Dana Carney

Dana Carney (born 1977) is an American social psychologist and associate professor at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business who gained international recognition for her research on power posing and embodied cognition. Along with Amy Cuddy and Andy Yap, she conducted influential studies suggesting that adopting expansive physical postures—so-called 'power poses'—could increase feelings of power and risk tolerance while decreasing cortisol levels. Her 2010 study on this topic became one of the most cited and discussed pieces of social psychology research in recent years, influencing business schools, self-help programs, and popular culture. However, Carney later became involved in a significant scientific controversy when subsequent researchers struggled to replicate the original findings, leading to her co-authors to distance themselves from the work. Despite this, Carney's research has contributed meaningfully to broader discussions about embodied cognition, nonverbal communication, and the intersection of psychology and performance. Her willingness to engage with criticism and the subsequent scientific debate have made her work particularly important for understanding how scientific knowledge is validated and refined.