Comparative framing shapes judgments of the powerful
(2020) 19th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology — Location: Kraków, Poland. (Conference cancelled) (3.June.2020)
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- Abstract
- Human judgments are inherently comparative and often based on quantitative dimensions. The current research demonstrates that a ubiquitous social-structural factor, social power, increases biases in such comparisons. Across four studies, powerholders liked more, agreed more with and considered more likely to be true “more than” compared to “less than” information. Specifically, managers (vs. employees) evaluated more favourably articles involving “more than” rather than “less than” statements (Study 1; N=233). People’s chronic sense of power was positively associated with, and induced high (vs. low) power increased, agreement with funding options after reading “more than” rather than “less than” comparisons (Studies 2A/2B; Ns=149/208). Finally, induced high power (vs. control and low power) led to believing that “more than” statements are more likely to be true than “less than” statements (Study 3; N=152). The findings replicate previous work (Hoorens & Bruckmüller, 2015) and suggest that powerholders’ decisions based on comparative information are especially prone to the more-less judgmental heuristic resulting in asymmetry (favouring “more than” rather than “less than” statements). They are in line 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. Implications of this research for other comparative processes impacted by power are discussed.
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Woltin, K.-A., & Guinote, A. (2020). Comparative framing shapes judgments of the powerful. 19th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology, Kraków, Poland. (Conference cancelled). https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/108755