Illegitimacy moderates the effects of power on approach.

Full Abstract

A wealth of research has found that power leads to behavioral approach and action. Four experiments demonstrate that this link between power and approach is broken when the power relationship is illegitimate. When power was primed to be legitimate or when power positions were assigned legitimately, the powerful demonstrated more approach than the powerless. However, when power was experienced as illegitimate, the powerless displayed as much approach as, or even more approach than, the powerful. This moderating effect of legitimacy occurred regardless of whether power and legitimacy were manipulated through experiential primes, semantic primes, or role manipulations. It held true for behavioral approach (Experiment 1) and two effects associated with it:
the propensity to negotiate (Experiment 2) and risk preferences (Experiments 3 and 4). These findings demonstrate that how power is conceptualized, acquired, and wielded determines its psychological consequences and add insight into not only when but also why power leads to approach.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Lammers, Joris (J); Galinsky, Adam D (AD); Gordijn, Ernestine H (EH); Otten, Sabine (S);

Affiliation: Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research (TIBER), Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands. j.lammers(-atsign-)uvt.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS (Psychol Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jun; vol 19 (issue 6) : pp 558-64

Dates: Created 2008/06/26; Completed 2008/08/28;

PMID: 18578845, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Cues
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Recall - physiology
Negotiating - psychology

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

Beyond medical futility: a proposed taxonomy of ultra vires acts in medicine. 30 Dec 2005
Postmenopausal motherhood: immoral, illegal? A case study. 29 Sep 2007
'What is expressed is not always what is felt': coping with stigma and the embodiment of perceived illegitimacy of multiple sclerosis. 30 Aug 2005
First comes Junior in a baby carriage. Four in 10 kids are now born to unmarried moms. 2 Dec 2006
SHAM scam. 29 Apr 2006
Multipartnered fertility: can it be reduced? 27 Feb 2007
[When power is undeserved: its effects on perception and social judgements] 29 Apr 2006
Multivariable risk prediction can greatly enhance the statistical power of clinical trial subgroup analysis. 11 Apr 2006
Procedural justice climate and group power distance: an examination of cross-level interaction effects. 29 Apr 2007
The rising share of nonmarital births: fertility choice or marriage behavior? 29 Apr 2006

See 100+ related articles.