Open AccessExploring Negative Beliefs About Power
Author(s) -
Tobias Wingen,
Simone Dohle
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.185
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 2151-2590
pISSN - 1864-9335
DOI - 10.1027/1864-9335/a000453
Subject(s) - immorality , psychology , autonomy , social psychology , punishment (psychology) , morality , power (physics) , developmental psychology , epistemology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , political science , law
. “The powerful are immoral”! Across four preregistered studies (total N = 2,744), we explored the role of perceived autonomy (control over own resources) and perceived influence (control over others’ resources) for this belief. In Study 1, perceived autonomy and influence mediated the effect of power on expected immorality. Likewise, directly manipulating perceived autonomy and influence led to increased expected immorality, increased perceived intentionality of a transgression, and consequently to harsher punishment recommendations (Studies 3 and 4). Interestingly, Study 2 revealed an interaction between autonomy and influence, which we however could not replicate in Study 4. Overall, our findings suggest that both autonomy and influence are associated with immorality and thus likely drive the belief that the powerful are immoral.