Post on 28-May-2020
transcript
Rhetorical Analysis Masse 1
Emily Masse
Professor Jackman
English 503.03
27 September 2017
Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are; A Rhetorical Analysis
Everyone has been in a situation where they feel on top of the world, powerful, and
unstoppable. Our bodies communicate that feeling by opening up, arms extended and chin high.
In contrast, everyone has been in a situation where they feel miserable, powerless, and defeated.
Our bodies communicate that feeling by shrinking, wrapping arms and legs together and
hunching towards the ground. Science has proven time and time again that our body reflects our
emotional status, but what if it can work both ways? Can the way we position our body influence
our mind in how powerful we feel? In a 2012 TED Talk by Amy Cuddy, Your Body Language
May Shape Who You Are, Cuddy uses strategies such as logos, ethos, pathos, media/design, and
purpose to effectively argue that body language and mindset can shape who you are and your
outcomes in life.
Amy Cuddy is a social psychologist, lecturer, and New York Times bestselling author
who studied at Princeton University. She is a professor at Harvard Business School and has
focused her research on the power of nonverbal behavior and the ways in which people affect
their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Cuddy’s breakthrough achievement in the social
sciences was discovering how the concept of “fake it ’till you make it” actually has profound
effects on our lives. Several of her experiments involving nonverbal behavior were mentioned in
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this TED Talk, where participants utilized powerful body stances and weak body stances in a
series of tests to determine how physical assertions affect our mentality. (“Amy Cuddy”)
Cuddy noticed that, physiologically, hormones had a great deal to do with our nonverbal
expressions of power and dominance. The hormone testosterone relates to feelings of dominance
and the hormone cortisol relates to levels of stress. The overwhelmingly clear outcome of this
test was that participants in a “high-power” physical pose (shoulders square, arms wide, overall
strong stature) had a 20% increase in testosterone and a 25% decrease in cortisol. Participants in
“low-power” physical poses (hunched over, arms crossed, curled up) had a 10% decrease in
testosterone and a 15% increase in cortisol. In her studies, Cuddy ultimately proved that body
language can shape who you are and how you feel at a given time in your life. In delivering her
findings and overall argument via TED Talk, Cuddy utilized multiple strategies in persuading her
audience to use this potentially life-changing information.
Logos, or logic-based reasoning, appears throughout the first two thirds of this speech to
give a solid scientific background to Cuddy’s argument that body language and mindset shapes
who you are and what you get out of life. The first kinds of logic-based reasoning Cuddy uses
are facts and data through examples. She first offers the findings of a Tufts University researcher
Nalini Ambady, who studied how people react to body language in patient-physician encounters.
Reference to this study is followed by research from Alex Todorov at Princeton, who found that
a political candidate’s body language determines the outcome of many U.S. elections. Cuddy
expands upon the facts and data with examples which align our behavior with that of the animal
kingdom in the following example, “What are nonverbal expressions of power and dominance?
So in the animal kingdom, they are about expanding. So you make yourself big…What do we do
when we feel powerless? We close up…so again, both animals and humans do the same thing”
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(Cuddy). These facts and examples help paint a picture as to how body language and nonverbal
behavior have been studied before and how those findings are relevant to understanding her
argument.
Cuddy also uses cause and effect based reasoning to deliver the main points of her
speech. “If an individual needs to take over an alpha role sort of suddenly, within a few days,
that individual’s testosterone has gone up significantly and his cortisol has dropped significantly.
So we have this evidence, both that the body can shape the mind, and also that role changes can
shape the mind.” Through this example, she shows that hormones within the body can effect the
mind. To conclude her speech, Cuddy argues that the cost of taking two minutes in a “high-
power pose” can lead to big benefits and positive changes in a person’s life. “The last thing I’m
going to leave you with is this. Tiny tweaks can lead to big changes. So, this is two minutes. Two
minutes.” It is repeated to the audience that two minutes of an altered physical stance is all that it
takes to configure your brain to cope in the best way during a stressful situation. This cost is very
minimal to the benefits it could reap, so it is an effective persuasive strategy to conclude her
argument.
Another effective tool that Cuddy used throughout the beginning of her talk was language
to establish ethos, or credibility as a speaker. After opening the speech with visual anecdotes, at
the three-minute mark Cuddy included, “I’m a social psychologist. I study prejudice, and I teach
at a competitive business school, so it was inevitable that I would become interested in power
dynamics.” In once sentence, she delivers a small portion of both personal experience and
research credentials in this field, in addition to being a respected professor. This one sentence
lays the platform for her audience to believe and respect what she has to say, and can rely on her
being knowledgeable about the topic. Before she produced this sentence for personal ethos, she
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cited two researchers and their early studies in nonverbal behavior, demonstrating an appeal to
experts. Additionally, three minutes later, she adds, “so my main collaborator, Dana Carney,
who’s at Berkeley, and I really wanted to know…” This gives the impression that it is not just
Cuddy studying this and coming up with conclusions, but is working with a respected researcher
from Berkeley on board with these ideas. This furthers her personal credentials and appeal to
experts.
Cuddy uses pathos, emotion based statements, in narrative form to convince her audience
that body language shapes your mindset and outcomes in life. This use of personal storytelling
came towards the end of her speech trailing an influx of logos and ethos. The audience already
believes she is a credible source who has presented a logical argument, so all that is left to drive
her argument home is the emotional appeal. “I want to tell you a little story about being an
imposter and feeling like I’m not supposed to be here… [story about car accident brain injury
depleting her IQ, making it almost impossible to finish college] I felt entirely powerless, I
worked and worked…I graduated from college and ended up at Princeton…even if you’re
terrified you must say ‘Oh my gosh, I’m doing it. Like, I have become this. I am actually doing
this.’” The audience had a positive emotional reaction to her extremely personal story with
applause and cheering.
Cuddy went on to tell the story of a student of hers at Harvard, who never spoke in class
and felt completely defeated and ready to fail. This touched Cuddy personally as she reflected
upon her own struggles and how mindset and determination helped her against all odds. Tearing
up, she continued, “[the student] said ‘I’m not supposed to be here.’ And that was the moment
for me…I realized, oh my gosh I don’t feel like that anymore. But she does, and I get that
feeling. She is supposed to be here! Like, she can fake it, she can become it.” Cuddy ultimately
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helped this student achieve in the classroom simply by changing her mindset. In these stories,
she strategically utilizes the “fear of loss” emotion, where many people can relate to feeling
lonely, out of place, and vulnerable at some point in their lives. She also demonstrates the
“promise of gain” emotion, where the kind of life you want to live can be achieved through
mindset and body language. Both kinds of emotional appeals were placed the end of the speech
before tying her ideas together in conclusion. This format is particularly powerful because it
emphasizes the authenticity of her discoveries through real-life examples by tugging at the
audiences’ heartstrings.
Media and design played a role in the delivery of the speaker’s argument throughout the
TED Talk. At the beginning, imagery on presentation screens helped display some of Cuddy’s
main talking points and introduce the topic she was about to delve into. These images were
presented in humorous and easy-to-understand ways. She used the screens to demonstrate the
body stances often referenced throughout the speech, seen below in Figures 1 and 2. Cuddy also
used her own body to demonstrate examples within her argument, seen below in Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 1 Figure 2
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Figure 3 Figure 4 Another way in which Cuddy utilized media and design was towards the end to highlight key
concepts and takeaways from her argument. She did this by displaying simple words and phrases
as a means of concluding her speech, seen below in Figures 5 and 6.
Figure 5 Figure 6 When delivering a speech, an author or speaker has a rhetorical choice whether to use some sort
of imagery or slides to accompany their arguments. In this case, Cuddy’s use of imagery helps in
making her logic-based examples transparent and encourages her audience to take the knowledge
they gained with them, apply it in their own lives, and share it with others.
Similarly, that rhetorical choice in media design helped her achieve the purpose of her
argument. Cuddy’s purpose, which she explicitly stated in her speech was, “I want to ask you
first, you know, both try the power posing, and also I want to ask you to share the science,
because this is simple. I don’t have ego involved in this. (Laughter) Give it away. Share it with
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people, because the people who can use it the most are the ones with no resources and no
technology and no status and no power…it can significantly change the outcomes of their life.”
Cuddy uses moral ethos in this case as well by saying she wants her studies and hard work in
research to be put to good use by the public. Ultimately, that was the purpose of this TED Talk,
to spread the word about the power of body language and inspire thought and action. Utilizing
both speech and and visuals, her audience is shown and encouraged “what to do next,” in easy
steps. This allows them to participate rather than be passive listeners.
We are all fascinated with body language. We experience it every second of every day
through others and within ourselves. Body language has the power to relay our emotions, many
of us understand that. However, it can be even more fascinating and useful to understand your
body language can effect your emotions and actions. For many, this realization can be life-
changing. Cuddy’s research and assertion that body language can shape mindset, who you are,
and your outcomes in life is effective in its structure as a speech and its delivery of a compelling
and persuasive argument.
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Works Cited
“Amy Cuddy.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Sept. 2017,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Cuddy. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.
Cuddy, Amy. “Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are.” TED Conferences, LLC, June
2012,www.ted.com/playlists/171/the_most_popular_talks_of_all?gclid=CjwKCAjw3f3N
BRBPEiwAiiHxGMdaFf5VdalQmn1vjJBNTKfO3pmfmZXu9cqIAqMkCWE1KAM4aU
eRoCbNkQAvD_BwE. Accessed 18 Sept. 2017.