Article summary with From power to action by Galinsky, Gruenfeld and Magee - 2003

Introduction

The main proposition that is advocated in this article is that power leads directly to action. Power is not only an aspect of the social structure; it is also a cognitive structure that can be activated by an environmental stimulus.

Power is defined as the ability to control resources, own and others’, without social interference. This is also called social power because one can influence others’ behaviour by assigning resources or evaluating them.

The main question that the authors are trying to answer here is: Does the possession and experience of power lead individuals toward action?

The reasons why they think it would are as follows:

• Because the powerful experience less social constraints, they have more opportunities for action.

• Power activates the behavioural approach system.

• Power leads to disinhibition: you can express what you feel.

• Power leads to less deliberation: when you are free of doubt, you can act!

Power is also seen as a psychological state, so activating a concept of power should activate the behavioural tendencies associated with power (action), even outside a power context.

Experiment 1

Participants were assigned to three conditions: manager, subordinate, or the control condition. Then, they played a blackjack game: when the total is 16, do they take another card or not? Results: managers had an increased tendency to take action in the blackjack game compared to subordinates and the controls. But, because power was based on structural position, the action might be due to role-prescriptive behaviour or decreased cognitive capacity.

Experiment 2

In experiment 2, participants were asked to recall an instance in which they were powerful or powerless. They were placed in a room in which there was an annoying fan that blew in their face, the dependent variable was whether or not the participant took action and removed the fan, even when it was ambiguous as to whether this action was allowed. Results: the powerful removed the fan more often than the powerless. So, the possession of power increased the tendency toward action on the fan, hereby satisfying the goal of reducing physical discomfort (so, it is goal-directed action).

Experiment 3

Proposition: power will increase action independent of its social consequences. Specifically, power will lead to taking in a commons dilemma (which has negative consequences) and giving in a public goods dilemma (which has positive consequences). Design: high power versus low power versus control group (writing task) x type of dilemma (commons or public good). Also, mood was assessed. Results: activating high power increases the tendency to take action independent of its social consequences; taking from a commonly shared resource in a commons dilemma and contributing to a commonly shared resource in a public goods dilemma. There were no effects of mood found.

In experiment 2 and 3, participants who were asked to write about being in power also wrote down more action-related words compared to those writing about having no power. However, the semantic priming hypothesis does not hold: it is power that predicts action, not the semantic priming.

Discussion

The possession and experience of power leads directly to the taking of action:

• Even when power and action are functionally independent (experiment 1)

• It can be in the service of personal distress (experiment 2)

• Action taking isn’t always out of self-interest (experiment 3)

The effects of role-prescribed behaviour and cognitive load were eliminated. Plus: it really is the presence of power that leads to action, more than that the absence of power leads to inaction.

Why does power lead to action again?

• It is a product of learning, condition and the environment

• It activates the behavioural approach system (goal-directed behaviour, positive mood) and it increases attention to one’s desires

• It allows action that promotes the successful completion of goals

Priming power can be conceptual through the activation of mental representations, states, goals, stereotypes and spreading activation. But is can also be a mind-set, with procedural knowledge, it is a way of thinking, a way to approach the world. In this article, power is primed as a mind-state.