Power Reduces the Press of the Situation Implications for Creativity, Conformity, and Dissonance

• Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology Vol. 95; no. 6; pp. 1450 - 1466
• Main Authors: Galinsky, Adam D, Magee, Joe C, Gruenfeld, Deborah H, Whitson, Jennifer A, Liljenquist, Katie A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-12-2008
• Subjects: Adult; Attitudes; Biological and medical sciences; Cognitive Dissonance; Conformity; Conformity (Personality); Creativity; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Influence; Interpersonal Control; Interpersonal Influences; Intragroup relations; Male; Manipulation; Power; Power (Psychology); Power relations; Psychological aspects; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reputation; Social attribution, perception and cognition; Social Behavior; Social Conformity; Social Identification; Social psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; dissonance; power; conformity; creativity; influence; Human; Choice; Attitude; Social power; Cognitive dissonance; Mass media; Conformity; Creativity; Social cognition
• ISSN: 0022-3514; 1939-1315
• DOI: 10.1037/a0012633

Although power
is often conceptualized as the capacity to influence others, the current
research explores whether power psychologically protects people
from
influence. In contrast to classic social psychological
research demonstrating the strength of the situation in directing attitudes,
expressions, and intentions, 5 experiments (using experiential primes, semantic
primes, and role manipulations of power) demonstrate that the powerful (a)
generate creative ideas that are less influenced by salient examples, (b)
express attitudes that conform less to the expressed opinions of others, (c) are
more influenced by their own social value orientation relative to the reputation
of a negotiating opponent, and (d) perceive greater choice in making
counterattitudinal statements. This last experiment illustrates that power is
not always psychologically liberating; it can create internal conflict, arousing
dissonance, and thereby lead to attitude change. Across the experiments,
high-power participants were immune to the typical press of situations, with
intrapsychic processes having greater sway than situational or interpersonal
ones on their creative and attitudinal expressions.