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POWER

POWER. Chapter 8. Power. Can people be compelled to act in ways they would never consider acting?. Power Over Group Members?. Social power: the capacity to influence others

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POWER

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  1. POWER Chapter 8

  2. Power • Can people be compelled to act in ways they would never consider acting?

  3. Power Over Group Members? • Social power: the capacity to influence others • 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

  4. Create your own social reality. --isolation --create an ideology, a myth Create an ingroup, insiders (granfallon) Create commitment (through dissonance reduction) Enhance leader’s power Proselytize Thought control, overload, distraction Fix members on a goal How To Be A Cult Leader ? Pratkanis and Aronson

  5. Milgram’s Study of Obedience to Authority • 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"

  6. 300 volts: first 5 refuse 65% obey to the end Number of Participants Remaining at Each Shock Level Results: 65% obedience

  7. Variations on the theme

  8. Milgram’s Study (cont) • Other findings • Harm and proximity • Prestige • Expertise of authority • Group effects • Methodological and ethical criticisms • Application: obedience and deference in flight crews

  9. Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Study • (Haney, Banks, & Zimbardo, 1973). • Results: study was aborted because situation overpowered the subjects

  10. Sources of Power in Groups • French & Raven's Power Bases Theory • 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

  11. Sources of Power in Groups • French & Raven's Power Bases Theory • 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)

  12. Sources of Power in Groups (cont) • Applications • Milgram’s experiment • Bullying • Weber’s concept of charismatic leadership

  13. 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

  14. 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

  15. Using Power to Influence Others • Resistance to influence • Revolutionary coalitions • Reactance • Conflict and rebellion authority (the ripple effect)

  16. 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)

  17. 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)

  18. Corrupting Effects of Power • Power and personality • 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

  19. Corrupting Effects of Power (cont) • Corrupting influence of power • 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

  20. Psychopathy • Egocentric, deceitful, shallow, impulsive individuals who use and manipulate others • Callous, lack of empathy • Little remorse • Thrill-seeking • “human predators” (Hare, 1993) • No “conscience”

  21. Glib and superficial Egocentric and grandiose Lack of remorse or guilt Lack of empathy Deceitful and manipulative Shallow emotions Impulsive Poor behavior controls Need for excitement Lack of responsibility Early behavior problems Adult antisocial behavior Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare, 1991)

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