IF YOU DO ONE THING THIS WEEK . . . ADOPT A POSE FOR POWER

Posture – it’s not just the preserve of ballerinas and finishing schools. How you carry yourself may also help give you the upper hand in situations where you want to appear more powerful, according to research in the US.

In particular, “posture expansiveness” – positioning yourself to open up the body and take up space – appears to activate a sense of power, according to the study, published in Psychological Science.

Participants in high- and low-power roles were asked to complete tasks while adopting open, expansive postures (such as having one arm on the armrest of a chair and the other arm on the back of a nearby chair) or adopting more constricted forms (hands under their thighs, shoulders dropped).

“Our research suggests that your posture may be quite literally the way to put your best foot forward in a job interview,” says researcher Prof Adam Galinsky from the Kellogg School of Management.