PSY 209 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Takers
Document Summary
4 experiments and a correlational study were conducted. The powerful are accused of being concerned with their own self-interest, of being insensitive to social implications and being poor perspective takers. Perspective taking has been linked to moral reasoning, altruistic behaviour and social competence, they are more other-serving. Hypothesis: people with power rely too heavily on their own vantage points and demonstrate reduced accuracy assessing the thoughts and emotions of others. The power-approach theory suggest power increases goal-directed activity, therefore the powerful act more and with greater variability. Although power is considered a structural variable, and a property of social relationships, its psychological properties can be activated by recalling past experiences of power. Opposing effects: people in power have control over valuable resources and therefore less dependent on others. Second, power demands increased demands on attention so it is difficult for perspective taking.
