The social distance theory of power

The Gap Between Us: Income Inequality Reduces Social Affiliation in Dyadic Interactions

In this investigation, we tested the hypothesis that increased income inequality between individuals will reduce social affiliation within dyadic interactions. In three experiments, we examined the effects of income inequality on key indices of affiliation using semi-structured interactions. In the first two experiments, a participant and confederate were randomly assigned to a low- or high-power role and compensated mildly or extremely unequally. In Experiment 3, inequality and inequity were orthogonally manipulated to determine whether inequality's social consequences are moderated by the fairness of the income distribution. We demonstrated that greater inequality produced more negative emotional responses, reduced desire for closeness, and harsher evaluations of one's partner, regardless of one's power role and the equitability of the income distribution. We also obtained evidence that greater inequality reduces behavioral warmth, although this effect was less consistent. Our results begin to unpack the psychological processes through which income inequality worsens societal well-being.

Facilitation or hindrance? The impact of downward social comparison on adversarial growth

Introduction

While adversity can bring great challenges to individuals' life and work, many people also find ways to make positive changes and adapt to these difficult circumstances. Individuals tend to make social comparisons more frequently and intensely when faced with adversity or high stress. The study attempts to examine the influence mechanism of downward social comparison on individual adversarial growth.

Methods

By collecting data from 353 Chinese who have experienced adversities in the past 3 years, the study validates the dual mediating model of gratitude and self-acceptance and explores the moderating effect of interpersonal sensitivity.

Results

The findings indicate that: downward social comparison can increase the occurrence of adversarial growth by enhancing individuals' self-acceptance and gratitude. Compared to individuals with low interpersonal sensitivity, individuals with high interpersonal sensitivity are more likely to facilitate the occurrence of adversarial growth through self-acceptance and gratitude due to downward social comparison.

Discussion

In the face of adversity, individuals can regain self-confidence and respond positively by comparing themselves to people in worse situations than themselves. In particular, individuals with higher interpersonal sensitivity are more likely to benefit from downward social comparisons and grow from adversity.

Comedy, consensus, and conflict framework: Comedy as a norm violation can build consensus or escalate conflict in negotiations

In this work, we propose that humor violates norms that can build consensus or escalate conflict in negotiations. Drawing on social identity theory, we propose that humor commits norm violations that are more likely to be perceived as benign among ingroup observers in negotiations, but perceived as offensive to outgroup observers in negotiations. We introduce the Comedy, Consensus, and Conflict Framework to shed light on the interpersonal effect of humor on negotiations. When humor is expressed to an ingroup observer, relative to neutral communication, humor is more likely to violate weak norms that govern social group membership resulting in the violation as being perceived as benign, which promotes cooperative behaviors in negotiations such as concessions and collaborative problem-solving. By contrast, when humor is expressed to an outgroup observer, relative to neutral communication, humor is more likely to violate strong norms that define social group membership resulting in the violation as being interpreted as offensive, which triggers competitive behaviors in negotiations such as aggressive offers and hardened positions. Furthermore, we suggest that humor not only generates appraisals of social identity threats, but also affective responses that influence negotiation behavior. Finally, we expand our theoretical model about humor to consider key relational factors that influence norm strength, which motivates whether negotiators appraise norm violations as offensive or benign.

Perceived Power Polarizes Moral Evaluations

We show an interactive effect of perceiver-target similarity in ideological beliefs and target power on impressions of target morality. Consistent with prior research, perceivers rated targets with dissimilar ideologies as less moral than targets with similar ideologies, but this difference in ratings was magnified for powerful targets relative to less powerful targets. We argue that these results emerged because perceivers expected similar-ideology, powerful (vs. powerless) targets to help the self more, and expected dissimilar-ideology, powerful (vs. powerless) targets to hurt the self more. We establish this effect when people evaluate politicians (Study 1), groups, and individuals (Studies 2a-2b); demonstrate its predictive power over other kinds of interpersonal similarity; and show that it affects morality judgments uniquely when compared with other consequential dimensions of social evaluation. Finally, we manipulated power experimentally and showed the interaction when the difference between high- and low-power manipulations was controlled over just $1 (Studies 3-4).

"It doesn't matter if you are in charge of the trees, you always miss the trees for the forest": Power and the illusion of explanatory depth

Power can increase overconfidence and illusory thinking. We investigated whether power is also related to the illusion of explanatory depth (IOED), people's tendency to think they understand the world in more detail, coherence, and depth than they actually do. Abstract thinking was reported as a reason for the IOED, and according to the social distance theory of power, power increases abstract thinking. We linked these literatures and tested construal style as a mediator. Further, predispositions can moderate effects of power and we considered narcissism as a candidate because narcissism leads to overconfidence and may thus increase the IOED especially in combination with high power. In three preregistered studies (total N = 607), we manipulated power or measured feelings of power. We found evidence for the IOED (regarding explanatory knowledge about devices). Power led to general overconfidence but had only a small impact on the IOED. Power and narcissism had a small interactive effect on the IOED. Meta-analytical techniques suggest that previous findings on the construal-style-IOED link show only weak evidential value. Implications refer to research on management, power, and overconfidence.

Beyond Trolleyology: The CNI Model of Moral-Dilemma Responses

PUBLIC ABSTRACT

How do people make judgments about actions that violate moral norms yet maximize the greater good (e.g., sacrificing the well-being of a small number of people for the well-being of a larger number of people)? Research on this question has been criticized for relying on highly artificial scenarios and for conflating multiple distinct factors underlying responses in moral dilemmas. The current article reviews research that used a computational modeling approach to disentangle the roles of multiple distinct factors in responses to plausible moral dilemmas based on real-world events. By disentangling sensitivity to consequences, sensitivity to moral norms, and general preference for inaction versus action in responses to realistic dilemmas, the reviewed work provides a more nuanced understanding of how people make judgments about the right course of action in moral dilemmas.

Social power and perceived risk of contagious disease: High power leads to lower risk estimation of catching COVID-19

An accurate estimation of COVID-19 contagion risk is important in terms of understanding the dynamic of disease transmission and health behavior. Previous research has documented that many health-related variables influence the risk estimation of communicable diseases. We expanded the current understanding by investigating whether health-irrelevant factors-such as one's sense of power-can have a systematic and consequential impact on perceived risks of catching the coronavirus. Based on the social distance theory of power, we propose that people in a higher power position develop a greater sense of social distance than those in a lower power position, which may in turn predispose the former to think that they are less likely to catch contagious diseases from other people. In Study 1, we provided correlational evidence that the personal sense of power was associated with the underestimation of contagion probability in Chinese university students. In Study 2, we established the causal relationship between power and concerns for contagious diseases in nonstudent adults and revealed the mediating role of social distance in the observed effect. Overall, these results, for the first time, indicate that power can elevate perceived social distance, exerting downstreaming effects on health cognition during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Are many sex/gender differences really power differences?

This research addresses the long-standing debate about the determinants of sex/gender differences. Evolutionary theorists trace many sex/gender differences back to natural selection and sex-specific adaptations. Sociocultural and biosocial theorists, in contrast, emphasize how societal roles and social power contribute to sex/gender differences beyond any biological distinctions. By connecting two empirical advances over the past two decades-6-fold increases in sex/gender difference meta-analyses and in experiments conducted on the psychological effects of power-the current research offers a novel empirical examination of whether power differences play an explanatory role in sex/gender differences. Our analyses assessed whether experimental manipulations of power and sex/gender differences produce similar psychological and behavioral effects. We first identified 59 findings from published experiments on power. We then conducted a P-curve of the experimental power literature and established that it contained evidential value. We next subsumed these effects of power into 11 broad categories and compared them to 102 similar meta-analytic sex/gender differences. We found that high-power individuals and men generally display higher agency, lower communion, more positive self-evaluations, and similar cognitive processes. Overall, 71% (72/102) of the sex/gender differences were consistent with the effects of experimental power differences, whereas only 8% (8/102) were opposite, representing a 9:1 ratio of consistent-to-inconsistent effects. We also tested for discriminant validity by analyzing whether power corresponds more strongly to sex/gender differences than extraversion: although extraversion correlates with power, it has different relationships with sex/gender differences. These results offer novel evidence that many sex/gender differences may be explained, in part, by power differences.

Does having more power make people more materialistic? The role of personal sense of power for gift preferences

Introduction

Gift-giving is a prevalent practice in daily life, with experiential gifts being identified in studies as having hedonic and interpersonal advantages, often yielding greater recipient satisfaction compared to material gifts. However, the reception of experiential gifts might not always align with expectations, as material gifts are valued for their enduring qualities. Thus, comprehending the contexts favoring material or experiential gift preferences becomes crucial.

Methods

Existing research primarily delves into external influences like income and social proximity, while intrinsic factors such as personal sense of power in interpersonal interactions have received limited attention. Guided by the Agentic-communal Model of Power, we conducted three studies to investigate how personal sense of power impact gift preferences.

Results

Our findings demonstrated that gift preferences are contingent upon personal sense of power. Specifically, those possessing a high personal sense of power exhibited a preference for material gifts over experiential ones, whereas individuals with a low personal sense of power favored experiential gifts over material ones. Further analysis revealed that the relationship between personal sense of power and gift preference is mediated by information processing fluency.

Discussion

This study contributes to the field of gift preferences and sheds light on the role of personal sense of power. By incorporating the Agentic-communal Model of Power, we offer novel insights into the dynamics between personal sense of power and gift preferences. These findings hold valuable implications for managerial strategies concerning gift selection and interpersonal interactions.

On power and its corrupting effects: the effects of power on human behavior and the limits of accountability systems

Power is an all-pervasive, and fundamental force in human relationships and plays a valuable role in social, political, and economic interactions. Power differences are important in social groups in enhancing group functioning. Most people want to have power and there are many benefits to having power. However, power is a corrupting force and this has been a topic of interest for centuries to scholars from Plato to Lord Acton. Even with increased knowledge of power's corrupting effect and safeguards put in place to counteract such tendencies, power abuse remains rampant in society suggesting that the full extent of this effect is not well understood. In this paper, an effort is made to improve understanding of power's corrupting effects on human behavior through an integrated and comprehensive synthesis of the neurological, sociological, physiological, and psychological literature on power. The structural limits of justice systems' capability to hold powerful people accountable are also discussed.

Asymmetric Effects of Holding Power Versus Status: Implications for Motivation and Group Dynamics

Although extant research suggests that power without status, but not status without power, induces interpersonal conflict, we are yet to fully understand the asymmetric effects of holding power or status on psychological processes and group functioning. The present research attempts to fill this gap by arguing that holding power would heighten the motivation for status, whereas holding status may not necessarily have an equivalent effect on the motivation for power. We further proposed that power-status misalignment within a group would lead powerholders to be competitive toward statusholders due to heightened status motive and (upon failure to attain status) invest less in their group due to greater emotional distress. Across four (and one Supplemental) studies, we found support for our hypotheses. Our findings not only shed further light on the interactive effects of power and status, but also help better explain why power without status is particularly related to negative outcomes.

Human vs. machine-like representation in chatbot mental health counseling: the serial mediation of psychological distance and trust on compliance intention

This study examined a serial mediation mechanism to test the effect of chatbots' human representation on the intention to comply with health recommendations through psychological distance and trust towards the chatbot counselor. The sample of the study comprised 385 adults from the USA. Two artificial intelligence chatbots either with human or machine-like representation were developed. Participants had a short conversation with either of the chatbots to simulate an online mental health counseling session and reported their experience in an online survey. The results showed that participants in the human representation condition reported a higher intention to comply with chatbot-generated mental health recommendations than those in the machine-like representation condition. Furthermore, the results supported that both psychological distance and perceived trust towards the chatbot mediated the relationship between human representation and compliance intention, respectively. The serial mediation through psychological distance and trust in the relationship between human representation and compliance intention was also supported. These findings provide practical guidance for healthcare chatbot developers and theoretical implications for human-computer interaction research.

From experience to expectation: The reverse effect of power on purchasing impulsiveness

Introduction

Previous literatures have mainly explored the impact of the experience of power on impulsive buying, but have ignored the impacts of the expectations of power. The purpose of this research is to delineates a two-facet portrait of power in the role of affecting purchase impulsiveness by proposing a theoretical extension from the experience of power to the expectations of power.

Methods

Four laboratory experiments were developed that used ANOVA to verify the hypothesis. A moderated mediation path model was established including the experience of power, product attribute, the expectations of power, deservingness, and purchasing impulsiveness as observed variables.

Results

The results revealed that powerless consumers are more likely to impulsively buy hedonic products; while powerful consumers prefer to impulsively buy utilitarian products. However, when focusing on the expectations of power, powerless consumers feel a lower perception of deservingness, which reduces their impulse to buy hedonic products. In contrast, when powerful consumers imagine how powerful people should behave in consumption, they will experience a higher sense of deservingness and increase purchasing impulsiveness for hedonic products. The underlying mechanism is that deservingness plays a mediation role in the three-way interaction impacts of the experience of power, product attribute, and the expectations of power on purchasing impulsiveness.

Conclusion

The current research formulates a new theoretical perspective on the relationship between power and purchasing impulsiveness. An experience-expectation model of power is presented that proposes consumers’ purchasing impulsiveness can be affected both by the experience of power and the expectations of power.

The Divergent Effects of the Public's Sense of Power on Donation Intention

Studies of the relationship between individuals' sense of power and donation intention have inconsistent findings. Classifying donor intention into two types, this study explored the mechanism through which a sense of power affects donation intention. Using a three-wave time-lagged survey of 1200 people, this study found that situational prevention focus mediates the positive effect of a sense of power on avoidance-based donation intention, and situational promotion focus mediates the positive effect of a sense of power on improvement-based donation intention. Furthermore, a strong perceived ethical climate strengthens the effects of a sense of power. These findings have practical implications for increasing charitable giving and improving the development of charitable programs.

A social hierarchy perspective on the relationship between leader–member exchange (LMX) and interpersonal citizenship

Drawing upon contemporary social hierarchy research, the purpose of this study is to integrate a novel theoretical perspective to examine the taken-for-granted conclusions of the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and interpersonal citizenship. We develop theoretically driven arguments and provide evidence of how LMX relates to power and status, the two prominent bases of social hierarchy. The results from our study support our assertion that the quality of LMX relationships provides social information about one's relative standing within a group's informal hierarchy. Specifically, LMX is positively associated with higher levels of perceived power and perceived status. Both power and status serve as important mediators that explain the relationship between LMX and interpersonal citizenship. We also identify the importance of citizenship pressure as a boundary condition for these relationships, finding that citizenship pressure interacts with power and status differently to influence the extent that employees engage in citizenship behaviors.

Cyberbullying Perpetration Among Chinese Adolescents: The Role of Power Imbalance, Fun-seeking Tendency, and Attitude Toward Cyberbullying

The imbalance of power affords individuals to bully others. However, limited studies have explored the specific aspects of power imbalance in predicting cyberbullying. Furthermore, a fun-seeking tendency as a motive for cyberbullying and attitudes toward cyberbullying as cognitive stimuli have rarely been studied in relation to mediating the associations between power imbalance and cyberbullying in an integrated framework. This study aims to narrow these research gaps. Multistage cluster random sampling was employed to recruit a total of 1103 adolescents (52.5% females) ranging in age from 12 to 18 years. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that proficiency in technology use is not only directly and positively associated with cyberbullying but also indirectly associated with cyberbullying via fun-seeking tendency. Although social status among peers had no direct effect on cyberbullying, the indirect effects of social status among peers on cyberbullying via the fun-seeking tendency and attitude toward cyberbullying were significant. Notably, physical power was neither directly associated with cyberbullying nor through the fun-seeking tendency or attitude toward cyberbullying in associating with cyberbullying. Implications of these findings for developing effective interventions are discussed.

My general manager is warmer than department manager: Stereotypes about senior and junior high-power individuals and their influences on spontaneous trait inference

Introduction

Previous research suggests that high-power (HP) individuals are stereotyped as positive competence but negative warmth.

Object

By subdividing HP individuals into junior and senior HP individuals, the current research conducted five studies to examine the warmth perception differences toward senior and junior HP individuals in Confucian culture and the downstream effects on spontaneous trait inference (STI).

Method and results

By using different paradigms, Study 1 and 2 found that participants tended to perceive junior HP individuals as negative on the warmth dimension and perceive senior HP individuals as positive on the warmth dimension. The following Study 3 and 4 further found that the warmth perception difference toward senior and junior HP individuals had an influence on STI. Specifically, participants were inclined to make STI from behaviors implying negative warmth traits when behavioral actors were junior HP individuals while they were inclined to make STI from behaviors implying positive warmth traits when behavioral actors were senior HP individuals. Additionally, Study 4 found that perceived social responsibility about HP individuals accounted for the power stereotype effects in STI, the more social responsibility participants perceived about senior HP individuals, the stronger power stereotype effects they showed in STI. The final Study 5 revealed that the different power stereotype effects in STI induced by senior and junior HP actors were observed only in Confucian culture, but not in non-Confucian culture.

Conclusion

The present research firstly demonstrated that the warmth perceptions about senior and junior produced different influences on STI in Confucian culture, and also enriched the understanding about the culture-specificity of the stereotype content model.

Loneliness in Leadership: A Study Applied to the Portuguese Banking Sector

In this study, we analyzed the feeling of loneliness in leadership in the Portuguese banking sector, seeking to identify variables that may instigate this feeling, such as gender, age, academic qualifications, function/position, number of working hours per week, and years of work/seniority, and the consequences that it may have, namely in terms of the decision-making process and the motivation of leaders. For this study, a quantitative research tool was used in the form of a questionnaire, which was applied to a group of collaborators, with leadership responsibilities, of the financial institutions authorized to operate in Portugal. We concluded that while some variables influence the feeling of loneliness in leadership (years of work, position, and academic qualifications), others do not (gender, age, and hours of work per week). We also found a relationship between loneliness and demotivation and proved that the feeling of loneliness affects leadership but does not affect decision making. The results are relevant, especially for the banking sector, which has undergone major restructuring in the Portuguese economy and needs guidance to face the country’s financial challenges.

Powerlessness Also Corrupts: Lower Power Increases Self-Promotional Lying

The popular maxim holds that power corrupts, and research to date supports the view that power increases self-interested unethical behavior. However, we predict the opposite effect when unethical behavior, specifically lying, helps an individual self-promote: lower rather than higher power increases self-promotional lying. Drawing from compensatory consumption theory, we propose that this effect occurs because lower power people feel less esteemed in their organizations than do higher power people. To compensate for this need to view themselves as esteemed members of their organizations, lower power individuals are more likely to inflate their accomplishments. Evidence from four studies supports our predictions: compared with those with higher power, executives with lower power in their organizations were more likely to lie about their work achievements (Study 1, n = 230); graduate students with lower power in their Ph.D. studies were more likely to lie about their publication records (Study 2, n = 164); and employees with lower power were more likely to lie about having signed a business contract (Studies 3 and 4). Mediation analyses suggest that lower power increased lying because lower power individuals feel lower esteem in their organizations (Study 3, n = 562). Further supporting this mechanism, a self-affirmation intervention reduced the effect of lower power on self-promotional lying (Study 4, n = 536). These converging findings show that, when lies are self-promotional, lower power can be more corruptive than higher power.

Leader Phubbing and Employee Job Performance: The Effect of Need for Social Approval

Purpose

A workplace leader’s phubbing (snubbing by using the phone) can create social distance between the leader and employee. We tested whether this social distance might reduce trust, with a negative impact on job performance. The negative impact might be especially strong for employees with a high need for social approval (NFSA).

Methods

Full-time employees (N = 246; 51.63% male, M_age = 35.07, SD = 8.62) in Eastern China completed anonymous questionnaires. The data were collected in three waves with a 2-week interval between each wave. The SPSS macro PROCESS was used to test all research hypotheses.

Results

Regression-based analyses were used to test a moderated serial mediation model. Leader phubbing was associated with employees’ poorer job performance, and this association was mediated by social distance and in turn, low trust. The negative effects of leader phubbing were stronger for employees with a higher NFSA.

Conclusion

This study adds new evidence to the literature on phubbing by showing that employees’ perceptions of leader phubbing might hinder employee job performance. Furthermore, the boundary condition of employee NFSA was emphasized and further expanded the literature in this field. This research provides insights into how the negative impact of leader phubbing on employee job performance can be prevented or reduced.

Superior bias in trust-related decisions

Trust is conditional. Many studies have revealed its relative conditions in different situations, but when social status is characteristic of the person who receives trust (the “trustee”), our knowledge of how social status affects trust still remains limited. In this study, we used the trust game in order to: (1) characterize the effect of trustees’ social hierarchy on trust-related decisions in different trustworthiness situations and (2) explore the underlying computational process regarding the impact that social status has on trust-related decisions by using the computational modeling approach to integrate social status into trust-related situations. In Experiment 1, using a one-shot trust game with no feedback of information about reciprocity, we found that compared with inferiors, superiors gained more trust-related behaviors (investments) in spite of the fact that they were not rated as having higher trustworthiness. Then, in Experiment 2, when we controlled the trustworthiness of different social status partners by providing the same neutral reciprocity rate (50%) in a repeated trust game, the high-status partner gained more trust than the low-status partner. This superior bias extended to Experiment 3a and 3b, in which we set different levels of trustworthiness to match the different social statuses of partners. With respect to modeling results, we found that higher status holds an additional social value independent of trust profit, resulting in superior bias. Ultimately, this study has shed light on the superior bias that commonly leads people to grant high-status individuals goodwill in social interactions.

More Power, More Warmth: The Enhancing Effect of Power on the Perceived Warmth About High-Power Individuals Under Chinese Culture

Previous literature concerning power stereotypes demonstrates that compared to low-power (LP) individuals, high-power (HP) individuals tend to be perceived as having positive competence but negative warmth. Based on previous research, the current research further classified HP into senior and junior HP and mainly compared the perceived warmth between senior and junior HP individuals in Chinese culture. By classifying power into HP and LP, the pilot study employed the trait-rating task to replicate the results of previous research. In Study 1, we classified HP into senior and junior HP and revealed that participants indicated more positive warmth evaluations for senior HP individuals than for junior HP individuals. We named this "more power, more warmth" effect the MPMW effect. Further investigation demonstrated that the MPMW effect was more likely to emerge for participants with high Confucianism identification (Study 2a), for Chinese participants rather than Western participants (Study 2b), or when the knowledge of Confucianism was accessible in a given situation (Study 3). The present research firstly demonstrated that the contents of power stereotypes may partially display culture-specific characteristics in Chinese culture. The continuous classification approach to power provided a novel insight for future power research.

Personal socio-cultural preferences modulate neural correlates of decisions to socialize with powerful persons

Social power differences fundamentally shape the behavioral interaction dynamics of groups and societies. While it has long been recognized that individual socio‐cultural preferences mitigate social interactions involving persons of power, there is limited empirical data on the underlying neural correlates. To bridge this gap, we asked university student participants to decide whether they were willing to engage in social activities involving their teachers (higher power status), classmates (equal power status), or themselves (control) while functional brain images were acquired. Questionnaires assessed participants' preferences for power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and cultural intelligence. As expected, participants generally accepted more social interactions with classmates than teachers. Also, left inferior frontal activity was higher when accepting than when rejecting social interactions with teachers. Critically, power distance preferences further modulated right lateral frontoparietal activity contrasting approach relative to avoidance decisions towards teachers. In addition, uncertainty avoidance modulated activity in medial frontal, precuneus, and left supramarginal areas distinguishing approach decisions towards teachers relative to classmates. Cultural intelligence modulated neural responses to classmate approach/avoidance decisions in anterior cingulate and left parietal areas. Overall, functional activities in distinct brain networks reflected different personal socio‐cultural preferences despite observed social decisions to interact with others of differential power status. Such findings highlight that social approach or avoidance behaviors towards powerful persons involves differential subjective neural processes possibly involved in computing implicit social utility.

Untangling the role of power in knowledge sharing and job performance: the mediating role of discrete emotions

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine how psychological power explains dual conflicting emotions, influences and jeopardises knowledge sharing and eventually affects job performance. Specifically, this study argues that psychological power can induce feelings of pride and anxiety, which have opposite downstream effects on employees’ knowledge sharing and tasks, proactive and affiliative (TPA) performances.

Design/methodology/approach

This study tested the model using three waves of multi-source data from 46 teams and 357 respondents in the information technology and software industry in China. This study used multilevel structural equation modelling with Mplus 7.4 to examine the within-level team variance and thereby estimated the confidence intervals for the direct and indirect paths.

Findings

The results indicate that increased psychological power can cause contradictory emotions (i.e. pride and anxiety). Pride positively mediates the indirect influence of psychological power on knowledge sharing and TPA performance, while anxiety negatively mediates the above-mentioned indirect relationships.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides a novel perspective on how psychological forces shape people’s emotional experiences and subsequently their motivation to share knowledge and job performance. By integrating the existing power literature rooted in the approach/inhibition theory of power and cognitive appraisal theory of emotion, we identify two discrete emotions as underlying mechanisms between increased psychological power and motivation to share knowledge and job performance.

Practical implications

This research provides insights for managers regarding the ways in which psychological power can stimulate individuals to engage in negative behaviour towards others. Managers, in turn, must consider self-regulation to control this negative impact.

Originality/value

This study is among the earliest to examine the role of discrete positive and negative emotions caused by increased psychological power, which subsequently affect knowledge sharing and TPA performance.

Leader Humility and Machiavellianism: Investigating the Effects on Followers' Self-Interested and Prosocial Behaviors

Existing research on leader humility primarily demonstrates its positive effects. This study challenges this view by proposing the potential negative effects of leader humility on followers' behaviors. Furthermore, this paper employs the person-situation interactionist perspective to extend the research on integrating followers' personality traits and leader humility. Specifically, this study proposed that leader humility triggers their followers' sense of power; moreover, this study wagers that whether followers' sense of power encourages self-interested or prosocial behavior in followers depends on their particular Machiavellian traits. The theoretical model was tested using the time-lagged supervisor-subordinate matched data obtained. Our findings revealed that follower Machiavellianism fosters the relationship between a sense of power and self-interested behavior but it weakens the relationship between a sense of power and prosocial behavior. Thus, this study provides a better understanding regarding the effect of follower personality and leader humility on follower behavioral reactions.

Neural connectivity underlying adolescent social learning in sibling dyads

Social learning theory posits that adolescents learn to adopt social norms by observing the behaviors of others and internalizing the associated outcomes. However, the underlying neural processes by which social learning occurs is less well-understood, despite extensive neurobiological reorganization and a peak in social influence sensitivity during adolescence. Forty-four adolescents (Mage = 12.2 years) completed an fMRI scan while observing their older sibling within four years of age (Mage = 14.3 years) of age complete a risky decision-making task. Group iterative multiple model estimation (GIMME) was used to examine patterns of directional brain region connectivity supporting social learning. We identified group-level neural pathways underlying social observation including the anterior insula to the anterior cingulate cortex and mentalizing regions to social cognition regions. We also found neural states based on adolescent sensitivity to social learning via age, gender, modeling, differentiation, and behavior. Adolescents who were more likely to be influenced elicited neurological up-regulation whereas adolescents who were less likely to be socially influenced elicited neurological down-regulation during risk-taking. These findings highlight patterns of how adolescents process information while a salient influencer takes risks, as well as salient neural pathways that are dependent on similarity factors associated with social learning theory.

The influence of role awareness, empathy induction and trait empathy on dictator game giving

We ask how state empathy, trait empathy, and role awareness influence dictator game giving in a monetarily incentivized experiment. We manipulated two factors: role awareness (role certainty vs. role uncertainty) and state empathy induction (no empathy induction vs. empathy induction). Under role uncertainty, participants did not know their role as a dictator or a recipient when making their choices. State empathy was induced by asking the dictators to consider what the recipient would feel when learning about the decision. Each participant was randomly assigned into one of the four conditions, and in each condition, participants were randomly assigned into dictator and receiver roles. The role assignment took place before or after decisions were made, depending on the condition. We also studied the direct influence of trait empathy on dictator game giving as well as its interaction with the experimental manipulations. Trait empathy was measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) before the experiment. Of our experimental manipulations, role awareness had an effect on dictator game giving; participants donated more under role uncertainty than under role certainty. Instead, we did not observe an effect of state empathy induction. Of trait empathy subscales, only affective empathy was positively associated with dictator game giving. Finally, role awareness did not influence all participants similarly but had a larger impact on those with low scores on trait empathic concern or trait affective empathy. Our results indicate that specific measures to induce altruistic sharing can be effective but their effect may vary depending on certain personal characteristics.

Power Differences and Dynamics in Multiparty Collaborative Systems: A Systematic Literature Review

This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review on power distribution and power dynamics in multiparty systems. Multiparty systems are underorganized social structures in which power dynamics unfold and impact collaboration effectiveness. We use a theory-driven approach to integrate the empirical literature that explored power differences and dynamics in multiparty systems and we have a two-fold contribution to literature. First, we explore the way power is conceptualized in multiparty systems. Second, we investigate which predictions and propositions of the Social Distance Theory of Power and the Approach Inhibition Model of Power can be used to integrate research on power distribution and dynamics in multiparty systems. We extend the predominantly experimental empirical support of these two theories with insights from the multiparty systems literature. With respect to the way in which power is conceptualized in the multiparty systems literature, our study shows a shift from a possession over resources to a relational perspective on power in the last decades. Moreover, based on the insights of the two psychological theories of power, the study reflects upon the benefits and drawbacks of high versus low power for collaboration effectiveness among stakeholders, pointing towards ways in which facilitators can work with power differences in multiparty systems. Finally, the study points toward directions for future research concerning power dynamics in multiparty systems.

Neural Mechanisms of Subliminal Mentor-Student Relationship Stimuli Processing: An ERP Study

In educational contexts, mentorship roles often complicate the mentor-student relationship because mentors act not only as the closest academic ally of graduate students but also their program supervisors who can affect their timely graduation. This study examines how graduate students react to their mentors’ names when subliminally presented. A total of 63 graduate students (31 male; Mean Age = 23.450) were asked to perform an irrelevant color judgment task of valenced words (positive vs. negative relationship words) after a subliminal presentation of three different types of names (i.e., mentors, authorities, and friends). Results show that mentor and friend names elicit a greater P2 peak than authority names, whereas mentor names evoke a reduced N2 and P3 amplitude than friend and authority names. In addition, participants with a history of abusive supervision tend to have an overall decline in P2 amplitude. These event-related potential (ERP) findings suggest that mentors are perceived by students as familiar while attention-inducing figures.

Development of decision making based on internal and external information: A hierarchical Bayesian approach

In decision making, people may rely on their own information as well as on information from external sources, such as family members, peers, or experts. The current study investigated how these types of information are used by comparing four decision strategies: 1) an internal strategy that relies solely on own information; 2) an external strategy that relies solely on the information from an external source; 3) a sequential strategy that relies on information from an external source only after own information is deemed inadequate; 4) an integrative strategy that relies on an integration of both types of information. Of specific interest were individual and developmental differences in strategy use. Strategy use was examined via Bayesian hierarchical mixture model analysis. A visual decision task was administered to children and young adolescents (N=305, ages 9–14). Individual differences but no age-related changes were observed in either decision accuracy or strategy use. The internal strategy was dominant across ages, followed by the integrative and sequential strategy, respectively, while the external strategy was extremely rare. This suggests a reluctance to rely entirely on information provided by external sources. We conclude that there are individual differences but not developmental changes in strategy use pertaining to perceptual decision-making in 9- through 14-year-olds. Generalizability of these findings is discussed with regard to different forms of social influence and varying perceptions of the external source. This study provides stepping stones in better understanding and modeling decision making processes in the presence of both internal and external information.

How vertical elevation affects self-other integration as measured by the joint Simon effect

Earlier findings suggest that positions of power decrease self-other integration and increase psychological distance to others. Until now, however, evidence for this relation rests exclusively on subjective measures. The current research instead employed a vertical joint Simon task to measure self-other integration. This task assesses the extent to which people represent their own actions in reference to their co-actor's, also referred to as the joint Simon effect. Building on cultural associations between power and vertical elevation, we manipulated whether participants were in an elevated (high-power) or lower (low-power) seating position. Experiments 1a and 1b reanalyzed existing datasets and found that elevated (vs. lower) seating position decreased the joint Simon effect, consistent with predictions. Experiment 2 provides a high-powered replication of this finding. Yet, further analyses revealed that feelings of power - measured as a manipulation check and indeed demonstrating that the manipulation was successful - did not mediate or moderate the effect of seating position on the joint Simon effect. Therefore, it is possible that the effect of seating elevation was driven through other aspects of that manipulation than feelings of power. We discuss these and suggest ways to test these alternative explanations.

Why Not All the Powerful Abuse? The Competitive Effects of Psychological Distance and Self-Control

Building on the social distance theory of power, this study proposed the positive and negative mechanisms of power and their impacts on abusive supervision from the competitive perspectives of psychological distance and self-control. The boundary effects of independent self-construal were also analyzed. The hypotheses of this study were tested through questionnaires and an experimental study design. The Study 1 data were collected from 422 supervisors and subordinates from five private enterprises and one state-owned enterprise in Eastern China. Study 2, on the other hand, was conducted through a scenario-based experiment in which 180 part-time master of business administration (MBA) students from a university in Eastern China participated. All data were tested using polynomial regression analysis and a bootstrapping appraisal. The results revealed that (1) the relationship between power and abusive supervision is not significant; (2) psychological distance mediates the relationship between power and abusive supervision, with high power leading to higher psychological distance, which, in turn, strengthens abusive supervision; (3) self-control mediates the relationship between power and abusive supervision, with high power leading to higher self-control, which, in turn, weakens abusive supervision; (4) the mediating effect of psychological distance is stronger, and the mediating effect of self-control is weaker when independent self-construal is high rather than low. At the end of this study, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.