Using bodily postures to reduce anxiety and improve interoception: A comparison between powerful and neutral poses

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Embodied Cognition
• Mental Health

Background:

• Anxiety syndromes are prevalent in university students, necessitating effective interventions.
• Powerful postures influence affective states and interoception, but comparisons with neutral postures are lacking.
• Interoception, the perception of internal bodily signals, is crucial for emotional regulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effects of powerful versus neutral postures on state anxiety and interoceptive ability in university students.
• To assess the long-term impact of adopting powerful or neutral postures on trait anxiety and interoceptive ability over two weeks.

Main Methods:

• A single-session experiment measured immediate changes in state anxiety and interoceptive accuracy.
• A two-week intervention involved daily adoption of either powerful or neutral postures.
• Participants included 57 university students.

Main Results:

• State anxiety decreased in both power posing and neutral posture conditions after a single session.
• Interoceptive accuracy improved only in the power posing group after one session.
• After two weeks, interoceptive accuracy increased in both groups.

Conclusions:

• Embodiment interventions involving expansive postures and self-focus reduce anxiety and enhance interoceptive accuracy in students.
• Power posing was not demonstrably superior to neutral postures for improving interoceptive accuracy or anxiety.
• The inclusion of self-focus and postural deviation from the norm in both conditions may explain the similar outcomes.