CLEVELAND – Sitting up straight isn’t just good for your posture – it also gives you more confidence in your own thoughts, says a new study.

Researchers found that people who were told to sit up straight were more likely to believe thoughts they wrote down in that posture, regarding their fitness for a job.

On the other hand, those who were slumped over their desks were less likely to accept these written-down feelings about their own qualifications.

The results, based on a study of 71 students at Ohio State University (OSU), show how our body posture can affect not only what others think about us, but also how we think about ourselves, said Richard Petty, study co-author and OSU psychology professor.

“Most of us were taught that sitting up straight gives a good impression to other people,” Petty said.

“But it turns out that our posture can also affect how we think about ourselves. If you sit up straight, you end up convincing yourself by the posture you’re in,” Petty added.

The research was published in the European Journal of Social Psychology.