How Power Affects People: Activating, Wanting, and Goal Seeking

Abstract

Sociocognitive research has demonstrated that power affects how people feel, think, and act. In this article, I review literature from social psychology, neuroscience, management, and animal research and propose an integrated framework of power as an intensifier of goal-related approach motivation. A growing literature shows that power energizes thought, speech, and action and orients individuals toward salient goals linked to power roles, predispositions, tasks, and opportunities. Power magnifies self-expression linked to active parts of the self (the active self ), enhancing confidence, self-regulation, and prioritization of efforts toward advancing focal goals. The effects of power on cognitive processes, goal preferences, performance, and corruption are discussed, and its potentially detrimental effects on social attention, perspective taking, and objectification of subordinates are examined. Several inconsistencies in the literature are explained by viewing power holders as more flexible and dynamic than is usually assumed.

Hierarchy stability moderates the effect of status on stress and performance in humans

“…Status, which is also referred to as prestige, can be defined as social standing that is granted to individuals for superior skills, success, or knowledge (18). Power is defined as asymmetrical control over resources and tends to be positively correlated with status in realworld hierarchies (36,37). In line with other experimental designs (20)(21)(22), our manipulation therefore included features of social status and power to emulate real-world hierarchies.…”

When does power trigger approach motivation? Threats and the role of perceived control in the power domain

“…It is associated with increased access to valued resources and freedom from constraints (e.g., Fiske, ; French & Raven, ; Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, ). Power affects how people feel, think, and act, increasing optimism and agency (e.g., Fiske & Depret, ; Galinsky, Gruenfeld, & Magee, ; Guinote, ; Keltner et al, ).…”

“…The dominant paradigm to explain the psychological effects of power posits that power activates the behavioral approach system (BAS), a system that is responsive to rewards and opportunities (see Guinote, ; Keltner et al, , for reviews). However, evidence is inconsistent.…”

“…We will begin with conceptual considerations and findings regarding power and approach motivation (Gray, , ; Gray & McNaughton, ). Specifically, we will discuss theorizing and findings associated with Keltner et al's () approach‐inhibition theory of power, as well as the revised model of power as activating, wanting, and goal seeking (Guinote, ). Subsequently, we will review evidence showing that situational and dispositional factors can reverse the links between power and approach motivation.…”

Mentalization of Social Psychology Is a Sign of Its Maturity

“…In behavioral economics, a research area strongly inspired by social psychological theorizing and methods, investigators study human economic behavior with several behavioral indices of strategies applied by participants as critical dependent variables (Diamond & Vartiainen, 2012). Finally, in experimental research on social power, we again see deep interest in measuring not only subjective assessments, but also objective behavioral changes attributable to power positions taken by research participants (see, e.g., Guinote, 2017). …”