Our body posture when working with mobile phones, tablets and computers affect not only on our back, but also our behavior. That is according to a study by Professor Amy Cuddy and her colleague Maarten Bose from Harvard Business School entitled iPosture: The Size of Consumer Electronic Devices Affects Our Behavior. The study showed that working on a larger device - such as on a computer - made people more assertive than working on a tablet or a mobile phone.
Imagine that you are waiting for an important meeting or a business appointment to begin. What are you doing? You are probably playing with your phone. The authors of the study were interested in what effect it might have on your behavior during the meeting. They based the study on their previous research which had shown that strong body postures before a meeting (e.g. hands on hips, both feet on the floor, etc.) activated important chemical processes in the body. The processes make us feel more self-confident and willing to take risks. It works in the opposite way, too - a stooped posture reduces the levels of testosterone and cortisol in our bodies, which make us less self-confident.
Keep your mobile phone away from your hands
The study involved 75 participants. Each of them received one of four randomly assigned devices of different sizes: an iPod, an iPad, a laptop and a desktop computer. Their task was to fill out questionnaires and then to wait for an assistant to pay them ten dollars for their participation in the experiment. The assistant told them in advance that he comes in five minutes. However, he was deliberately late. And the result? 94% of the participants who worked on desktops and only 50% of the participants who worked on iPods went to find the assistant. The computer users waited for an average of 341 seconds, the iPod users for 493 seconds.
The study's authors say, of course, that further research must be conducted. However, why not to try it? Try to pay more attention to your body posture before your next meeting.
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