Effects of Power on Mental Rotation and Emotion Recognition in Women. (October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nissan, Tali; Shapira, Oren; Liberman, Nira
• Is Part Of: Personality & social psychology bulletin. Volume 41:Number 10(2015:Oct.)
• Page Start: 1425
• Page End: 1437
• Publication Date: 2015-10
• Subjects: power -- construal level -- social distance -- mental rotation -- emotion recognition; Personality -- Periodicals; Social psychology -- Periodicals; 302
• DOI: 10.1177/0146167215598748
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-1672

Abstract

Based on construal-level theory (CLT) and its view of power as an instance of social distance, we predicted that high, relative to low power would enhance women's mental-rotation performance and impede their emotion-recognition performance. The predicted effects of power emerged both when it was manipulated via a recall priming task (Study 1) and environmental cues (Studies 2 and 3). Studies 3 and 4 found evidence for mediation by construal level of the effect of power on emotion recognition but not on mental rotation. We discuss potential mediating mechanisms for these effects based on both the social distance/construal level and the approach/inhibition views of power. We also discuss implications for optimizing performance on mental rotation and emotion recognition in everyday life.