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.