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When subjective experiences matter: power increases reliance on ease of retrieval

Weick, M.; Guinote, A.

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Authors

A. Guinote



Abstract

Past research on power focused exclusively on declarative knowledge and neglected the role of subjective experiences. Five studies tested the hypothesis that power increases reliance on the experienced ease or difficulty that accompanies thought generation. Across a variety of targets, such as attitudes, leisure-time satisfaction, and stereotyping, and with different operationalizations of power, including priming, trait dominance, and actual power in managerial contexts, power consistently increased reliance on the ease of retrieval. These effects remained 1 week later and were not mediated by mood, quality of the retrieved information, or number of counterarguments. These findings indicate that powerful individuals construe their judgments on the basis of momentary subjective experiences and do not necessarily rely on core attitudes or prior knowledge, such as stereotypes.

Citation

Weick, M., & Guinote, A. (2008). When subjective experiences matter: power increases reliance on ease of retrieval. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(6), 956-970. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.6.956

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jun 1, 2008
Deposit Date Sep 12, 2018
Publicly Available Date Sep 19, 2018
Journal Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Print ISSN 0022-3514
Electronic ISSN 1939-1315
Publisher American Psychological Association
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 94
Issue 6
Pages 956-970
DOI https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.6.956
Related Public URLs http://kar.kent.ac.uk/4574/

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Copyright Statement
© 2008 APA, all rights reserved. This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.





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