Using Power to Elevate Status: Observers of Power Use and Philanthropy

利用权力提升地位：权力使用和慈善事业的观察者

• 批准号: 0096481
• 负责人: Michael Lovaglia
• 金额: $ 9.42万
• 依托单位: University of Iowa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-04-15 至 2004-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0096481&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Using; Power; Elevate; Status; Observers

Sociological research distinguishes between power, defined as the structural capacity to attain resources, and status, defined as a position of prestige and honor based on expectations for an individual's contributions to goals. Research has demonstrated how status can lead to power, but has had more difficulty demonstrating that a position of power can be used to elevate an individual's status. Whereas status can be used to gain a material advantage that leads to power, use of power often produces a negative reaction in those on whom it is used and therefore interferes with the status advantage that might come from power. To help understand this puzzling inconsistency involving these two otherwise closely related concepts, this project develops a theory that describes two ways power can be used to elevate status. First, power users may elevate their status in the eyes of observers of the power use (i.e., those who do not experience the negative reactions that those directly exploited by power do). Second, power users may gain status through philanthropy, or voluntary contributions to the community. Philanthropy may ameliorate negative reactions to power use and change the perception that power users are selfish. The project tests the two components of the theory with two experiments. In the first experiment, observers watch power being used in a network exchange setting, and then have the opportunity to cooperate in a task with either a high power or low power participant from the exchange they observed. The influence of the high or low power participant from the previous exchange on the cooperative task provides a measure of status. In the second experiment, partners in a power exchange network differ according to how much the dominant partner contributes to the success of the group, and then give ratings in subsequent exchanges of the status or influence of the power-wielding partner. Besides demonstrating the validity of the theory, the results shed light on the willingness of people to volunteer for activities that provide little in the way of power gain, but may increase status.

社会学研究将权力（定义为获得资源的结构能力和地位）区分开来，定义为根据对个人对目标的贡献的期望，被定义为声望和荣誉的位置。 研究表明，地位如何导致权力，但在证明可以使用权力的位置来提高个人身份方面有更大的困难。 尽管状态可用于获得导致力量的物质优势，但使用权力通常会在使用的人中产生负面反应，因此会干扰权力可能带来的状态优势。 为了帮助理解这种令人困惑的不一致性，涉及这两个与此其他密切相关的概念，该项目开发了一个理论，描述了可以使用权力来提高状态的两种方式。 首先，电力用户可以在观察者的眼中提高自己的状态（即，那些没有经历权力直接利用的负面反应的人）。 其次，权力使用者可以通过慈善事业或对社区的自愿捐款获得地位。 慈善事业可能会改善对电力使用的负面反应，并改变对权力使用者自私的看法。 该项目通过两个实验测试了该理论的两个组成部分。 在第一个实验中，观察者观察在网络交换环境中使用的电源，然后有机会与他们观察到的交换中的高功率或低功率参与者合作。 先前交流中高功率参与者对合作任务的影响提供了衡量状态。在第二个实验中，电力交换网络中的合作伙伴因主导合作伙伴对小组成功的贡献的贡献而有所不同，然后在随后交流的权力合作伙伴的状态或影响下给予评分。除了证明理论的有效性外，结果还阐明了人们自愿参加几乎没有能力收益但可能提高地位的活动的意愿。