With power “more is more”: Comparative framing shapes judgments of the powerful
(2021) 2021 Annual Meeting of the Belgian Association of Psychological Sciences — Location: Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium (27.May.2021)
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- Abstract
- Human judgments are inherently comparative. At the same time, responses to comparative information are biased, with “more than” rather than “less than” framed comparisons being favored (i.e., the fluency based more-less asymmetry; Hoorens & Bruckmüller, 2015). The current research investigated whether a ubiquitous social-structural factor – social power – impacts this bias. In an initial study, induced high power (vs. control and low power) led to believing that fictitious gender differences framed in “more than” rather than in “less than” terms were more likely to be true (Study 1; N=152). In line with recent recommendations (e.g., Kenny & Judd, 2019), the results of several smaller studies were meta-analyzed to allow gauging a more precise estimate of the real effect size of the phenomenon, independent of heterogeneity in effects and operationalizations. In these studies, people’s chronic sense of power was positively associated with, and induced high (vs. low) power increased, agreement with funding decisions after reading “more than” rather than “less than” comparisons in arguments about funding different art forms (Studies 2A/2B; N=149/208). Also, managers (vs. employees) evaluated more positively articles involving “more than” rather than “less than” statements comparing allergy medicines (Study 3; N=233). Meta-analytic findings indicate a replication of the more-less asymmetry and that it indeed is exacerbated by power. This dovetails with approaches positing that power increases reliance on subjective experiences, including ease of information processing and the use of heuristics in judgment and decision-making.
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Woltin, K.-A., Guinote, A., & Teixeira, A. (2021). With power “more is more”: Comparative framing shapes judgments of the powerful. 2021 Annual Meeting of the Belgian Association of Psychological Sciences, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/108759