From grumpy to cheerful (and back): How power impacts mood in and across different contexts

The Empowering Function of the Belief in a Just World for the Self: Trait-Level and Experimental Tests of Its Association With Positive and Negative Affect

Belief in a just world for the self (BJW-self) is a resource that promotes adaptive functioning. We theorize that BJW-self has such an effect because it is empowering. This article reports on four studies (N = 967) testing whether BJW-self encourages more positive and less negative affect indirectly through empowerment. There was support for this hypothesis at a trait level across all studies, and specifically in Study 1. Experimental evidence, however, was more complex. Study 2 demonstrated the causal effect of the mediator, empowerment, on affect. Study 3 demonstrated that affirming BJW-self enhanced empowerment with an associated increase in positive affect and reduced negative affect. Study 4 showed that enhancing empowerment did not significantly influence the effect of affirmed BJW-self on affect, but blocking empowerment did, although this finding is qualified by no significant effect on empowerment. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings, and the challenges of experimentally manipulating BJW-self.

When smiles (and frowns) speak words: Does power impact the correspondence between self-reported affect and facial expressions?

Self-reported experiences are often poor indicators of outward expressions. Here we examine social power as a variable that may impact the relationship between self-reported affect and facial expressions. Earlier studies addressing this issue were limited by focusing on a single facial expression (smiling) and by using different, less sensitive methods that yielded mostly null results. Sampling, for the first time, self-reported affect repeatedly in response to different negative, neutral and positive stimuli, and measuring concurrent facial muscle activation via electromyography, we found that high power (vs. baseline) increased the correspondence between self-reported positive affect and smiling. There was also an indication that high power (vs. baseline) bolstered the association between self-reported negative affect and frowning but the effect did not pass more stringent criteria for significance (p ≤ .005) and was therefore deemed inconclusive. The prediction that low power (vs. baseline) decreases the correspondence between self-reported affect and smiling and frowning facial expressions was not supported. Taken together, it would appear that (high) power can impact the relationship between self-reported affect and facial expressions, but it remains to be seen whether this effect extends beyond smiling facial expressions.