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Nonverbal Power Dominance is a form of human communication. It is based on the ability to produces desired outcomes, especially in regards to human behavior through interpersonal interactions. Often, it is measured through a person's perceptions from the outcomes of their relationships. Power dominance is created by the dominator taking the dominatee out of their comfort zone. These levels of dominance can be created in many ways such as one's dress, both in style and color, gestures, facial expressions, along with many other areas.

Personal Space

Proximity is one way people assert their dominance over another. By closing the gap and moving into somebody's personal bubble it can create dominance because when the human brain senses that, it instinctually feels like it has lost the control of its surroundings. The brain does not know how to handle the taking away of something that it feels the intrinsic right to have.

It is often thought that people with more dominating personalities have a smaller bubble of personal space. When observing them, they are usually the ones to be making the first move and stepping into other's personal spaces and touching or interacting with them.

Donald Trump, for example, is a man who is relatively well known for asserting himself through ignoring the social norms and "popping peoples personal bubble." Often times, this is shown by him squeezing down on the space of the one he is with. During one of the debates in the 2016 presidential race, Trump stood looming closely behind Hilary Clinton's shoulder as she was speaking. When asked about it, Clinton said her "skin crawled" with the thought of him standing so close.

Power Posing

Power Posing is when a person strikes a pose to assert themselves to the people around them. It can come in many forms, but most commonly it is done through taking up a large amount of space to look bigger. Size is one of the first things that a person will notice and in most cases with size comes strength, and throughout history the the strongest wins.

Another aspect of power posing is taking a wider stance. A wide stance is thought to shows a lack of fear. With arms and legs spread out and chin held high, a person is exposing some of the most vulnerable areas of their body being the genitalia and neck. By doing this, a competitor sees the confidence exuding from the poser and may subconsciously take note of it in plans of attack, both in a physical or mental sense.

Physiological Effects of Power Posing

There has been much debate in the field of psychology on whether or not power posing has any real effect on the psyche. Amy Cuddy is one of the leading researchers on the subject and major proponent for power posing being able to affect human's psychological state. She is most famous for her viral Ted Talk on how striking various power poses prior to a high stakes event will boost a person's testosterone levels and decrease their cortisol levels, which will in turn provide a higher level of confidence and cause the brain to be less cautious in risk taking scenarios.

From the years 2015-17 there was much debate and a large number of studies that replicated that of Cuddy's. Almost all studies were unable to replicate the findings of Cuddy's study. Simmons and Simonsohn, two researchers at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted a meta-analysis of 33 studies about the psychological effects of power posing. They determined, through their research, that there is no substantial evidence to support Cuddy's findings. In 2016, Cuddy released a statement saying that she no longer believed that her findings were accurate.

How Power Posing Affects the People Around You

Larissa Z. Tiedens and Alison R. Fragale recently published a study discussing the complementarity vs. mimicry in posing and the effects it has on people. In the study, they found that people have a strong tendency to strike the complimentary pose of the person they are interacting with. For example, when one person is displaying more aggressive positioning in a conversation the other will take on the submissive role. The study also looked at when people choose to mimic the poses of the people around them. It was found that mimicry is used more commonly around friends or people they consider equal to themselves.

Manspreading

Manspreading on the subway

Manspreading is the act of spreading legs wide open while sitting down. It is traditionally linked to, but not exclusive to, the actions of men. In areas such as the subway it can be used to take up multiple seats. Taking up the space of others, it gives off the impression that the manspreader's comfort is more important than that of anybody else. This particular crime of selfishness has even been banned in public transit in the city of Madrid, Spain. Some women are countering with their own level of dominance coined "shebagging." This phenomenon is produced by the women spreading her purse, shopping bags, ect. across the seats next to her.

Color

As everything can communicate one thing or another, there are many different things that each color can communicate. Some things are psychological and true for everybody across the board while other things that color communicates changes based off of cultures.

Red for instance is considered a power color. It is the first thing the eye is attracted to when placed with other colors. In American, and many other western cultures, it represents power, energy, passion, and aggression. Often times, politicians will wear a power red tie to come across confident and able to audience. Blue, on the other hand, represents trustworthiness, stability, and loyalty; opposite traits, but contain the potential to be just as powerful when used in the right way.

Dress

Regardless of the title or experience that one has under their belt, the clothes he or she wears is also very closely related with power and dominance. Clothes play a crucial role in nonverbal communication. They incorporate style, color, affluence, among many other variables that all have a communicative value to them. When people see clothes, they will instantly make an immediate judgement based off of what they see. Research shows that people are way more likely to trust people in formal attire or a lab coat than if the exact same person were to be dressed in business casual attire or street clothes. Through this, we see that people can easily be manipulated through first impressions.