Power Moderates the Effects of Social Dominance Orientation on Punishment: An Experimental Analysis

Abstract

In this study, it was hypothesized that experimentally manipulated levels of power would moderate the association of dispositional social dominance orientation (SDO) with preferences for harsh punishment. In particular, we expected to detect a stronger effect for dispositional SDO in the low-power condition, relying on the notion that low power enhances sensitivity to threats to the status quo, and that high SDO individuals are particularly motivated to enforce hierarchy-enhancing measures as punishment. SDO scores were measured two months prior to the experiment, and then immediately after the experimental session. As expected, preexperimental SDO interacted with the power manipulation. We found stronger preexperimental SDO effects on punishment among low-power participants. We also anticipated and found that individuals high in SDO increased further their postexperimental SDO scores if assigned to a high-power condition. The discussion focuses on the importance of SDO effects among low-status groups and on how situational roles shape dispositional self-descriptions.

Group dominance in hierarchy-attenuating and hierarchy-enhancing organizations: The role of social dominance orientation, need for cognitive closure, and power tactics in a person–environment (mis)fit perspective.

“…On the other hand, it has been found that high-SDO people react toward a P-E misfit condition. For instance, Heering and Leone (2019) found that high-SDO individuals who were in a lower power condition had a stronger preference for harsh punishment compared to high-SDO individuals in a higher position of power. High-SDO employees can react toward the P-E misfit condition between their SDO’s levels and the hierarchy-attenuating function of the organizations.…”

“…On the other hand, it has been found that high-SDO people react toward a P-E misfit condition. For instance,Heering and Leone (2019) found that high-SDO individuals who were in a…”

From Authoritarianism to Advocacy: Lifestyle-Driven, Socially-Transmitted Conditions Require a Transformation in Medical Training and Practice

“…"Indeed, social dominance orientation robustly predicts the endorsement of hierarchy-enhancing and hierarchy-justifying intergroup attitudes such as racism, sexism and support for harsher criminal sentences for minority offenders and disapproval of hierarchy-attenuating ideologies and redistribution policies such as social welfare, civil rights and multiculturalism" [107] It should therefore be alarming that scores on SDO can be high among certain medical students as they enter school (associated with lower perspective taking/empathic attitudes) [113]; since SDO can be groomed by environmental context, or even provoked by status reminders and cues such as money [114,115], it is far more concerning that SDO elevates through the course of medical training [116]. When researchers manipulate environmental conditions so as to increase perceptions of power, individuals with the highest baseline SDO scores show even further increases in SDO [117]. Moreover, it cannot be helpful that medical schools in developed countries continue to recruit from affluent applicants frequently disconnected from the disadvantaged out-groups so-often the victims of stigmatization and institutionalized inequity [118,119].…”

Hierárquicos, igualitários e contraditórios: posição social de adolescentes e orientação para a dominância social

“…A teorização sobre a orientação à dominância social desenvolveu-se através de estudos transculturais na década de 1990, buscando analisar aspectos psicológicos e sociais vinculados às formas de predisposição ao preconceito (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). O pressuposto fundamental se refere à concepção de que a sociedade tende a se estruturar em sistemas de grupos alicerçados em hierarquias sociais, havendo um pequeno número de grupos dominantes no topo e grupos subordinados na parte inferior (Heering & Leone, 2018;Vala & Lopes, 2016). Esses sistemas dispõem de alto grau de estabilidade, são difíceis de modificar e, em alguns casos, conseguem atenuar as desigualdades sociais (Cabral & Oliveira, 2017;Giger, Orgambídez-Ramos, Gonçalves, Santos, & Gomes, 2015).…”