Leiden University, Netherlands.
University of Cologne, Germany.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2021 Oct;220:103404. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103404. Epub 2021 Sep 14.
Earlier findings suggest that positions of power decrease self-other integration and increase psychological distance to others. Until now, however, evidence for this relation rests exclusively on subjective measures. The current research instead employed a vertical joint Simon task to measure self-other integration. This task assesses the extent to which people represent their own actions in reference to their co-actor's, also referred to as the joint Simon effect. Building on cultural associations between power and vertical elevation, we manipulated whether participants were in an elevated (high-power) or lower (low-power) seating position. Experiments 1a and 1b reanalyzed existing datasets and found that elevated (vs. lower) seating position decreased the joint Simon effect, consistent with predictions. Experiment 2 provides a high-powered replication of this finding. Yet, further analyses revealed that feelings of power - measured as a manipulation check and indeed demonstrating that the manipulation was successful - did not mediate or moderate the effect of seating position on the joint Simon effect. Therefore, it is possible that the effect of seating elevation was driven through other aspects of that manipulation than feelings of power. We discuss these and suggest ways to test these alternative explanations.
早期研究表明，权力地位会降低自我与他人的融合程度，增加与他人的心理距离。然而，到目前为止，这一关系的证据仅基于主观测量。本研究采用垂直联合西蒙任务来衡量自我与他人的融合程度。该任务评估了人们在多大程度上参照共同行动者来表示自己的行为，也称为联合西蒙效应。基于权力与垂直提升之间的文化关联，我们操纵参与者处于较高（高权力）或较低（低权力）的座位位置。实验 1a 和 1b 重新分析了现有的数据集，发现较高（相对于较低）的座位位置降低了联合西蒙效应，这与预测一致。实验 2 对这一发现进行了高功率的复制。然而，进一步的分析表明，权力感——作为一个操纵检查来衡量，实际上表明操纵是成功的——并没有中介或调节座位位置对联合西蒙效应的影响。因此，座位提升的效果可能是通过该操纵的其他方面而不是权力感来驱动的。我们讨论了这些可能性，并提出了测试这些替代解释的方法。
