The Effect of a Power-Imbalanced Situation on the Cognitive Processing of Low-Power Group Members.

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawna K. Coutant
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Power Group ◽  
Group Members

scholarly journals The Harmful Side of Thanks: Thankful Responses to High-Power Group Help Undermine Low-Power Groups’ Protest

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 794-807
Author(s):  
Inna Ksenofontov ◽  
Julia C. Becker
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
High Power ◽  
System Justification ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Psychological Benefits ◽  
Power Group ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Group Member ◽  
Power Hierarchy

Giving thanks has multiple psychological benefits. However, within intergroup contexts, thankful responses from low-power to high-power group members could solidify the power hierarchy. The other-oriented nature of grateful expressions could mask power differences and discourage low-power group members from advocating for their ingroup interests. In five studies ( N = 825), we examine the novel idea of a potentially harmful side of “thanks,” using correlational and experimental designs and a follow-up. Across different contexts, expressing thanks to a high-power group member who transgressed and then helped undermined low-power group members’ protest intentions and actual protest. Thus, the expression of thanks can pacify members of low-power groups. We offer insights into the underlying process by showing that forgiveness of the high-power benefactor and system justification mediate this effect. Our findings provide evidence for a problematic side of gratitude within intergroup relations. We discuss social implications.

scholarly journals Determining our Destiny: Do Restrictions to Collective Autonomy Fuel Collective Action?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Kachanoff ◽  
Nour Kteily ◽  
Thomas Khullar ◽  
Hyun Joon Park ◽  
Donald Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Group Identification ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
System Justification ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Group Agency ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
The Social ◽  
Power Group ◽  
Group Members

Groups experience collective autonomy restriction whenever they perceive that other groups attempt to limit the freedom of their group to determine and express its own identity. We argue that collective autonomy restriction motivates groups (both structurally advantaged and disadvantaged) to improve their power position within the social hierarchy. Four studies spanning real-world (Studies 1 and 2) and lab-based (Studies 3 and 4) intergroup contexts supported these ideas. In Study 1 (N=311), Black Americans’ (a relatively disadvantaged group) experience of collective autonomy restriction was associated with greater support for collective action, and less system justification. In Study 2, we replicated these findings with another sample of Black Americans (N=292). We also found that collective autonomy restriction was positively associated with White Americans’ (a relatively advantaged group, N=294) support for collective action and ideologies that bolster White’s dominant position. In Study 3 (N=387, 97 groups), groups that were susceptible to being controlled by a high-power group (i.e., were of low structural power) desired group power more when their collective autonomy was restricted (versus supported). In Study 4 (N=803, 257 groups) experiencing collective autonomy restriction (versus support) increased low-power group members’ support of collective action, decreased system justification, and evoked hostile emotions, both when groups were and were not materially exploited (by being tasked with more than their fair share of work). Across studies, we differentiate collective autonomy restriction from structural group power, other forms of injustice, group agency, and group identification. These findings indicate that collective autonomy restriction uniquely motivates collective behavior.

scholarly journals Lay theories of peace and their influence on policy preference during violent conflict

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (31) ◽  
pp. 18378-18384
Author(s):  
Oded Adomi Leshem ◽  
Eran Halperin
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Low Power ◽  
High Power ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
State Solution ◽  
Policy Preference ◽  
Lay Theories ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Power Group ◽  
Positive Peace

We often talk about peace as if the concept is self-explanatory. Yet people can have various theories about what peace “is.” In this study, we examine the lay theories of peace of citizens embroiled in a prolonged ethnonational conflict. We show that lay theories of peace 1) depend on whether one belongs to the high-power or low-power party and 2) explain citizens’ fundamental approaches to conflict resolution. Specifically, we explore the link between power asymmetry, lay theories of peace, and preference for conflict resolution strategies within large-scale samples of Palestinian residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and Jewish residents of Israel. Results reveal that members of the high-power group (in this case Jewish-Israelis) are more likely to associate peace with harmonious relationships (termed “positive peace”) than with the attainment of justice (termed “structural peace”), while members of the low-power group (in this case Palestinians) exhibit an opposite pattern. Yet both groups firmly and equally interpret peace as the termination of war and bloodshed (termed “negative peace”). Importantly, across societies, associating peace with negative peace more than with positive or structural peace predicts citizens’ desire for a solution that entails the partition of land (the Two-State Solution) whereas associating peace with structural or positive peace more than with negative peace predicts citizens’ desire to solve the conflict by sharing the land (the One-State Solution). This study demonstrates the theoretical and policy-relevant utility of studying how those most affected by war understand the concept of peace.

scholarly journals The Unifying and Divisive Effects of Social Identities: Religious and Ethnopolitical Identities Among Mindanao Muslims in the Philippines

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ma. Elizabeth J. Macapagal ◽  
Cristina J. Montiel ◽  
Jose Jowel P. Canuday
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Low Power ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Southern Region ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Power Group

The present study looks into the unifying and divisive effects of ethnopolitical and religious social identities, and an emerging superordinate Bangsamoro identity of Muslims in the southern region of the Philippines. We surveyed 394 Muslims with a mean age of 32.6 and standard deviation of 13.3 from the Tausug, Maranao, and Maguindanaoan ethnopolitical affiliations using various measures of social identities. Findings showed that the Muslims in our sample identify themselves more strongly with their religious identity over their ethnopolitical affiliations. Religious identity may thus be a unifying element in the conflict-ridden context of Mindanao, as a significant correlation was also found between their Muslim identity and attitudes toward the superordinate Bangsamoro identity. Qualitative data on the meaning of Bangsamoro were also analysed and revealed thatBangsamoromeans a fusion of Mindanao, Islam, and peace/unity. However, data also reveal the divisive effects of ethnic identity. A moderately high overlap was found between their own ethnic identity and the Bangsamoro identity. The Tausugs, the low-power group in the peace talks, showed lesser overlap compared to Maguinanaons, suggesting that ethnopolitical, or what observers of Mindanao conflict have referred to as ‘tribal’ relations, implicates the respondent's perception of a superordinate Bangsamoro identity.

scholarly journals Weak Association Between Vastus Lateralis Muscle Fiber Composition and Fascicle Length in Young Untrained Females

Sports ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Thomas Mpampoulis ◽  
Spyridon Methenitis ◽  
Constantinos Papadopoulos ◽  
Giorgos Papadimas ◽  
Polyxeni Spiliopoulou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
Muscle Fiber ◽  
High Power ◽  
Vastus Lateralis ◽  
Vastus Lateralis Muscle ◽  
Type Ii ◽  
Fascicle Length ◽  
Power Group ◽  
Lateralis Muscle ◽  
Systematic Training

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationships between vastus lateralis muscle fiber length and fiber type composition in individuals with minimal exposure to systematic resistance/power training. In sixty female physical education students (age: 21.03 ± 2.1 years, body weight: 59.8 ± 9.7 kg, body height: 166.2 ± 6.5 cm), with no experience in systematic training, lean body mass, VL muscle architecture and fiber composition type, countermovement jumping (CMJ) performance, and isometric leg press rate of force development were evaluated. Data were analyzed for all participants, as well as two equally numbered groups assigned according to their maximum countermovement jumping power (High-Power or Low-Power group). Significant but low correlations were found between type II muscle fiber percentage and fascicle length (N = 60, p < 0.05). Significant correlations were found between type IIa and IIx muscle fiber percentage cross-sectional area (%CSA) and fascicle length (N = 60; r = 0.321, and r = 0.378; respectively, p < 0.05). These correlations were higher for the High-Power group (r = 0.499, and r = 0.522; respectively, p < 0.05), and lower, and nonsignificant, for the Low-Power group. The best predictor of strength/power performance was the lean body mass of the lower extremities (r = 0.389–0.645, p < 0.05). These results suggest that in females with minimal exposure to systematic training, fascicle length may be weakly linked with type II fiber areas, only in females with high-power profiles.

In time, we will simply disappear: Racial demographic shift undermines privileged group members’ support for marginalized social groups via collective angst

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110235
Author(s):  
Anna Stefaniak ◽  
Michael J. A. Wohl
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Demographic Shift ◽  
White People ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Us ◽  
Power Group ◽  
The Face ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Zero Sum

The racial demographic shift occurring in many Western countries provides a unique context to study the reactions of a high-power group (White people) to the potential loss of their privileged position in society. Three experiments ( N = 77, N = 302, N = 555) conducted in Canada, the US, and the UK showed that White people who are reminded about the ongoing demographic changes and who see race relations as a zero-sum game whereby any gains by minorities must come at the expense of the majority, experience stronger collective angst and, to a lesser extent, fear (but not anger). In turn, collective angst, but not the other negative group-based emotions, fuels their motivation to protect the existing intergroup hierarchy by withdrawing support for progressive social movements and increases anti-immigration sentiments. Downregulating the existential threat experienced by White majorities in the face of a racial demographic shift may be one way to reduce acrimonious behavioral intentions aimed at preserving their place in the social hierarchy.

The power of norms to sway fused group members

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winnifred R. Louis ◽  
Craig McGarty ◽  
Emma F. Thomas ◽  
Catherine E. Amiot ◽  
Fathali M. Moghaddam
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Anthropology ◽  
Normative Systems ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
Identity Fusion ◽  
Group Members

AbstractWhitehouse adapts insights from evolutionary anthropology to interpret extreme self-sacrifice through the concept of identity fusion. The model neglects the role of normative systems in shaping behaviors, especially in relation to violent extremism. In peaceful groups, increasing fusion will actually decrease extremism. Groups collectively appraise threats and opportunities, actively debate action options, and rarely choose violence toward self or others.

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