POWER
Chapter 8
Power
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Can people be compelled to act in
ways they would never consider
acting?
Power Over Group Members?
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Social power: the capacity to influence
others
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Commonplace practice – coach demanding
obedience from his/her athletes, a VP
demanding that deadlines be met, board
members and extraordinary effects of power
Sometimes leads to disastrous outcomes Cults and other extreme forms of influence
How To Be A Cult Leader ?
Pratkanis and Aronson

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Create your own social
reality.

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--isolation
--create an ideology, a myth
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Create an ingroup,
insiders (granfallon)

Create commitment
(through dissonance
reduction)

Enhance leader’s
power

Proselytize

Thought control,
overload, distraction
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Fix members on a goal
Milgram’s Study of Obedience to Authority
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Basic paradigm
Shock machine
Basic condition: series of errors, pounding on the
wall at 300 volts, refused to answer at 315 volts
Prods: "The experiment requires that you continue"
300 volts: first 5 refuse
40
35
65% obey to
the end
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
240
270
300
330
360
390
390
Number of Participants Remaining at Each Shock Level
Results: 65% obedience
420
450
Percentage who obeyed to 450 volts
0
20
40
Baseline
Voice-feedback
Same room
Touch
Heart problem
Bridgeport
Obedient others
Disobedient others
Variations on the theme
60
80
Milgram’s Study (cont)
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Other findings
 Harm and proximity
 Prestige
 Expertise of authority
 Group effects
Methodological and ethical criticisms
Application: obedience and deference in
flight crews
Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Study
(Haney, Banks, & Zimbardo, 1973).
Results: study was aborted because situation overpowered the
subjects
Sources of Power in Groups

French & Raven's Power Bases Theory


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Reward: control rewards given or
offered
Coercive: threaten or punish those who
do not comply with requests or
demands
Legitimate: powerholder’s sanctioned
right to require and demand obedience
Sources of Power in Groups

French & Raven's Power Bases Theory
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Referent: identification, respect, and attraction
for the powerholder
Expert: target’s beliefs that the powerholder
possesses superior skills and abilities
Informational: access to and control of
information (factual/fictional)
Sources of Power in Groups (cont)

Applications

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
Milgram’s experiment
Bullying
Weber’s concept of charismatic
leadership
Power Processes in Groups

Superior-subordinate relations –
acknowledgement of hierarchical positioning
Interpersonal complimentary hypothesis
 Agentic state (lowered responsibility)
 Role demands: Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison study
 Behavioral commitment
• Foot-in-the-door technique
• Brainwashing
The fundamental attribution error (FAE) & obedience


Using Power to Influence Others

Kelman’s three-stage model of conversion
 Compliance – group members comply with
the powerholder’s demands, but they do not
personally agree with them

Identification – group members are
motivated to please the authority

Internalization – group member follow the
orders of the powerholder b/c the orders are
congruent with personal beliefs
Using Power to Influence Others

Resistance to influence
 Revolutionary coalitions
 Reactance
 Conflict and rebellion authority (the ripple
effect)
Power Tactics

Power tactics: methods people use to get their
way
 Direct (strong) vs. indirect (weak) tactics
 Rational (logic) vs. nonrational (emotional)
 Unilateral (enacted without cooperation) vs.
Bilateral (more interactive)
Effects of Power

Approach-inhibition model of power
 Power leads to approach behavior (positive
affect, automatic processing, action)
 Powerlessness leads to inhibition (negative
affect, controlled processing, inaction)
Corrupting Effects of Power

Power and personality

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Power motivation: the need for power –
more vigorously than others
Social dominance orientation (SDO) – a
dispositional tendency to accept and even
prefer circumstances that sustain social
inequalities – greater male preference
Communal orientation vs. exchange
orientation
Corrupting Effects of Power (cont)

Corrupting influence of power

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Mandate phenomenon – a tendency for leaders
to overstep the bounds of their authority when
they feel they have support from the group
Changes in the perceptions of subordinates
Reliance on power to influence others
Michel’s iron law of oligarchy: any group where
power is concentrated with few powerholders
doing whatever possible protect and enhance
their power
Psychopathy
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Egocentric, deceitful, shallow, impulsive
individuals who use and manipulate others
Callous, lack of empathy
Little remorse
Thrill-seeking
“human predators” (Hare, 1993)
No “conscience”
Psychopathy Checklist-Revised
(Hare, 1991)
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Glib and superficial
Egocentric and
grandiose
Lack of remorse or
guilt
Lack of empathy
Deceitful and
manipulative
Shallow emotions
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Impulsive
Poor behavior
controls
Need for excitement
Lack of
responsibility
Early behavior
problems
Adult antisocial
behavior