Social hierarchy and social influence

Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2025-02-17 · 1 citations

Persuasion via Intermediaries: The Pull of Extremity

SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

On the evolution of psychological theory: Advancing from empirical effects to single‐process explanations to multi‐process models

Consumer Psychology Review · 2025-01-01

Abstract This paper presents a framework on the evolution of psychological theory in both consumer psychology and psychology more generally, moving from empirical observations of relationships to explanatory multi‐process models. The authors argue that psychological research appears unnecessarily inhibited, at times, to effects‐based or single‐process explanations of causal relationships. Such approaches, while fruitful for planting seeds of ideas, may limit the growth of psychological research. To provide a path to deeper theory building, involving more explanatory and predictive models, the authors introduce an approach based on the evolutionary stages of theory. This approach involves stating the necessary conditions to advance an evolutionary stage, along with visual examples of theory and empirical examples largely from the literature in consumer psychology. The upshot is a framework aimed to align scholars in understanding how to think about and discuss theoretical contributions. Finally, by adopting this approach, the authors suggest that psychological science can better address current challenges, such as the replication crisis, and foster more impactful research.

Understanding the belief–behavior gap: Insights from attitudes research

Journal of Consumer Psychology · 2025-12-21 · 1 citations

Abstract Belief change does not always lead to behavior change. This belief–behavior gap has received considerable atention, particularly in the context of misinformation. We expand upon ideas in the literature by offering additional insight derived from research on attitudes. Specifically, we propose that lessons from attitudes research can be applied to the belief–behavior relationship to further understand when belief change will and will not promote behavior change. We discuss the role of attitudes in determining how beliefs shape behavior, the value of measuring and targeting attitudes in research on behavior change, and factors that can influence the attitude–behavior relationship as a means to gain insight into the belief–behavior relationship. As part of our review, we also offer recommendations as to how belief‐targeting interventions might be improved to increase their impact on downstream behavior.

Softening the blow or sharpening the blade: Examining the reputational effects of satire.

Journal of Experimental Psychology General · 2025-02-13 · 4 citations

= 2,040) using memes and videos, causal evidence is provided that nonpolitical satire can cause greater damage to a target's reputation than direct criticism. Evidence that satire renders targets as less human, and thus more prone to more reputational damage is explored via both mediation and moderation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Unnecessarily divided: Civil conversations reduce attitude polarization more than people expect.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2025-11-13

People with opposing attitudes can learn from one another through civil discourse and debate. Yet, people routinely avoid discussing their differences of opinion, preferring instead to discuss their attitudes with like-minded others. We propose that people lack interest in discussing their differences of opinion, in part, because they expect such conversations are unlikely to change their own and others' attitudes. Importantly, we find these expectations are systematically miscalibrated: Civil conversations reduce attitude polarization more than people anticipate. Participants with opposing attitudes toward cats and dogs (Study 1 and Supplemental Study S1), cancel culture (Studies 2 and 4), and Joe Biden's performance as president (Study 5) underestimated how much their own and others' attitudes would depolarize in spoken conversations. Moreover, participants retained somewhat less polarized attitudes 1 week later. Participants underestimated attitude change, because they misunderstood why their attitudes differed: Whereas participants inferred their attitudes differed, because they fundamentally disagreed; their attitudes actually differed, because they were focused on different aspects of these topics (Study 3). As such, having a conversation surfaced unexpected areas of agreement (Studies 2, 4, and 5). Importantly, participants became more interested in discussing their differences of opinion, when they were informed that their own and others' attitudes might depolarize in a conversation (Study 6 and Supplemental Study S2). In total, the current work reveals that miscalibrated expectations can create an unnecessary barrier to civil discourse, leaving people with diverse points of view more divided, more polarized, and less informed than they otherwise could be. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Frontiers of Hierarchy Research: Status, Power, and Inequality

Academy of Management Proceedings · 2024-07-09

Hierarchy is an essential component of social life, which emerges spontaneously and organize the social dynamics (Durkheim, 1960; Magee & Galinsky, 2008). Two of the most widely studied and fundamental hierarchical dimensions are status and power (Blader & Chen, 2012; Fiske, 2010; Kemper, 2006; Weber, 1964). Status is defined as the prestige, respect, and esteem that an individual or a group has in the eyes of others (Anderson & Kilduff, 2009; Magee & Galinsky, 2008) and power is defined as individuals’ asymmetric control over valuable resources (Blau, 1964; Greer et al., 2017; Magee & Galinsky, 2008). Previous studies on status and power have shown their impacts on a variety of important outcomes, such as social resources (Lin, 1999), emotions (Kemper, 2006), learning (Bunderson & Reagans, 2011), and goal seeking (Guinote, 2017). This symposium aims to contribute to continuing the discussion of social hierarchy in impacting social life with novel perspectives on both traditional concepts such as gender differences and competition/cooperation, and understudied yet important phenomena such as individual exploration and discrimination recognition. We believe that our symposium will help generate new perspectives and important questions regarding social hierarchy and its relationships with various constructs. We hope that it will facilitate sophisticated theorizing and rigorous empirical research in this line of research.

The vicious cycle of status insecurity.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2024-12-02 · 4 citations

(using ChatGPT), and more than a dozen experimental studies. To enhance generalizability and external validity, our experimental contexts include consulting pitches, venture capital competitions, and idea generation contests. To demonstrate discriminant validity, we differentiate status insecurity from self-esteem insecurity. Across the studies, status insecurity consistently decreased status sharing while status sharing reliably increased one's status. Ultimately, status insecurity paradoxically lowers one's status because it reduces the propensity to elevate and celebrate others. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).