Hierarchy Formation and Self-Determination

Abstract

We examined how self-determination, the subjective experience of one's behavior as internally initiated and personally endorsed, depends on one's standing in real-world social hierarchies. We predicted that those with the traits most relevant to status attainment would be those afforded the most opportunities to be self-determining. We examined the trait of physical attractiveness, given its documented association with social status and no known association with self-determination. First-year undergraduates living in same-sex residences rated their housemates' social status, while an independent set of observers rated the participants' physical attractiveness. Consistent with prediction, physically attractive individuals attained the highest levels of social status; in turn, those who attained the highest levels of social status experienced the highest levels of self-determination. These findings provide new insights into self-determination as an inherently relational phenomenon and specifically highlight the formative influence of social status on people's capacities for self-determination.

Relations of civil liberties and women’s health satisfaction around the globe: The explanatory power of autonomy

“…Specifically, we argue that a society's civil liberties represent structural factors with consequences for individual autonomy, or the experience of being able to make meaningful choices, and to freely and authentically express oneself (Ryan and Deci, 2000). We propose that autonomy plays a key role in understanding the health impacts of civil liberties afforded by a culture, as past research reveals a well-established link between experiencing oneself as having autonomy and better health cross-culturally (Custers et al, 2012;Deci and Ryan, 2008;Di Domenico and Fournier, 2014;Legate et al, 2017;Ng et al, 2012). Moreover, we anticipate that women would be particularly vulnerable to feeling the costs of living in a society with low civil liberties since around the world, women are more likely to be constrained in their rights and freedoms as compared to men (Nussbaum and Glover, 1995), and previous research showing societal constraints affect women's health more so than they do men's (Moss, 2002;Sacker et al, 2000).…”