Year: 2012
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Previous research suggests that the experience of low power places an additional cognitive burden on individuals because they must monitor the environment more closely than individuals with higher power.Consequently, poorer cognitive performance has been observed in individuals in situations of low power (Smith, Jostmann, Galinsky, & van Dijk, 2008).The current research examined the effects of perceived power on relational processing.The 63 female participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (high-power, control, lowpower).A writing procedure (Galinsky, Gruenfeld & Magee, 2003) was used to prime experiences of high-and low-power.Perceptions of high and low power, and positive and negative affect were assessed at three time points during the procedure.Changes in these variables across time points confirmed that perceptions of high power were manipulated independently of positive affect, but perceptions of low power were not manipulated independently of negative affect.Following the power manipulation, relational processing was assessed using the Latin Square Task (LST; Birney, Halford & Andrews, 2006).The LST items varied in complexity (binary-, ternary-, quaternary-relational) and the number of steps (one, two).The standard effects of complexity and number of steps on the LST were observed, however perceived power had no effect on LST performance (accuracy, response times).A number of possible explanations are discussed and suggestions for future research are put forward.
Source: Griffith Research Online
Authors: Glenda Andrews, Jade Anne Maurer
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2275286089