- 1-Power pose
- 2-Tense for willpower
- 3-Cross your arms to be more persistent
- 4-Lie face down for creativity
- 5-Take a nap to increase performance
- 6-Make gestures to persuade
- 7-Make gestures to learn
- 8-Smile to feel happy
- 9-Copy the behavior to empathize
- 10-imitate to understand
- 11-Smile to like
Most of the people know that our behavior expresses our internal state and they are correct, however it also works the other way around; the position of your body can affect your mood.
Here are 10 non-verbal language tricks with which you can improve your performance, feel better and have more positive thoughts.
1-Power pose
If you want to feel more powerful or stronger, take a "power posture." Researcher Carney found that when people sat or stood in a position of power, they felt more powerful and also increased their testosterone level.
This pose requires you to expand: spread your arms and legs and keep them uncrossed.
2-Tense for willpower
Tensing your muscles can increase your willpower. Scientists Hung and Labroo found in 2011 that people who tensed their muscles were better able to withstand pain, control themselves, or resist unpleasant stimuli.
3-Cross your arms to be more persistent
If you find yourself stuck with a problem that requires persistence, try crossing your arms. Scientists Friedman and Elliot showed how participants in an experiment lasted longer doing difficult anagrams by crossing their arms. In fact, twice the time and also with more correct solutions.
4-Lie face down for creativity
In 2005, Lipnicki and Byrne had volunteers from an experiment solve anagrams lying face down and solved them more quickly. Because anagrams are a type of problem where you need to make creative decisions, it can help you foster that skill.
5-Take a nap to increase performance
Brooks and Lack compared 5, 10, 20 and 30 minute naps and found that the best for performing better cognitively, having more vigor and feeling more awake, was the 10 minute nap.
More than that time resulted in a tendency to sleep more and only 5 minutes for half the benefit, but better than nothing.
6-Make gestures to persuade
The way people move their hands while talking is important in communication.
Maricchiolo and other researchers found in 2008 that these gestures help increase the persuasiveness of verbal languages, in addition to making them more understandable.
7-Make gestures to learn
Gestures also help us learn.
Cook and other researchers found in 2007 that children who were encouraged to gesture while learning retained more information.
8-Smile to feel happy
Although this seems logical, it is little practiced.
The simple act of smiling can make you happy, even if it is not justified. Strack and other researchers conducted an experiment in which a number of participants held a pen in their mouths to activate the muscles in the mouth responsible for smiling.
Participants whose smile muscles were activated rated a cartoon movie as more fun than those who did not activate their muscles.
Therefore, forcing a smile can make you see the world in a more positive light.
9-Copy the behavior to empathize
If you want to understand someone else's thoughts you can try to copy their behavior. People who are good at empathizing do so automatically: they copy posture and expressions.
In fact, it is a technique that actors use to simulate the emotional states of other people.
10-imitate to understand
In an Adank experiment in 2010, participants perceived an unfamiliar accent better if they mimicked it. Also, other psychologists claim that imitating other people can help us predict what they will do.
11-Smile to like
We have already mentioned smiling, but it not only serves to be happy, but to like the opposite sex more. Plus, most of the people you smile at will smile back and you'll build a better relationship.