Powerful or Powerless When Change is Needed: Effects of Power on Escalation of Commitment

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-135
Author(s):  
Hongchang Li ◽  
Zhongming Wang
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Low Power ◽  
Negative Feedback ◽  
High Power ◽  
Escalation Of Commitment ◽  
Moderate Degree ◽  
General Sense ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Quadratic Relationship ◽  
Sense Of Power

We investigated how either lack or possession of power affects the individual's escalation of commitment (EOC), that is, the decision to continue the original course of action when confronted with negative feedback. We differentiated the motivational and cognitive approaches to EOC, and argued that both lacking power (being powerless) and possessing power (being powerful) would intensify the effects of these two approaches so that high-power individuals and low-power individuals would be more prone to EOC than were those with a moderate degree of power. We conducted two studies with university students as participants. We used different measures of EOC; in the first study we measured general sense of power and in the second we primed power. In both studies results showed that there was a quadratic relationship between power and EOC. The implications for the research on EOC, de-escalation, and power are discussed.

Is There Always Escalation of Commitment?

1985 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 816-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming S. Singer ◽  
Alan E. Singer
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Escalation Of Commitment ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Industrial Products ◽  
Present Sample ◽  
Course Of Action

The Staw (1976) study and the Bazerman, et al. (1984) study showed that individuals responsible for negative consequences consistently escalated their commitment to the previously chosen course of action. The present study attempted to replicate the escalation of commitment phenomenon. Staw's experimental procedures for the condition of high responsibility and negative feedback were followed. The present sample consisted of 93 university students. Analysis showed that there was no escalation of commitment following negative feedback. There was a significant reduction in commitment following the initial allocations to the Industrial Products Division. Possible interpretations for the inconsistent findings were proposed.

Induced Social Power Improves Visual Working Memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britt Hadar ◽  
Roy Luria ◽  
Nira Liberman
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Low Power ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
High Power ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Filtering Efficiency ◽  
Sense Of Power

The possibility that social power improves working memory relative to conditions of powerlessness has been invoked to explain why manipulations of power improve performance in many cognitive tasks. Yet, whether power facilitates working memory performance has never been tested directly. In three studies, we induced high or low sense of power using the episodic recall task and tested participants’ visual working memory capacity. We found that working memory capacity estimates were higher in the high-power than in the low-power condition in the standard change-detection task (Study 1), in a variation of the task that introduced distractors alongside the targets (Study 2), and in a variation that used real-world objects (Study 3). Studies 2 and 3 also tested whether high power improved working memory relative to low power by enhancing filtering efficiency, but did not find support for this hypothesis. We discuss implications for theories of both power and working memory.

Powerful Individuals Behave Less Cooperatively in Common Resource Dilemmas When Treated Unfairly

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-186
Author(s):  
Xiuxin Wang ◽  
Mengli Wang ◽  
Qian Sun ◽  
Qianyun Gao ◽  
Yongfang Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Low Power ◽  
High Power ◽  
Social Dilemmas ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Perceived Fairness ◽  
Common Resource ◽  
Sense Of Power ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract. Previous research has suggested that power undermines cooperation in social dilemmas. However, the story may not be so simple. Guided by recent findings that power heightens sensitivity to unfairness, we examined the moderating effect of distributive justice on the association between power and cooperation. Across two experiments, when treated unfairly, high-power (vs. low-power) participants perceived greater unfairness. Moreover, high-power (vs. low-power) participants behaved less cooperatively not only when they interacted with the offender who treated them unfairly (Experiment 1), but also when they interacted with innocent third parties (Experiment 2). However, high-power and low-power participants showed no difference in perceived fairness and cooperation when treated fairly. These findings shed light on the association between power and cooperation by suggesting the modulating role of distributive justice, and they remind us that researchers should take participants’ personal sense of power into account when manipulating fairness.

scholarly journals When Action-Inaction Framing Leads to Higher Escalation of Commitment: A New Inaction-Effect Perspective on the Sunk-Cost Fallacy

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilad Feldman ◽  
Kin Fai Ellick Wong
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Sunk Costs ◽  
Escalation Of Commitment ◽  
Sunk Cost ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Impact

Escalation of commitment to a failing course of action occurs in the presence of (a) sunk costs, (b) negative feedback that things are deviating from expectations, and (c) a decision between escalation and de-escalation. Most of the literature to date has focused on sunk costs, yet we offer a new perspective on the classic escalation-of-commitment phenomenon by focusing on the impact of negative feedback. On the basis of the inaction-effect bias, we theorized that negative feedback results in the tendency to take action, regardless of what that action may be. In four experiments, we demonstrated that people facing escalation-decision situations were indeed action oriented and that framing escalation as action and de-escalation as inaction resulted in a stronger tendency to escalate than framing de-escalation as action and escalation as inaction (mini-meta-analysis effect d = 0.37, 95% confidence interval = [0.21, 0.53]).

The Malleability of Stereotype Effects on Spontaneous Trait Inferences

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Meifang Wang ◽  
Feng Yang
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
High Power ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Gender Stereotype ◽  
Baseline Condition ◽  
Spontaneous Trait Inferences ◽  
Trait Inferences ◽  
Sense Of Power ◽  
Moderating Role

Abstract. Past research has demonstrated that perceivers are more likely to draw spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) from stereotype-consistent behaviors than from stereotype-inconsistent behaviors. Four studies were conducted to examine the moderating role of power in stereotype effects on STIs. Priming power using the scrambled sentence task, Study 1 found that high-power participants drew STIs from elderly stereotype-consistent but not from elderly stereotype-inconsistent sentences, while low-power participants did not draw STIs from elderly stereotype-consistent or stereotype-inconsistent behaviors. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 by exploring the moderating role of power in gender stereotype effects on STIs. Measuring participants’ dispositional power via the Personal Sense of Power, Study 3 found that dispositional power also moderated the effects of gender stereotype on STIs. Study 4 found that compared with the baseline condition (no-power manipulation), the low-power condition inhibited STIs from stereotype-consistent behaviors, but the high-power condition did not facilitate STI formation from stereotype-consistent behaviors. The current study is the first to show that power influences the reliance on stereotypes when spontaneously inferring traits from behaviors.

Process Accountability as a De-Escalation Technique

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-74
Author(s):  
Klaus Moser ◽  
Hans-Georg Wolff ◽  
Roman Soucek
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Employment Relationship ◽  
Escalation Of Commitment ◽  
Tunnel Vision ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Performance Problems ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Biased Information

Abstract. Escalation of commitment occurs when a course of action is continued despite repeated drawbacks (e.g., maintaining an employment relationship despite severe performance problems). We analyze process accountability (PA) as a de-escalation technique that helps to discontinue a failing course of action and show how time moderates both the behavioral and cognitive processes involved: (1) Because sound decisions should be based on (hopefully unbiased) information search, which requires time to gather, the effect of PA on de-escalation increases over time. (2) Because continuing information search creates behavioral commitment, the debiasing effect of PA on information search diminishes over time. (3) Consistent with the tunnel vision notion, the effects of less biased information search on de-escalation decrease over time.

Less Power, Greater Conflict

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra C. Schmid
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
High Power ◽  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
Goal Conflict ◽  
Personal Goals ◽  
Multiple Goals ◽  
Objective Performance ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Way

Abstract. Power facilitates goal pursuit, but how does power affect the way people respond to conflict between their multiple goals? Our results showed that higher trait power was associated with reduced experience of conflict in scenarios describing multiple goals (Study 1) and between personal goals (Study 2). Moreover, manipulated low power increased individuals’ experience of goal conflict relative to high power and a control condition (Studies 3 and 4), with the consequence that they planned to invest less into the pursuit of their goals in the future. With its focus on multiple goals and individuals’ experiences during goal pursuit rather than objective performance, the present research uses new angles to examine power effects on goal pursuit.

AlInAs/GaInAs on InP HEMTs for low power supply voltage operation of high power-added efficiency microwave amplifiers

1993 ◽  
Vol 29 (15) ◽  
pp. 1324 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.E. Larson ◽  
M.M. Matloubian ◽  
J.J. Brown ◽  
A.S. Brown ◽  
M. Thompson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
High Power ◽  
Power Supply ◽  
Supply Voltage ◽  
Power Supply Voltage ◽  
Power Added Efficiency ◽  
Microwave Amplifiers

Effect of Power on Moral Judgment

1978 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-394
Author(s):  
Russell Hamby
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Low Power ◽  
Moral Judgment ◽  
Factorial Design ◽  
High Power ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Need For Power ◽  
Experimenter Effects

Ambiguous effects of power on attributions of moral responsibility for an accident are interpreted to result from the intervening effects of need for power, which is aroused by the anticipation of exercising power over another. 160 subjects from introductory social psychology classes participated in a questionnaire-type experiment comparing effects of high/low carelessness, severe/minor consequences, and high/low power of the attributor in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. In a follow-up experiment 30 subjects were assigned to conditions of high or low power, and their needs for power and moral attributions were measured. High power seemed to arouse need for power, which was curvilinearly related to moral judgments. Those high and low in need for power attributed more moral responsibility to the perpetrator of an accident than those with moderate levels of need for power. The results suggest complicated models of both moral judgments and experimenter effects related to the level or arousal of motivations.

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