PSYC 309 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Disinhibition, Office Space
Document Summary
Goal for today: to understand the concept of social power, how it can affect cognition, and how it influences the use of laughter in social situations. Guy tries to avoid boss at work. He gets asked to work on weekends. Keltner (2003): the basic effect of social power. Inhibition-oriented responses: negative affect, vigilance, attention to punishment. Elevated power triggers: approach-oriented responses, positive affect, attention to rewards, disinhibited behavior. What determines social power: more fixed. Individual variables (personality traits, physical characteristics: between-group variables (ethnicity, gender, class, ideology, majority/minority, more changeable, dyadic variables (interest in relationship, relative commitment, within-group variables (authority/position/role, social status) Approach-inhibition theory: higher status -> higher power -> behavioral disinhibition. Then, a plate of 5 cookies is left on the table: who ate the cookie more, results, women, high power ate more cookies than low power, men, consistent results between low power and high power, the flirting experiment. Interact with member of opposite sex under equal power conditions (control)
