Beliefs About Power and Its Relation to Emotional Experience: A Comparison of Japan, France, Germany, and the United States

Abstract

This research examined the concept of power in Japan, France, Germany, and the United States, as well as beliefs about the emotions persons in power tend to elicit in others and about powerful people's regulation (specifically, inhibition) of certain emotions. Definitions of power were assessed by examining the importance of two main components: control over self versus other and freedom of action vis-à-vis social norms. Beliefs about both positive (pride, admiration) and negative (jealousy, contempt) emotions were measured. Analyses revealed that the concept of power differed across countries and that the definitions of power as well as country of origin significantly predicted beliefs about the emotions that are elicited in others by powerful people and also the regulation of expression of emotion by powerful people.

Effects of power on emotion and expression during a controversial group discussion

“…If observers view those who express anger as high in status (Mondillon et al, 2005;Tiedens, 2001;Tiedens et al, 2000), the tendency for low-power individuals to express more anger than high-power individuals may not only reflect how they feel, but be strategic in enhancing their status. If anger enhances power and power decreases anger, this implies a dynamic that reduces discrepancies in power between individuals in groups over time rather than a viscous cycle that increases them.…”

Transformational and transactional leadership styles, followers' positive and negative emotions, and performance in German nonprofit orchestras

“…Our study explored the role of emotions in the leadership process within nonprofit organizations. We focused on the role of emotions in the leaderfollower relationship and on positive and negative emotions elicited by powerful persons in others (Mondillon and others, 2005). In line with the theoretical literature (Ashkanasy and Tse, 2000;Bass, 1985), we hypothesized that transformational leadership is positively associated with positive and negatively associated with negative emotions elicited in musicians by their conductor: Hypothesis 2a (H2a): Transformational leadership is positively related to positive emotions.…”

“…This part of the questionnaire was based on a questionnaire used by Mondillon and others (2005) to assess the elicitation of emotions in followers by powerful people in a cross-cultural study in four countries (including Germany). It used emotions examined in related prior work about emotions and social hierarchies and seemed useful for our purpose to cover positive and negative emotions elicited by a leader in others.…”

Claiming more than equality: Should leaders ask for forgiveness?

“…Research indeed shows that leaders are more allowed to deviate from social norms than followers. Leaders are, for example, likely to violate norms or break promises more often than followers (Brown & Levinson, 1987;Mondillon et al, 2005;Tedeschi, Lindskold, Horal, & Gahagan, 1969). In short, we have two explanations for the same results.…”