GEM2027/GET1008 PO template

Preparation Outline for

Commemorative/Informative/Persuasive Speech
Name: Timothy Yeo
Tutorial Grp________________________________ Date:
Title: Power poses
Topic chosen: Power poses
Specific purpose: I want my audience to adopt power poses as a form
of nervous relief

Central
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Idea:
What are power poses
Adopting power poses and its effect on your state of mind
Persuade you to use power poses as a counter measure to
nervousness

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Introduction
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Ok so the first thing I want to ask you guys is; what do you think
Obama is doing in this picture.
Yup, he looks like hes checking out that woman in red and since
that woman is actually beyonce, I meanI would do the same
thing if I were in his position.
But the reason why you were able to tell that Obama was
checking beyonce out, is because of his body language.
It is ingrained in most men to want to check nice butts out and
Obama is clearly one of those men. This is an example of how
your state of mind can affect your body language.
But did you know, that this can work the other way around as
well, your body language, can actually affect your state of mind
and adopting power poses, is one of those ways.
This brings me to the objective of todays speech, which is to
firstly tell you more about power poses, secondly, tell you how
adopting power poses can affect your state of mind and lastly,

GEM2027/GET1008 PO template
persuade you to use power poses as a counter measure to
nervousness.

(Insert Connective: identify type:_signpost___________________)

Body (include in-text citations of sources)

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To start off, I want all of you to imagine this scenario. After 10

long years of hard training, all your blood and your sweat has
finally paid off. Youre in the finals of the SEA games 2017. You
score the winning point, and the crowd erupts in cheers around
you. At this point, many people adopt a similar pose. Does your
pose look something like this?
This is an example of a high power pose. Hands spread apart,
chest out and chin up. However, not all high power poses look
the same. Another example of a high power pose looks
something like this, and, for obvious reasons, is called the
wonder woman.
A high power pose is something that you adopt when you are
victorious, it is a pose of pride and it is innate within us. Studies
have shown that even people who are congenitally blind, that is
to say born blind, adopt high power poses when they win at
events.
The opposite of high power poses are low power poses. They are
used to express feebleness and helplessness and are generally
characterized by drooping shoulders, chin down hand tucked in,
basically youre trying to close yourself up.
The use of power poses is not only limited to winning or losing at
sports but also to display a balance of power between 2
communicating parties.
For example, in this picture, the woman has adopted the high
power pose known as the wonder woman while the man has
adopted a low power pose. The low power pose is something you
never want to adopt because it opens you up to the possibility of
domination by other people.
However, the pose we adopt is usually subconscious and
dependent on our current state of mind. Therefore its important
that we be mindful of our body language. But what if I told you
that adopting power poses can affect your state of mind as well!

(Insert Connective: identify type:transition)

GEM2027/GET1008 PO template
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VIII.

In 2012, Dr Amy cuddy conducted research on the effects of

power poses on your mindset.
The experiment was carried out by asking her subjects to adopt
either a low power pose, or a high power pose as seen in this
slide for 2 minutes.
After that, a series of tests were conducted. The test that I would
like to highlight is the biochemistry test.
Basically, what Amy cuddy did is that after the 2 minutes were
up, she tested the blood of her subjects for 2 particular
hormones, the dominance hormone testosterone and the stress
hormone, cortisol and what she found, was that was that there
was a higher level of testosterone produced for people who
adopted high power poses while the amount of testosterone in
people who adopted low power poses actually decreased.
For the stress hormone cortisol, it was found in decreased
amounts for people who adopted high power poses and
increased in people who adopted low power poses.
The people who adopted high power poses actually felt in power,
felt dominant while those that adopted low power poses felt more
stressed and more subjugated.
What this is saying is that our bodies can indeed change our
minds.
So this raises the questions, should we use high power poses
every time were in stressful situations?

(Insert Connective: identify type:Transition)

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The answer is: absolutely not!

In my survery, I found that everybody is nervous before an
interview. And different people have different ways to deal with
the nerves, most people recommend deep breathing. Im not
asking you to give up on your current technique
neither am I asking you to take on a high power pose during the
interview itself.
Can you imagine adopting a high power pose in an interview?!
(demonstrate) As you can see, I think doing so would diminish
your chances of getting the job.
What Im asking you to do is to instead this: Before a stressful
social evaluation; it can be an interview, a presentation, or even
meeting your girlfriends parents, excuse yourself for 5 minutes,
go to an empty space, go to a toilet, basically anywhere you can
be alone and adopt a high power pose.
This dosent take a lot of time, and is simple to do, all you need is
the willingness to try it. Besides, its not like anybody is going see
you in your wonder woman pose.

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(Insert Connective: identify type:Signpost)
Conclusion
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To conclude, your body language is influenced by your state of

mind.
But it works the other way as well.
Try to never adopt low power poses
Adopt high power poses if the situation allow for it
Also, try adopting high power poses before going for an interview
and see how it changes your performance.

Bibliography (use APA / MLA style)

http://www.businessinsider.com/power-pose-2013-5?
IR=T&r=US&IR=T#professor-cuddy-faked-it-she-faked-it-all-theway-through-princeton-and-northwestern-and-harvard-she-fakedit-until-she-had-long-since-forgotten-that-she-was-faking-it-39
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/9547823/13027.pdf?sequence=1

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