Mario Weick
School of Psychology, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK
Current social cognitive approaches maintain that elevated power fosters a sense of self distinct from others. The present research challenges this assumption. Drawing on a social identity perspective, a series of studies tested the hypothesis that high power increases, and low power reduces, the perceived overlap between self and others. Using different operationalisations of power, and examining self- and other-perceptions in a variety of contexts with a range of measures, power consistently augmented people’s perceptions of similarity between self and others. These effects emerged irrespectively of independent vs. interdependent self-construal, self-clarity, or need to belong. While power holders thought others were more like them, low power individuals demonstrated little insights into these cognitions. Contrary to mainstream socio-cognitive theorising, these findings converge in showing that power does not convey a greater sense of distinctiveness of self.