until we believe in ourselves. I’ve started doing it. And it works. A few weeks ago, I provided opening remarks at Minnesota CLE’s “New Lawyer Experience.” I assumed power poses in the green room before my presentation, and I felt the difference during my presentation. Last week, I argued before the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and assumed a power pose in the bathroom before my presentation. Again, I felt the difference. On both occasions, I felt confident and authentic, which enabled me to focus on substance and advocacy and not anxiety or doubt. I’m hooked and a total Cuddy devotee.
There is, of course, a chance that my new found confidence is nothing more than a placebo effect — perhaps I feel more confident just because I believe that I will. That’s fine too. I’ll take it. I am grateful for one more tool in my arsenal to sweep away those nagging doubts that haunt all of us and help us better convey our clients’ messages in an effective and passionate presentation.
You can learn more by watching Amy Cuddy’s TED talk or reading her book, “Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges.”
