Smiling makes you happier:

I’ve posted about “fake it ’til you make it“, how much of leadership may be acting and how context has more power over us than we think.

In his new book The As If Principle: The Radically New Approach to Changing Your Life, Richard Wiseman sums up much of this research and shows how your actions might determine your feelings.

Researchers told people to smile. What happened? They felt happier.

Read more: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/07/change-for-the-better/

The brain can be tricked:

What’s funny is, your brain needs to interpret what your body is experiencing — and your brain doesn’t always get it right.

This is called “misattribution of emotions” and it may explain the “rebound effect” after a break up.

Via The As If Principle: The Radically New Approach to Changing Your Life:

When a relationship ends, people often feel especially anxious. If they meet a new potential partner soon after a previous relationship has finished, they may misinterpret their anxiety as a sign of passion.Evidence for this effect comes from a study in which researchers arranged for a group of men to take a personality test and receive either positive feedback (to make them feel good) or negative feedback (to make them feel anxious). The men were then asked to wait in a cafeteria; while they waited, an attractive woman approached them. The men who had just received the negative feedback found the woman especially attractive, as Schachter predicted.

Read more: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/07/change-for-the-better/

Increasing confidence:

To increase your self-esteem and confidence, adopt a power pose. If you are sitting down, lean back, look up, and interlock your hands behind your head. If you are standing up, place your feet flat on the floor, push your shoulders back and your chest forward, and hold your hands in front of you.

Read more: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/07/change-for-the-better/

What about persuasion and negotiation?

Persuasion: Getting the nod

Researchers have found that when people nod their heads up and down while they listen to a discussion (causing them to nod as if they agreed with the arguments), they are more likely to agree with the points being made. When you want to encourage others to agree with you, subtly nod your head as you chat with them. They will reciprocate the movement and find themselves strangely attracted to your way of thinking.

Negotiation: Warm tea and soft chairs

When people think that they are connected to others, they feel physically warm. And it is also true that when you warm someone up with a nice mug of tea or coffee, they become far friendlier. Similarly, hard furniture is associated with hard behavior. In one study, researchers had participants sit on either soft or hard chairs and then negotiate over the price of a used car. Those in the hard chairs offered less and were more inflexible.

Read more: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/07/change-for-the-better/