Did Grey's Anatomy Get It Right With The Superhero Pose?

[Michael M. Heuninckx]

As I was catching up on this past season of Grey's Anatomy, Amelia Shephard is about to start a marathon of a surgical procedure. Right before she is about to go into the operating room, she clenches her fists, places them on her hips, puffs up her chest, and stands tall with a powerful look on her face. One of the residents who is confused by this behavior asks her why she is doing what she is doing, Amelia states, "a scientific study showed that if you stand in the superhero pose for 5 minutes before a job interview, presentation or difficulty task, you will not only feel more confident you will perform measurably better".¹ After this fact is stated, the resident buys this fact, and joins her in the superhero pose.

Here is the clip from the Episode

Amelia and Stephanie are Superheroes Videos | Grey's Anatomy TV - ABC.com

As most healthcare professionals can pick apart when medical shows are right on, stretching the truth a little and just flat out wrong. When I initially saw the "superhero pose" I immediately placed it in the, shake of the head, chuckle to myself and the, "come on really!?" response. Even though this was my initial response, I did stop and ask myself, "What if this is true?" It really is no cost, can be done anywhere and could be a tool nurses could use it to boost their confidence and have a positive impact on the patients they are taking care of.

So my research began. . .

Much to my surprise, after some digging around, I came across a TED Talk conducted by Amy Cuddy. Amy holds a PhD in Psychology from Princeton University and currently is a professor at Harvard Business School.² In her TED Talk, Amy discusses how dominance and power is shown in the animal kingdom and how that is also reflected in humans. Amy shows this by giving examples of animals and humans show power and dominance by expanding their body.² Followed by showing how animals and humans show feelings powerless by wrapping ourselves up and making oneself smaller.² Amy's hypothesis was, if you stay in a high power pose for two minutes, to what degree does it affect hormone levels in your body.² The hormones studied were the dominance hormone, testosterone, and the stress hormone, cortisol.²

In the study, saliva samples were taken, then participants either did a high power pose for two minutes or a low power pose for two minutes, offered a chance to gamble, then another saliva sample was taken.² In the high power posing group testosterone levels increased by 20% and cortisol levels decreased by 10% and 86% were willing to gamble.² In the lower power posing group the exact opposite occurred, the levels of testosterone decreased by 25% and the levels of cortisol increased by 15% and only 60% of participants were willing to gamble.² Also when this was further studied, the concept was applied to candidates using high power poses or low power poses before an extremely difficult job interview. Can you guess what occurred? The group of job candidates who posed in a high power pose for two minutes were chosen for the job over the candidates in the low power posing group.²

I encourage EVERYONE who is reading this article to take the time to watch the TED Talk below of Amy Cuddy discussing her research proving the validity of power posing.

Amy Cuddy:

Wow, wow, wow! Who knew! I could not have been more wrong with my above skepticism! Every time I watch the above video, I simply am amazed, inspired and motivated. As Amy states, people only need "their bodies, privacy, and two minutes." I believe if nurses were to work high power posing into their daily routine, multiple times a day if possible, they would see an improvement in their own leadership ability and increase their overall feelings of courage to engage in difficult conversations with colleagues. A difficult task all nurses face every day. This will then organically weave its way into your daily practice as a nurse also. Improving the quality of care you are able to deliver to your patients, leading to, improvements in patient outcomes.

Keep up the great work Shonda Rhimes and the entire Grey's Anatomy team! I have been a fan from day one and I look forward to all of the future seasons to come!

Michael M. Heuninckx RN-BSN

If you like this article then you might want to check out Michael's new book for nurses...

Code Blue! Now What? Learn What To Do When Your Patients Need You The Most!

[KeepItRealRN, BSN, RN]

umm... are you joking or being serious?

She is as serious as a heart attack.

[nursewannabe71]

I did this when I was in Lvn school or got excited when they showed something we learned in class.

Has anyone else noticed how on Greys they NEVER show the NURSES? doing basic care,changing lines etc? Its just the immediate cast on Greys(the Dr's or students/residents)..Also,cuz I looked into rad tech program, I noticed they dont show rad techs doing Mri's etc,its merediths sis in law,whats her face or that resident sidekick of hers...

[AbakRN]

So according the study, those who did a "power pose" showed more dominance and a higher potential for risk taking. I'm not sure I really want my surgeon imposing an increased sense of invincibility combined with risk taking just prior to doing surgery on me.

Have u ever met a surgeon? They think they are invincible.... U have to be pretty confident to do what they do... Even bad surgeons think they're gods gift to surgery.... Especially cardio thoracic guys

[thenightnurse456]

I did this when I was in Lvn school or got excited when they showed something we learned in class.

Has anyone else noticed how on Greys they NEVER show the NURSES? doing basic care,changing lines etc? Its just the immediate cast on Greys(the Dr's or students/residents)..Also,cuz I looked into rad tech program, I noticed they dont show rad techs doing Mri's etc,its merediths sis in law,whats her face or that resident sidekick of hers...

This used to annoy me too about medical dramas not showing the real work that nurses/techs do by instead having attending surgeons hang IVs and perform their own MRIs etc.

But the way I now see it is that the show is based on the surgeons. If it were realistic, the show would be quite boring.

[profjill]

While this study was published and reported by Amy Cuddy (and has grown and been shared numerous times) the results have never been duplicated by other researchers. Like many studies conducted, the published report was later proven wrong. The TruTV show Adam Ruins Everything discussed this on this week's episode, and other researchers have published work on their studies to show this isn't the case.

As a note, I do find these power postures to be helpful in my everyday life, but not for the reasons that are proposed in the study. Good posture just helps with circulation and respiration. We spend so much of our day in poses that compress instead of expand. Taking a moment to breath in an expansive pose is a wonderful meditative activity that can slow the breathing and heart rate and improve mental focus.

[brownbook]

While this study was published and reported by Amy Cuddy (and has grown and been shared numerous times) the results have never been duplicated by other researchers. Like many studies conducted, the published report was later proven wrong. The TruTV show Adam Ruins Everything discussed this on this week's episode, and other researchers have published work on their studies to show this isn't the case.

As a note, I do find these power postures to be helpful in my everyday life, but not for the reasons that are proposed in the study. Good posture just helps with circulation and respiration. We spend so much of our day in poses that compress instead of expand. Taking a moment to breath in an expansive pose is a wonderful meditative activity that can slow the breathing and heart rate and improve mental focus.

This is all very true. Unfortunately there is no one miracle "thing" that will change, improve, enhance, every bodies life all the time and forever. Sometimes these "gimmicks" are just a little tweak that works for a while that leads to another little tweak that works for a little while, and after a while all the little tweaks add up and a person has changed. Gotten a new job, felt more confident, learned to speak up, etc., even if they have forgotten about the original "tweak" that got them started.

Everybody will have good days and bad days, hopefully the bad days will be less and on the bad days that person will remember some of the "tweaks" that helped.