Give a Person Power and He or She Will Show Interpersonal Sensitivity:The Phenomenon and Its Why and When

摘要

The goal of the present research was to investigate whether high or low power leads to more interpersonalsensitivity and what potentially mediates and moderates this effect. In Study 1, 76 participants in eithera high- or low-power position interacted; in Study 2, 134 participants were implicitly primed with eitherhigh- or low-power or neutral words; and in Study 3, 96 participants were asked to remember a situationin which they felt high or low power (plus a control condition). In Study 4, 157 participants were toldto identify with either an egoistic, empathic, or neutral leadership style. In all studies, interpersonalsensitivity, defined as correctly assessing other people, was then measured using different instruments ineach study. Consistently, high power resulted in more interpersonal sensitivity than low power. Feelingrespected and proud was partially responsible for this effect. Empathic power as a personality trait wasrelated to more interpersonal sensitivity, and high-power individuals who adopted an empathic instead ofan egoistic leadership style were more interpersonally sensitive.