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Power Heightens Sensitivity to Unfairness Against the Self.

Takuya Sawaoka1, Brent L Hughes2, Nalini Ambady2

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Powerful individuals exhibit heightened sensitivity to perceived injustices, reacting more swiftly to unfair treatment. This enhanced awareness and responsiveness may contribute to maintaining social hierarchies by addressing self-relevant slights.

Keywords:
distributive justicefairnessinterpersonal justicepowersocial hierarchy

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Area of Science:

  • Social Psychology
  • Organizational Behavior
  • Justice Studies

Background:

  • Power is often associated with a sense of entitlement.
  • This entitlement influences how individuals perceive and react to unfairness, particularly when it affects them directly.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between power and the perception of self-relevant injustices.
  • To examine how power affects individuals' expectations of fair treatment and their responses to violations of justice.

Main Methods:

  • Four experiments were conducted involving participants primed with high or low power.
  • Participants' speed in identifying distributive and interpersonal justice violations was measured.
  • Reactions to unfair treatment and likelihood of taking action were assessed.

Main Results:

  • High power was associated with faster identification of distributive justice violations where participants were victims.
  • The effect of power on justice perception was specific to self-relevant injustices.
  • Power also influenced the perception of interpersonal justice violations and increased the likelihood of taking action against unfair treatment.

Conclusions:

  • Powerful individuals possess a heightened sensitivity to self-relevant injustices due to stronger expectations of fair treatment.
  • This rapid perception and response to unfairness may serve to maintain social hierarchies.
  • The powerless, being less sensitive to injustice, may be less likely to challenge existing power structures.