Power moves beyond complementarity: A staring look elicits avoidance in low power perceivers and approach in high power perceivers

Weick., M.; McCall, C.; Blascovich, J.

doi:10.1177/0146167217708576

Power moves beyond complementarity: A staring look elicits avoidance in low power perceivers and approach in high power perceivers

Weick., M.; McCall, C.; Blascovich, J.

Authors

Professor Mario Weick mario.weick@durham.ac.uk
Professor

C. McCall

J. Blascovich

Abstract

Sustained, direct eye-gaze — staring — is a powerful cue that elicits strong responses in many primate and non-primate species. The present research examined whether fleeting experiences of high and low power alter individuals’ spontaneous responses to the staring gaze of an onlooker. We report two experimental studies showing that sustained, direct gaze elicits spontaneous avoidance tendencies in low power perceivers, and spontaneous approach tendencies in high power perceivers. These effects emerged during interactions with different targets and when power was manipulated between-individuals (Study 1) and within-individuals (Study 2), thus attesting to a high degree of flexibility in perceivers’ reactions to gaze cues. Together, the present findings indicate that power can break the cycle of complementarity in individuals’ spontaneous responding: low power perceivers complement and move away from, and high power perceivers reciprocate and move towards, staring onlookers.

Citation

Weick., M., McCall, C., & Blascovich, J. (2017). Power moves beyond complementarity: A staring look elicits avoidance in low power perceivers and approach in high power perceivers. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(8), 1188-1201. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217708576

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 23, 2017
Online Publication Date	Jun 21, 2017
Publication Date	Aug 1, 2017
Deposit Date	Sep 12, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Sep 18, 2018
Journal	Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Print ISSN	0146-1672
Electronic ISSN	1552-7433
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	43
Issue	8
Pages	1188-1201
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217708576
Keywords	Power, Eye gaze, Dominance, Complementarity, Approach and avoidance
Related Public URLs	http://kar.kent.ac.uk/61014/

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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).