Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges

Presence is typical of self-help literature in that it merges scientific research with practical advice. This genre has experienced remarkable growth in recent decades, with data from WordsRated, an international research data and analytics group, indicating an 11% surge in the self-help industry from 2013 to 2019. US sales of self-help books have seen annual increments, reaching a staggering 18.6 million volumes during this period ('Self-Help Book Statistics,' WordsRated, 16 Dec. 2022).

Presence is no exception to this trend, gaining initial prominence through the TED Talk upon which the book is based. The talk enjoyed massive success, and, as of 2023, is the second most popular TED Talk of all time. However, despite the undeniable success of both the talk and the book, they have not escaped criticism. For example, a contemporary New York Times article about Presence suggests that, while the book does well to intertwine real-world experiences with the practical techniques, it lacks complete balance:

While Cuddy’s research seems to back up her claims about the effects of power posing, even more convincing are the personal stories sent to the author by some of the 28 million people who have viewed her TED talk. Cuddy scatters their stories throughout the book, which renders its tone a little uneven at times: Generalizations yield to first-person anecdotes yield to social science research yield to an almost evangelical call to turn off your crazy, negative brain and occupy the moment more fully (Havrilesky, Heather. “Amy Cuddy’s ‘Presence’ and Shonda Rhimes’s ‘Year of Yes.’” New York Times, 28 Dec. 2015).

Further criticism came from closer to home. In 2016, Cuddy’s co-author on the study underpinning the book, Dana Carney, published an official position on “power poses.” Power poses are postures where one shows dominance and takes up space, and are supposed to make people act more confidently and boldly. However, Carney says that her opinion about power poses changed since the book’s publication: “As evidence has come in over these past 2+ years, my views have updated to reflect the evidence. As such, I do not believe that “power pose” effects are real” (Carney, Dana. “My Position on ‘Power Poses.’” UC Berkeley, 2016.) Carney asserts: “The evidence against the existence of power poses is undeniable.”

In 2016, Cuddy published a statement on LinkedIn responding to the accusation that “power poses” are not real: “I have confidence in the effects of expansive postures on people’s feelings of power—and that feeling powerful is a critical psychological variable.” (Cuddy, Amy. “My Overview of the State of the Science on Postural Feedback ("Power Posing"), and Some Comments on Civilized Scientific Discourse.” LinkedIn, 4 Oct. 2016.)

While some studies have failed to replicate the findings of Cuddy’s study, others have had similar findings. TED continues to update links about the debate on their website as new information becomes available.