Power affects basic cognition: Increased attentional inhibition and flexibility

The present article examines effects of power on basic cognition. It proposes that power bolsters the ability to attend to information selectively; enhancing the processing of information that is related to accessible constructs in detriment of peripheral, less accessible information. In contrast, powerlessness increases attunement to peripheral information, inducing greater distractibility and less attentional flexibility. Experiment 1 focuses on attention to an object and its context. Experiment 2 examines attentional focus and readiness to act. Experiment 3 examines attention to global vs. local aspects of a focal target. Powerful individuals, relative to powerless individuals, showed greater ability to inhibit peripheral information, and greater ability to focus attention in line with the demands of the task. Furthermore, inhibiting peripheral information facilitated action. The consequences of these findings for different domains are discussed.     

Empirical evaluation of a model of global psychophysical judgments: IV. Forms for the weighting function

Understanding the psychological interpretation of numerals is of both practical and theoretical interest. In classical magnitude estimation, respondents match numerals to sensations and in magnitude production they select sensations that stand in a prescribed numerical ratio to a given standard. The present work focusses on evaluating several possible, and related, forms for the function W formulating the distortion of numerals. The main form, of which a power function is a special case, is the Prelec exponential/power representation. Behavioral equivalents to power and to Prelec functions are formulated, tested, and rejected. It is argued that either the mathematical form or the assumption W(1)=1 is wrong. Whereas, the axiomatic literature has focussed exclusively on the former inference, we explore the alternate that W(1)≠1. Behavioral axioms are formulated in each case and experimentally tested. We conclude that most respondents satisfy a general power function and that those who do not, satisfy the general Prelec function.     

Gendered Power in Cultural Contexts: Part III. Couple Relationships in Iran

Sometimes therapists assume that gender equality is not relevant when working with couples from traditional cultures. This study of couples in Iran suggests more complexity. The authors identify a variety of views and practices regarding equality between men and women in relationships. Some aspired to traditional roles; others attempted to create mutually supportive relationships. Yet others were somewhere in-between. This study helps identify important dimensions that may be overlooked when we define couple equality only by American standards or understand it only through a Western lens. The study provides insight into the dilemmas couples face when ideals of equality intersect with societal structures that maintain gendered power and offers suggestions for addressing gender when working with couples with traditional cultural backgrounds.     

Gendered Power in Cultural Contexts: Part I. Immigrant Couples

Immigration is a world-wide phenomenon and practitioners are increasingly called on to work with issues related to it. The authors examine the experience of couples who are immigrants to the United States in regard to gender and power issues. Although the study limited participation to one religious group in order to hold that aspect of culture and gender attitudes constant, the experiences of these couples help to make visible the link between microlevel couple interaction and larger social processes. The results show how the couples manage a delicate balance between the push for gender change and avoiding too much conflict as male power is challenged.     

Berkeley’s Contingent Necessities

The paper provides an account of necessary truths in Berkeley based upon his divine language model. If the thesis of the paper is correct, not all Berkeleian necessary truths can be known a priori.

Surrendering personal control to automation: Appalling or appealing?

There has been a growing interest in Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technology worldwide over the last decade. Nevertheless, various studies have noted some potential socio-psychological challenges to AV use and ownership. These challenges can be mitigated by designing AV that accounts for users’ personalities, such as their perceived control and power. The complex relationship between personal control and automation, two concepts that intuitively sound contradictory to each other, is less explored. In this study, two dimensions of personal control, the desire for control and the driver locus of control, were hypothesized to influence the attitude toward AV. The relationships were moderated by power distance, a cultural factor related to one’s sense of control. The hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach via the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) software. As many as 457 respondents from two sample groups, Hungarian and Indonesian drivers were gathered via an online questionnaire and compared. The results reveal that 1) the higher the desire for control, the more negative the attitude toward AV 2) the higher the external driver locus of control, the more positive the attitude toward AV 3) the more positive the attitude toward AV, the higher the intention to use AV and 4) power distance moderates the relationship between the desire for control and the attitude toward AV, such that the negative effect of the desire for control is strengthened in high power distance orientation. This study also provides theoretical contributions and managerial implications, especially to AV designers.     

Children as Research Collaborators: Issues and Reflections from a Mobility Study in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper reflects on issues raised by work with children in an ongoing child mobility study in three sub-Saharan African countries: Ghana, Malawi and South Africa. There are now 70 school pupils of varying ages involved in the project, but the paper is particularly concerned with the participation of those children 14 years and under. We examine the significant ethical issues associated with working with younger child researchers, and linked questions concerning the spaces open to them in African contexts where local cultural constructions of childhood and associated economic imperatives (which commonly drive family and household endeavour) help shape the attitudes of adults to children’s rights and responsibilities and inter-generational power relations.     

Power and loss aversion

Four experiments tested the prediction that power reduces loss aversion by increasing the anticipated value of gains and shrinking the negative anticipated value of losses. Experiment 1 provided initial support for the prediction that those in power are less loss averse by replicating a classic paradigm of loss aversion in riskless choice and demonstrating moderation by power. Experiments 2 and 3 expanded on this finding by breaking apart the components of loss aversion to determine how power may reduce it: via gains, losses, or both. Across two scenarios and two different measures of anticipated value, power reduced the anticipated threat associated with a loss. However, the prediction that power increases the anticipated value of gains was not supported. Finally, Experiment 4 replicated the results of Experiments 2 and 3 in the context of a choice with real consequences for the participants. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Professed impressions: What people say about others affects onlookers’ perceptions of speakers’ power and warmth

During a conversation, it is common for a speaker to describe a third-party that the listener does not know. These professed impressions not only shape the listener’s view of the third-party but also affect judgments of the speaker herself. We propose a previously unstudied consequence of professed impressions: judgments of the speaker’s power. In two studies, we find that listeners ascribe more power to speakers who profess impressions focusing on a third-party’s conscientiousness, compared to those focusing on agreeableness. We also replicate previous research showing that speakers saying positive things about third parties are seen as more agreeable than speakers saying negative things. In the second study, we demonstrate that conscientiousness-power effects are mediated by inferences about speakers’ task concerns and positivity-agreeableness effects are mediated by inferences about speakers’ other-enhancing concerns. Finally, we show that judgments of speaker status parallel judgments of agreeableness rather than of power, suggesting that perceivers use different processes to make inferences about status and power. These findings have implications for the literatures on person perception, power, and status.     

Social representations of democratic transition: Was the Philippine People Power a non‐violent power shift or a military coup?

This research looked at social representations of the 1986 People Power in the Philippines among Filipino civilians and the military. Using mixed qualitative–quantitative methods, the research collected military narratives, ran a survey of civilians and military personnel and reviewed newspaper accounts of People Power anniversary celebrations over 20 years. Civilians saw People Power as a strong and positive power shift, while the military viewed it as an aborted coup led by military officers that was weak and bad. The findings about the social representations of transition are linked to civilian–military social identities after 1986 and illuminate the subjective landscape of State power contests in a new democracy.