Research article summary (published 29 Jun 2008):

Power and the objectification of social targets.

Full Abstract

Objectification has been defined historically as a process of subjugation whereby people, like objects, are treated as means to an end. The authors hypothesized that objectification is a response to social power that involves approaching useful social targets regardless of the value of their other human qualities. Six studies found that under conditions of power, approach toward a social target was driven more by the target's usefulness, defined in terms of the perceiver's goals, than in low-power and baseline conditions. This instrumental response to power, which was linked to the presence of an active goal, was observed using multiple instantiations of power, different measures of approach, a variety of goals, and several types of instrumental and noninstrumental target attributes. Implications for research on the psychology of power, automatic goal pursuit, and self-objectification theory are discussed.

Author information

Author/s: Gruenfeld, Deborah H (DH); Inesi, M Ena (ME); Magee, Joe C (JC); Galinsky, Adam D (AD);

Affiliation: Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. gruenfeld_deborah(-atsign-)gsb.stanford.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of personality and social psychology (J Pers Soc Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jul; vol 95 (issue 1) : pp 111-27

Dates: Created 2008/07/08; Completed 2008/11/04;

PMID: 18605855, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00)

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

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Administrative Personnel Adolescent Adult Altruism Aspirations (Psychology) Behavior Control Defense Mechanisms Female Goals

Goals Helping Behavior Hierarchy, Social Humans Interpersonal Relations Male Power (Psychology) Social Perception Students - psychology

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