Sit Straight, Be Confident

In a recent study, participants were asked to think about and write down their best or worse qualities while they were sitting down with their back erect and pushing their chest out in a confident posture, or slouched forward with their back curved. Then, participants completed a number of measures and reported their self-evaluations. Researchers found the effect of the direction of thoughts (positive/negative) on self-related attitudes was significantly greater when participants wrote their thoughts in the confident posture. The postures did not influence the number or quality of thoughts listed, but did have an impact on the confidence with which people held their thoughts.