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So when we think of nonverbals, we think of how we judge others, how they judge us and what the outcomes are.

We tend to forget, though, the other audience that's influenced by our nonverbals, and that's ourselves.

We are also influenced by our nonverbals, our thoughts and our feelings and our physiology.

So what nonverbals am I talking about? 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. I became especially interested in nonverbal expressions of power and dominance.

And what are nonverbal expressions of power and dominance? Well, this is what they are.

So in the animal kingdom, they are about expanding.

So you make yourself big, you stretch out, you take up space, you're basically opening up.

It's about opening up.

And this is true across the animal kingdom.

It's not just limited to primates.

And humans do the same thing.

So they do this both when they have power sort of chronically, and also when they're feeling powerful in the moment.

And this one is especially interesting because it really shows us how universal and old these expressions of power are.

This expression, which is known as pride, Jessica Tracy has studied.

She shows that people who are born with sight and people who are congenitally blind do this when they win at a physical competition.

So when they cross the finish line and they've won, it doesn't matter if they've never seen anyone do it.

They do this.

So the arms up in the V, the chin is slightly lifted.

What do we do when we feel powerless? We do exactly the opposite.

We close up. We wrap ourselves up.

We make ourselves small.

We don't want to bump into the person next to us.

So again, both animals and humans do the same thing.

And this is what happens when you put together high and low power.

So what we tend to do when it comes to power is that we complement the other's nonverbals.

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