Amy J.C. Cuddy
Associate Professor of Business Administration, Hellman Faculty Fellow
Social psychologist Amy Cuddy, Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, uses experimental methods to investigate how people judge each other and themselves. Her research suggests that judgments along two critical trait dimensions – warmth/trustworthiness and competence/power – shape social interactions, determining such outcomes as who gets hired and who doesn’t, when we are more or less likely to take risks, why we admire, envy, or disparage certain people, elect politicians, or even target minority groups for genocide. Cuddy’s recent work focuses on how we embody and express these two traits, linking our body language to our hormone levels, our feelings, and our behavior. Her latest research illuminates how “faking” body postures that convey competence and power (“power posing”) – even for as little as two minutes -- changes our testosterone and cortisol levels, increases our appetite for risk, causes us to perform better in job interviews, and generally configures our brains to cope well in stressful situations. In short, as David Brooks summarized the findings, “If you act powerfully, you will begin to think powerfully.”
Amy J. C. Cuddy is Associate Professor and Hellman Faculty Fellow in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. She holds a PhD in Psychology from Princeton University and BA in Social Psychology from the University of Colorado. Prior to joining HBS, Professor Cuddy was an Assistant Professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she taught Leadership in Organizations in the MBA program and Research Methods in the doctoral program; and an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University, where she taught Social Psychology. At Harvard, she has taught MBA courses on the psychology of persuasion, power, and negotiation, and in numerous executive education programs.
Professor Cuddy studies the origins and outcomes of how we perceive and are influenced by other people, investigating the roles of variables such as stereotypes, emotions, nonverbal behaviors, and hormones.Her stereotyping research focuses on social categories (e.g., Asian Americans, elderly people, Latinos, working mothers) – how they are judged by others and by their own members (i.e., stereotyping), and how these judgments set the tone and content of social interactions (i.e., prejudice and discrimination). Along with Susan Fiske (Princeton University) and Peter Glick (Lawrence University), Cuddy developed the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) and the Behaviors from Intergroup Affect and Emotions (BIAS) Map, which focus on judgments of other people and groups along two core trait dimensions, warmth and competence, and how these judgments shape and motivate our social emotions, intentions, and behaviors. This work has been cited over 3000 times.
Cuddy’s research with Dana Carney (UC-Berkeley) focuses on how nonverbal expressions of power (i.e., expansive, open, space-occupying postures) affect people’s feelings, behaviors, and hormone levels. In particular, their research shows that “faking” body postures associated with dominance and power (“power posing”) – even for as little as two minutes – increases people’s testosterone, decreases their cortisol, increases their appetite for risk, and causes them to perform better in job interviews. In short, as David Brooks summarized the findings, “If you act powerfully, you will begin to think powerfully.”
Her research has been published in top academic journals, including Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Psychological Science, Research in Organizational Behavior, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, and Science. She received the Alexander Early Career Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in 2008, a Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science in 2011, and her joint research with Dana Carney and Andy Yap was named one of the Top 10 Psychology Studies of 2010 by Psychology Today. Her research has been covered on CNN, MSNBC, by the New York Times, Financial Times, TIME, Boston Globe, and Wall Street Journal, among other news outlets, and was featured in Harvard Business Review's Top 20 Breakthrough Ideas for 2009 ("Just Because I'm Nice, Don't Assume I'm Dumb"), Scientific American Mind in 2010 ("Mixed Impressions: How We Judge Others on Multiple Levels"), as the cover story in the Nov-Dec 2010 issue of Harvard Magazine ("The Psyche on Automatic"), in a 2011 David Brooks New York Times blog ("Matter Over Mind"), in Wired magazine in 2012 (“Strike a Pose, Harvard Business School Professor Amy Cuddy Has an Easy Life Hack: Stretch Out and Take Up Space”), and in Inc. magazine in 2012 (“Leadership Advice: Strike a Pose”). She has also appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 several times to discuss nonverbals in politics, and TIME magazine named Cuddy as one of 2012's 'Game Changers.' She has spoken at PopTech, TEDx, and TEDGlobal. Her TEDTalk ("Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are"), which was viewed more than 2 million times within two months of being posted in October 2012, has now been viewed more than 5 million times and ranks among the top 20 most popular TEDTalks of all time. In May 2013, Business Insider named Cuddy as one of "50 Women Who are Changing the World."
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Article
| Harvard Business Review
| Forthcoming
Connect, Then Lead: Trust Is the Conduit of Influence
Amy J.C. Cuddy, Matthew Kohut and John Neffinger
Keywords: influence;
trust;
Citation: Cuddy, Amy J.C., Matthew Kohut, and John Neffinger. "Connect, Then Lead: Trust Is the Conduit of Influence." Harvard Business Review (forthcoming).
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Article
| Psychological Science
|
The Ergonomics of Dishonesty: The Effect of Incidental Posture on Stealing, Cheating, and Traffic Violations
Andy J. Yap, Abbie S. Wazlawek, Brian J. Lucas, Amy J.C. Cuddy and Dana R. Carney
Can the structure of our everyday environment lead us to behave dishonestly? Four studies found that expansive postures incidentally imposed by our ordinary living environment lead to increases in dishonest behavior. The first three experiments found that individuals who engaged in expansive postures were more likely to steal money, cheat on a test, and commit traffic violations in a driving simulation. We also demonstrated that participants' sense of power mediated this effect. The final study found that automobiles with more expansive drivers' seats were more likely to be illegally parked on New York City streets. These findings are consistent with research showing that (a) postural expansiveness leads to a psychological and physiological state of power and (b) power leads to corrupt behavior.
Keywords: design;
dishonesty;
embodiment;
human factors;
Nonverbal Behavior;
Power;
Citation: Yap, Andy J., Abbie S. Wazlawek, Brian J. Lucas, Amy J.C. Cuddy, and Dana R. Carney. "The Ergonomics of Dishonesty: The Effect of Incidental Posture on Stealing, Cheating, and Traffic Violations." Psychological Science (in press).
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Article
| Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
|
Status Boundary Enforcement and the Categorization of Black-White Biracials
Arnold K. Ho, Jim Sidanius, Amy J.C. Cuddy and Mahzarin R. Banaji
Individuals who qualify equally for membership in more than one racial group are not judged as belonging equally to both of their parent groups, but instead are seen as belonging more to their lower status parent group. Why? The present paper begins to establish the role of individual differences and social context in hypodescent, the process of assigning multiracials the status of their relatively disadvantaged parent group. Specifically, in two experiments, we found that individual differences in social dominance orientation—a preference for group-based hierarchy and inequality—interacts with perceptions of socioeconomic threat to influence the use of hypodescent in categorizing half-Black, half-White biracial targets. Importantly, this paper begins to establish hypodescent as a "hierarchy-enhancing" social categorization.
Keywords: hypodescent;
social dominance orientation;
intergroup threat;
hierarchy maintenance;
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Article
| Harvard Business Review
|
Will Working Mothers Take Your Company to Court?
Joan C. Williams and Amy Cuddy
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Article
| Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
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Leadership Is Associated with Lower Levels of Stress
Gary D. Sherman, J. J. Lee, A.J.C. Cuddy, Jonathan Renshon, Christopher Oveis, James J. Gross and Jennifer S. Lerner
As leaders ascend to more powerful positions in their groups, they face ever-increasing demands. This has given rise to the common perception that leaders have higher stress levels than non-leaders. But if leaders also experience a heightened sense of control—a psychological factor known to have powerful stress-buffering effects—leadership should be associated with reduced stress levels. Using unique samples of real leaders, including military officers and government officials, we found that, compared to non-leaders, leaders had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and lower reports of anxiety (Study 1). In a second study, leaders holding more powerful positions exhibited lower cortisol levels and less anxiety than leaders holding less powerful positions, a relationship explained significantly by their greater sense of control. Altogether, these findings reveal a clear relationship between leadership and stress, with leadership level being inversely related to stress.
Keywords: leadership;
stress;
cortisol;
control;
Citation: Sherman, Gary D., J. J. Lee, A.J.C. Cuddy, Jonathan Renshon, Christopher Oveis, James J. Gross, and Jennifer S. Lerner. " Leadership Is Associated with Lower Levels of Stress." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109 (2012): 17903–17907.
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Article
| British Journal of Social Psychology
| Forthcoming
Nations' Income Inequality Predicts Ambivalence in Stereotype Content: How Societies Mind the Gap
Federica Durante, S. T. Fiske, Nicolas Kervyn and Amy J.C. Cuddy
Income inequality undermines societies: the more inequality, the more health problems, social tensions, and the lower social mobility, trust, and life expectancy. Given people's tendency to legitimate existing social arrangements, the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) argues that ambivalence―perceiving many groups as either warm or competent, but not both―may help maintain socio-economic disparities. The association between stereotype ambivalence and income inequality in 37 cross-national samples from Europe, the Americas, Oceania, Asia, and Africa investigates how groups' overall warmth-competence, status-competence, and competition-warmth correlations vary across societies, and whether these variations associate with income inequality (Gini index). More unequal societies report more ambivalent stereotypes, while more equal ones dislike competitive groups and do not necessarily respect them as competent. Unequal societies may need ambivalence for system stability: income inequality compensates groups with partially positive social images.
Keywords: stereotypes;
power and influence;
cross-cultural/cross-border;
inequality;
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Article
| Psychological Science
|
Gendered Races: Implications for Interracial Marriage, Leadership Selection, and Athletic Participation
Adam D. Galinsky, Erika V. Hall and Amy J.C. Cuddy
Six studies explored the overlap between racial and gender stereotypes and the consequences of this overlap for interracial dating, leadership selection, and athletic participation. Two initial studies, utilizing explicit and implicit measures, captured the stereotype content of different racial groups: the Asian stereotype was seen as more feminine whereas the Black stereotype more masculine compared to the White stereotype. Study 3 found that preferences for masculinity versus femininity mediated White participants' attraction to Blacks relative to Asians. Analysis of the 2000 United States Census replicated this pattern with interracial marriages. In Study 5, Blacks were more likely and Asians less likely to be selected for a masculine leadership position compared to Whites. Study 6 analyzed the NCAA Student-Athlete Ethnicity Report and found Blacks were more heavily represented in masculine versus feminine sports relative to Asians. These studies demonstrate that the association between racial and gender stereotypes has important real-world consequences.
Keywords: stereotypes;
race;
gender;
attraction;
leadership;
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Article
| Research in Organizational Behavior
|
The Dynamics of Warmth and Competence Judgments, and Their Outcomes in Organizations
Amy J.C. Cuddy, Peter Glick and Anna Beninger
Two traits-warmth and competence-govern social judgments of individuals and groups, and these judgments shape people's emotions and behaviors. This paper describes the causes and consequences of warmth and competence judgments; how, when, and why they determine significant professional and organizational outcomes, such as hiring, employee evaluation, and allocation of tasks and resources. Warmth and competence represent the central dimensions of group stereotypes, the majority of which are ambivalent-characterizing groups as warm but incompetent (e.g., older people, working mothers) or competent but cold (e.g., model minorities, female leaders), in turn eliciting ambivalent feelings (i.e., pity and envy, respectively) and actions toward members of those groups. However, through nonverbal behaviors that subtly communicate warmth and competence information, people can manage the impressions they make on colleagues, potential employers, and possible investors. Finally, we discuss important directions for future research, such as investigating the causes and consequences of how organizations and industries are evaluated on warmth and competence.
Keywords: Judgments;
Organizations;
Emotions;
Behavior;
Selection and Staffing;
Performance Evaluation;
Resource Allocation;
Valuation;
Competency and Skills;
Information;
Research;
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Article
| Psychological Science
|
Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance
Dana R. Carney, Amy J.C. Cuddy and Andy J. Yap
Humans and other animals express power through open, expansive postures and powerlessness through closed, constrictive postures. But can these postures actually cause power? As predicted, results revealed that posing in high-power (vs. low-power) nonverbal displays caused neuroendocrine and behavioral changes for both male and female participants: high-power posers experienced elevations in testosterone, decreases in cortisol, and increased feelings of power and tolerance for risk; low-power posers exhibited the opposite pattern. In short, posing in powerful displays caused advantaged and adaptive psychological, physiological, and behavioral changes—findings that suggest that embodiment extends beyond mere thinking and feeling to physiology and subsequent behavioral choices. That a person can, via a simple two-minute pose, embody power and instantly become more powerful has real-world, actionable implications.
Keywords: Nonverbal Communication;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Gender Characteristics;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Behavior;
Power and Influence;
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Article
| Harvard Business Review
|
Just Because I'm Nice, Don't Assume I'm Dumb
Amy Cuddy
We often judge colleagues on the basis of their perceived warmth and competence, finding clues to these qualities in stereotypes rooted in race, gender, or nationality. Many of our decisions about fellow workers are thus premised on faulty data—harming judged and judgers alike.
Keywords: Competency and Skills;
Judgments;
Gender Characteristics;
Nationality Characteristics;
Race Characteristics;
Perception;
Prejudice and Bias;
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Article
| British Journal of Social Psychology
|
Stereotype Content Model across Cultures: Universal Similarities and Some Differences
A.J.C. Cuddy, S.T. Fiske, V.S.Y. Kwan, P. Glick, S. Demoulin, J. Ph. Leyens and M.H. Bond
The stereotype content model (SCM; Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002) proposes potentially universal principles of societal stereotypes and their relation to social structure. Here, the SCM reveals theoretically grounded, cross-cultural, cross-groups' similarities and one difference across 10 non-U.S. nations. Seven European (individualist) and three East Asian (collectivist) nations (N=1028) support three hypothesized cross-cultural similarities: (a) perceived warmth and competence reliably differentiate societal group stereotypes; (b) many outgroups receive mixed stereotypes (high on one dimension; low on the other); and (c) high-status groups stereotypically are competent, and competitive groups stereotypically lack warmth. Data uncover one consequential cross-cultural difference: (d) the more collectivist cultures do not locate reference groups (ingroups and societal prototype groups) in the most positive cluster (high-competence/high-warmth), unlike individualist data. This demonstrates outgroup derogation without obvious reference-group favoritism. SCM is a pancultural tool for predicting group stereotypes from structural relations with other groups in society and comparing across societies.
Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques;
Relationships;
Groups and Teams;
Prejudice and Bias;
Culture;
Societal Protocols;
East Asia;
Europe;
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Article
| Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
|
Social Structure Shapes Cultural Stereotypes and Emotions: A Causal Test of the Stereotype Content Model
P. Caprariello, A.J.C. Cuddy and S.T. Fiske
The stereotype content model (SCM) posits that social structure predicts specific cultural stereotypes and associated emotional prejudices (Fiske et al., 2002). No prior evidence at a societal level has manipulated both structural predictors and measured both stereotypes and prejudices. In the present study, participants (n = 120) responded to an immigration scenario depicting a high- or low-status group, competitive or not competitive, and rated their likely stereotype (on warmth and competence) and elicited emotional prejudices (admiration, contempt, envy, and pity). Seven of eight specific predictions are fully confirmed, supporting the SCM's predicted causality for social structural effects on cultural stereotypes and emotional prejudices.
Keywords: Competency and Skills;
Mathematical Methods;
Emotions;
Personal Characteristics;
Prejudice and Bias;
Status and Position;
Culture;
Competition;
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Article
| Negotiation
|
Dear Negotiation Coach: Throwing Good Money After Bad
Amy Cuddy
Keywords: Negotiation;
Money;
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Article
| European Journal of Social Psychology
|
Fundamental Dimensions of Social Judgment
A. Abele, A.J.C. Cuddy, C. Judd and V. Yzerbyt
Keywords: Judgments;
Society;
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Article
| Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|
When Being a Model Minority Is Good...and Bad: Realistic Threat Explains Negativity Toward Asian Americans.
W.W. Maddux, A. Galinsky, A.J.C. Cuddy and M. Polifroni
The current research explores the hypothesis that realistic threat is one psychological mechanism that can explain how individuals can hold positive stereotypical beliefs toward Asian Americans yet also express negative attitudes and emotions toward them. Study 1 demonstrates that in a realistic threat context, attitudes and emotions toward an anonymous group described by only positive, "model minority" attributes are significantly more negative than when the group was described using other positive attributes. Study 2 demonstrates that realistic threat significantly mediates the relationship between (a) the endorsement of the both the positive and negative stereotypes of Asian Americans and (b) subsequent negative attitudes and emotions toward them. Studies 3 and 4 conceptually replicate this effect in experimental situations involving interactions with Asian Americans in realistic threat contexts. Implications for understanding the nature of stereotyping and prejudice toward Asian Americans and other minority groups are discussed.
Keywords: Business Model;
Ethnicity Characteristics;
Attitudes;
Emotions;
Prejudice and Bias;
Groups and Teams;
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Article
| Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
|
Warmth and Competence As Universal Dimensions of Social Perception: The Stereotype Content Model and the BIAS Map
A. J.C. Cuddy, S. T. Fiske and P. Glick
The stereotype content model (SCM) defines two fundamental dimensions of social perception, warmth and competence, predicted respectively by perceived competition and status. Combinations of warmth and competence generate distinct emotions of admiration, contempt, envy, and pity. From these intergroup emotions and stereotypes, the behavior from intergroup affect and stereotypes (BIAS) map predicts distinct behaviors: active and passive, facilitative and harmful. After defining warmth/communion and competence/agency, the chapter integrates converging work documenting the centrality of these dimensions in interpersonal as well as intergroup perception. Structural origins of warmth and competence perceptions result from competitors judged as not warm, and allies judged as warm; high status confers competence and low status incompetence. Warmth and competence judgments support systematic patterns of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions, including ambivalent prejudices. Past views of prejudice as a univalent antipathy have obscured the unique responses toward groups stereotyped as competent but not warm or warm but not competent. Finally, the chapter addresses unresolved issues and future research directions.
Keywords: Perception;
Competency and Skills;
Prejudice and Bias;
Emotions;
Business Model;
Behavior;
Research;
Competition;
Status and Position;
Cognition and Thinking;
Groups and Teams;
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Article
| Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|
Universal Dimensions of Social Cognition: Warmth, then Competence.
S.T. Fiske, A.J.C. Cuddy and P. Glick
Keywords: Cognition and Thinking;
Society;
Competency and Skills;
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Article
| Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
|
Aid in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: Inferences of Secondary Emotions and Intergroup Helping
A.J.C. Cuddy, M. Rock and M. I. Norton
Keywords: Natural Disasters;
Emotions;
Groups and Teams;
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Article
| Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|
The BIAS Map: Behaviors from Intergroup Affect and Stereotypes.
A.J.C. Cuddy, S.T. Fiske and P. Glick
Keywords: Behavior;
Groups and Teams;
Attitudes;
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Article
| Journal of Social Issues
|
This Old Stereotype: The Stubbornness and Pervasiveness of the Elderly Stereotype
A.J.C. Cuddy, M. I. Norton and S. T. Fiske
Americans stereotype elderly people as warm and incompetent, following from perceptions of them as noncompetitive and low status, respectively. This article extends existing research regarding stereotyping of older people in two ways. First, we discuss whether the mixed elderly stereotype is unique to American culture. Data from six non-U.S. countries, including three collectivist cultures, demonstrate elderly stereotypes are consistent across varied cultures. Second, we investigate the persistence of the evaluatively-mixed nature of the elderly stereotype. In an experiment, 55 college students rated less competent elderly targets (stereotype-consistent) as warmer than more competent (stereotype-inconsistent) and control elderly targets. We also discuss the type of discrimination—social exclusion—that elderly people often endure.
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Article
| Journal of Social Issues
|
When Professionals Become Mothers, Warmth Doesn't Cut the Ice
A.J.C. Cuddy, S.T. Fiske and P. Glick
Keywords: Behavior;
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Article
| Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|
A Threat in the Computer: The Race Implicit Association Test As a Stereotype Threat Experience.
C.M. Frantz, A.J.C. Cuddy, M. Burnett, H. Ray and A. Hart
Keywords: Technology;
Attitudes;
Experience and Expertise;
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Article
| Science (Weekly)
|
Why Ordinary People Torture Enemy Prisoners
S.T. Fiske, L.T. Harris and A.J.C. Cuddy
Keywords: War;
Behavior;
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Article
| Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|
A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype Content: Competence and Warmth Respectively Follow from Status and Competition
S.T. Fiske, A.J.C. Cuddy, P. Glick and J. Xu
Keywords: Attitudes;
Competency and Skills;
Competition;
Rank and Position;
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Article
| Journal of Social Issues
|
(Dis)Respecting versus (Dis)liking: Status and Interdepenences Predict Ambivalent Stereotypes of Competence and Warmth
S.T. Fiske, J. Xu, A.J.C. Cuddy and P. Glick
Keywords: Status and Position;
Attitudes;
Competency and Skills;
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
Qantas Luxury: Grounded Flights, First-Class Pajamas and Twitter Hashtags (B)
Amy J.C. Cuddy, Cassandra L. Govan, David T. Neal and Anna M. Coster
Citation: Cuddy, Amy J.C., Cassandra L. Govan, David T. Neal, and Anna M. Coster. "Qantas Luxury: Grounded Flights, First-Class Pajamas and Twitter Hashtags (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 913-008, May 2013.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
Qantas Luxury: Grounded Flights, First-Class Pajamas and Twitter Hashtags (A)
Amy J.C. Cuddy, Cassandra L. Govan, David T. Neal and Anna M. Coster
Keywords: air transportation;
social media;
Labor relations;
brand management;
Air Transportation Industry;
Australia;
Citation: Cuddy, Amy J.C., Cassandra L. Govan, David T. Neal, and Anna M. Coster. "Qantas Luxury: Grounded Flights, First-Class Pajamas and Twitter Hashtags (A)." Harvard Business School Case 913-007, May 2013.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
(Revised from original 2010 version)
OPOWER: Increasing Energy Efficiency through Normative Influence (A)
Amy J.C. Cuddy, Kyle Todd Doherty and Maarten W. Bos
The case profiles OPOWER, an energy efficiency software company that applies Cialdini's principles of social influence to successfully encourage consumers to reduce their energy usage. OPOWER was co-founded in 2008 by two young Harvard graduates, Dan Yates and Alex Laskey, who were inspired by Robert Cialdini's behavioral science research showing that people's normative beliefs - and messaging tailored to those beliefs - had a powerful and measurable impact on their energy-conserving behaviors. Yates and Laskey redesigned the home energy bill to include normative messaging, including feedback on how consumers' energy usage compares to their neighbors' usage. Through early trials of the program, the electrical utilities began seeing 1.5% to 3.5% savings in energy usage, almost immediately. After the rapid success of OPOWER's first three years, Yates and Laskey wondered whether their approach would produce sustainable results: what strategy should they pursue to ensure that consumers continue to read and respond to the normative messaging in the "Energy Bill 2.0"?
Keywords: Mathematical Methods;
Software;
Attitudes;
Entrepreneurship;
Energy Conservation;
Power and Influence;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Energy Industry;
United States;
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
(Revised from original 2011 version)
OPOWER: Increasing Energy Efficiency through Normative Influence (B)
Maarten W. Bos, Amy J.C. Cuddy and Kyle Todd Doherty
The case profiles OPOWER, an energy efficiency software company that applies Cialdini's principles of social influence to successfully encourage consumers to reduce their energy usage. OPOWER was co-founded in 2008 by two young Harvard graduates, Dan Yates and Alex Laskey, who were inspired by Robert Cialdini's behavioral science research showing that people's normative beliefs - and messaging tailored to those beliefs - had a powerful and measurable impact on their energy-conserving behaviors. Yates and Laskey redesigned the home energy bill to include normative messaging, including feedback on how consumers' energy usage compares to their neighbors' usage. Through early trials of the program, the electrical utilities began seeing 1.5% to 3.5% savings in energy usage, almost immediately. After the rapid success of OPOWER's first three years, Yates and Laskey wondered whether their approach would produce sustainable results: what strategy should they pursue to ensure that consumers continue to read and respond to the normative messaging in the "Energy Bill 2.0"?
Keywords: Energy Conservation;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
Congressional Candidate Dan Silver and KNP Communications (TN)
Amy J.C. Cuddy and Nithyasri Sharma
Teaching Note for 910013.
Keywords: Political Elections;
Voting;
Personal Characteristics;
Competency and Skills;
Reputation;
Consulting Industry;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
To Catch a Vandal: A Power and Influence Exercise (TN)
Amy J.C. Cuddy, Meredith Hodges and Ruwan Tharindu Gunatilake
Teaching Note for 911013.
Keywords: Voting;
Theory;
Debates;
Games, Gaming, and Gambling;
Power and Influence;
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Exercise
|
2012
(Revised from original 2010 version)
To Catch a Vandal: A Power & Influence Exercise
Amy J.C. Cuddy, Ruwan Tharindu Gunatilake and Meredith Hodges
This exercise is based on the "Mafia" game created by psychologist Dimma Davidoff, and is designed to give students a broad introduction to multiple theories of influence and to challenge their instincts about which techniques are the most powerful and how they may be employed. In this version, two section-mates have been linked to the vandalizing of school property. Students are secretly assigned to different roles (e.g., Moderator, Vandals, Leadership and Values Representative, and Innocent Section Members), and the object of the game is for the players to debate the identities of the Vandals and vote to eliminate suspects.
Keywords: Nonverbal Communication;
Knowledge Use and Leverage;
Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques;
Management Skills;
Groups and Teams;
Power and Influence;
Trust;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2010
(Revised from original 2009 version)
Congressional Candidate Dan Silver and KNP Communications
Amy J.C. Cuddy and Nithyasri Sharma
In the 2006 election cycle, Ron Klein was running for the U.S. Congressional seat from Florida's 22nd District. He was up against Rep. Clay Shaw, a popular 26-year incumbent with significant name recognition in the district. Leading up to the election, Klein's campaign manager realized that Klein had to find a way to relate to his voters on a personal level if he wanted to win the election and advised him to work with KNP Communications, a consulting firm. Over the course of a few sessions, Klein worked with the team from KNP to learn techniques that would help him connect with his voters. On election night, Klein wondered if KNP's training had allowed him to successfully connect with his voters and, more importantly, if this personal connection mattered more to voters than his competence and skills.
Keywords: Interpersonal Communication;
Competency and Skills;
Political Elections;
Personal Characteristics;
Public Administration Industry;
Florida;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2012
Preparatory Power Posing Affects Performance and Outcomes in Social Evaluations
Amy J.C. Cuddy, Caroline A. Wilmuth and Dana R. Carney
This experiment tested whether changing one's nonverbal behavior prior to an important social evaluation could improve performance on the evaluated task. Participants adopted expansive, open (high-power) poses or contractive, closed (low-power) poses, and then prepared and delivered a speech to two evaluators as part of a mock job interview—a prototypical social evaluation. All speeches were videotaped and coded for overall performance and hireability as well as for two potential mediators: speech content (e.g., content, structure) and speaker presence (e.g., captivating, enthusiastic). As predicted, those who prepared with high-power poses performed better and were more likely to be chosen for hire; this relationship was mediated by speaker presence, but not speech content. Power-pose condition had no effect on body posture during the social evaluation, thus revealing a relationship between preparatory nonverbal behavior and subsequent performance, and highlighting preparatory power posing as a simple performance-boosting tool with the potential to benefit almost anyone.
Keywords: Power;
Power Posing;
Social Evaluation;
Nonverbal Behavior;
Performance;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2010
Men as Cultural Ideals: How Culture Shapes Gender Stereotypes
Amy J.C. Cuddy, Susan Crotty, Jihye Chong and Michael I. Norton
Three studies demonstrate how culture shapes the contents of gender stereotypes, such that men are perceived as possessing more of whatever traits are culturally valued. In Study 1, Americans rated men as less interdependent than women; Koreans, however, showed the opposite pattern, rating men as more interdependent than women, deviating from the "universal" gender stereotype of male independence. In Study 2, bi-cultural Korean American participants rated men as less interdependent if they completed a survey in English, but as more interdependent if they completed the survey in Korean, demonstrating how cultural frames influence the contents of gender stereotypes. In Study 3, American college students rated a male student as higher on whichever trait—ambitiousness or sociability—they were told was the most important cultural value at their university, establishing that cultural values causally impact the contents of gender stereotypes.
Keywords: Gender Characteristics;
Values and Beliefs;
Perception;
Power and Influence;
Prejudice and Bias;
Culture;
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