this is a fascinating 21 minute talk on body language. the speaker is Amy Cuddy and she studies the nonverbal expressions of power and dominance at the harvard business school. power and dominance is expressed the same throughout all human cultures and across all species. powerful individuals expand out, ie they take up greater space while those who are not powerful tend to collapse in on themselves, ie they take up less space.
Cuddy's research has found that not only does our nonverbal communication influence others' judgements of ourselves but our nonverbal communication influences how we think and feeling about ourselves. our nonverbals even affect our physiology at the hormonal level.
Cuddy enlisted volunteers and conducted an experiment where she measured the testosterone and cortisol in their saliva, then had them hold either a high power or a low power pose for two minutes. afterwards she asked them how powerful they felt. they were given the opportunity to gamble and then a second saliva sample was taken.
Cuddy found that after just a two minute pose, the test subjects were affected at the hormonal level. the test subjects in the high power pose had a significant decrease in cortisol and a significant increase in testosterone and the volunteers who held the low power pose had a significant decrease in testosterone and a significant increase in cortisol. the test subjects who held the two minute high power poses also took significantly more risks during the gambling portion of the experiment.
Cuddy notes that people who feel powerful are more assertive, confident, optimistic, and take more risks.
i immediately saw how this could be a major perk of dog ownership, especially pit bulls whose presence has the power to clear side walks. and i wondered about the hormonal change in someone who spends much of their day in a power pose.
but the increased risk taking behavior is what grabbed my attention. let's face it, the problem with pit bulls is the risk they pose to the rest of us. and us non pit bull owning people just can not fathom WHY these pit nutters continue to take these risks. many of the maladaptive personality types that we are accustomed to encountering in the pit bull subculture are known for their thrill seeking and risk taking traits. but there could be other explanations for their reckless behavior.
according to Cuddy's research...
our bodies change our minds
our minds change our behavior
our behavior changes our outcomes.
maybe this surge in testosterone could explain the behavior of some pit bull owners.
the testosterone high leads pit nutters to assert themselves and their dogs on the rest of us. they are confident that their dog will never hurt a fly and continue to deny its dangerousness even after the pit proves otherwise. they are optimistic that if we just meet their pibble, we too will become convinced of the magic of pibble. these testosterone driven feelings in turn gives them the confidence to take risks like walk them off leash, go to the dog park or trust them alone with your polite seated guests when you excuse yourself to to go the restroom.
as Cuddy wraps up this fascinating 21 minute video, she talks about how these tiny tweaks in our body language can bring about big changes and she advises people to keep at it and don't just fake it til they make it, fake it til they become it. sadly, some people really should not be faking it til they become it. no amount of "faking it" will give them mastery over the innate dog aggression in pit bulls.
that's all just rambling food for thought but it does remind me of another pit nutter in the news recently...
TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI demonstrating her confidence and mastery over dogs in the ultimate power pose at a children's playground.
TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI is the owner of dog training business that she arrogantly calls DAWGPHONICS. as you will see, she is not all that fluent in the language of dog.
in november 2012, an injured pit bull was found and the floriduh nutters turned him into another abused celebrity complete with facebook campaign. AXEL was nursed back to health and then sent to live in a foster home with local dog trainer TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI on january 9, 2013. (due to the fact that no one wanted him, ANTONELLI later ended up adopting him.)
four days after taking possession of AXEL, on january 13th, MR ANTONELLI uploaded this photo of AXEL with the caption "Axel's first visit to the sage biscuit cafe". click on the photo and look at this photo closely.
yep. that's right. FOUR DAYS into his new foster home and TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI slapped a service dog vest on this thing. note that is not an "in-training" vest.
fifteen days later, the "service" dog graduated from obedience school.
on march 6th and then again on april 16th, ANTONELLI uploaded this photo. again, click on the photo to view larger.
notice anything unusal?
less than two months after graduating from obedience school, the "service" dog has also graduated to wearing an e-collar. me thinks as AXEL gets stronger and his fur mommy tries to build his confidence up to match hers, he is transforming into a little tyrant.
fast forward one year, AXEL'S confident, assertive, optimistic fur mommy takes a risk and lets him off leash in her apartment complex and when he spots another pit bull living in the complex, a properly leashed pit bull i might add, AXEL attacks her. (kinda makes you wonder why someone laid an ax down on his head)
"He's had no altercations at all and he was on an electronic collar when this happened," Antonelli added Friday. "I don't know what happened."
ANTONELLI received a $500 citation but still goes on to blame the owner of the other pit bull, Kona, stating Kona got loose and "spooked" AXEL which prompted the attack. Kona's owner denies ANTONELLI'S accusation. i tend believe Kona's owner. if you doubt her version, please revisit the "service" dog above.
i don't know. is it just be me or should "service" dogs be so easily spooked? shouldn't they be bomb proof, especially if you take them into cafes and onto children's playgrounds?
when AXEL came to live with TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI and wear a "service" dog vest, she determined that he should only be adopted into a home with no other dogs but after the attack claims to have "completely retrained him." i'd say that TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI is another ego maniacal lion tamer who believes she can train dog aggression out but i think it more likely that she is back peddling and trying to cover her guilty ass.
i found plenty of photos of what appears to be TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI violating the apartment complex's leash law. clearly this was not the first offense.
the day after the attack :-)
but i think this was by far, the funniest thing i came across. i just had to share this oldie but goodie. it was just like swagger in, slither out all over again. good times.
bwahahahaha!
axel's angels
bay news 9
bradenton herald
antonelli dawgphonics
Power Pose - Amy Cuddy
THE STATE OF FLORIDA NEEDS TO BRING CHARGES AGAINST TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI OF DAWGPHONICS FOR FRAUD.
pdfs & screenshots of the evidence are available on demand.
