Power and the objectification of social targets.
Objectification has been defined historically as a process of subjugation whereby people, like objects, are treated as means to an end. The authors hypothesized that objectification is a response to social power that involves approaching useful social targets regardless of the value of their other human qualities. Six studies found that under conditions of power, approach toward a social target was driven more by the target's usefulness, defined in terms of the perceiver's goals, than in low-power and baseline conditions. This instrumental response to power, which was linked to the presence of an active goal, was observed using multiple instantiations of power, different measures of approach, a variety of goals, and several types of instrumental and noninstrumental target attributes. Implications for research on the psychology of power, automatic goal pursuit, and self-objectification theory are discussed.
Gruenfeld
Deborah H
DH
Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. gruenfeld_deborah@gsb.stanford.edu
Inesi
M Ena
ME
Magee
Joe C
JC
Galinsky
Adam D
AD
D000288:Administrative Personnel; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000533:Altruism; D001240:Aspirations, Psychological; D032763:Behavior Control; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006608:Hierarchy, Social; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology