There are two routes to power status Dominance and Prestige SOP3004 Exam 3 Status the degree to which an individual attracts the attention of others possesses influence and is deferred to without overt challenge o High status individuals have priority access to coveted social goods such as food Dominance a status relation where subordination is maintained by fear of coercion or physical material resources and mates violence in agonistic encounters o Dominant individuals can punish others Prestige a relation where subordination is maintained by voluntary consent of the subordinate because he or she esteems the traits of the prestigious individual o Prestigious individuals can reward you with skills resources humor charm money effective policies o Ex Albert Einstein he couldn t really punish you for not admiring him But he rewarded people with his charm and his intelligence He also helped many researchers by better explaining the universe around us People allowed him access to resources because they admired him not because they were afraid of him Prestige and Dominance are not mutually exclusive it s a more prestige or more dominance type phenomenon o Ex People are afraid of Barack Obama because he can punish people not letting their policies through et cetera On the other hand people also admire Obama some do at least because he has the power to reward He is intelligent and charming He can put through positive policies Notice that the amount of prestige one accords him depends very much on how that person views his policies If they are viewed as rewarding one is likely to defer to him If one views them as not rewarding one might defer but not willingly It would be more dominance based Evidence and Research for two routes Emotion researchers Tracy and Robbins identified two kinds of pride Authentic and Hubristic Hubristic pride marked by arrogance and conceit Authentic pride more prosocial an achievement oriented Researchers Cheng Tracy Henrich argued that two forms of pride might be associated with dominance and prestige hubristic pride with dominance and authentic pride with prestige Study 1 was online It measured trait dominance and trait prestige and found relation between dominance and hubristic pride and prestige and authentic pride In next study had 91 male athletes rate themselves and rate five others o Found similar relation using observer s ratings Status processes Functionalist account argues that those who obtain status possess skills that benefit a group Contrary to some speculations high status people are not universally domineering or imperious One important factor is being socially connected Anderson and Shirako 2008 for example examined reputations among a negotiating class They found that a reputation for cooperativeness developed only for those were socially connected Socially connected individuals are able to develop reputations Reputations are important for status It seems then that people obtain status for possessing traits that benefit the group they are in Often people get status for being committed to the group for being kind cooperative and altruistic functional status idea However some researchers have found that an individual difference variable the personality trait of dominance predicts status better than any other trait Note that the desire for power is the best predictor of who obtains status This personality trait is not related to the earlier notion of dominance Instead it is comprised of assertiveness and a preference for authority Competence Signaling Theory Anderson and Kilduff 2009 have argued and shown that assertiveness and a desire to possess authority lead to behaviors that enhance perceptions of competence It is the perceived competence that predicts status Thus such individuals appear to signal their competence From confidence also comes perceptions of competence o Anderson and Kilduff 2009 broke participants into teams to solve math problems o Individuals who were assertive and desired authority were perceived as more competent although their formalized math tests revealed no advantage o Researchers filmed interactions and found that A Assertive individuals volunteered more answers B Assertive individuals provided more problem relevant information Signal an event act trait or thing that shows the existence of or gives information about something There are many kinds of signals but we will be interested in costly or hard to fake signals Think of signals on continuum from easy to fake signals to hard to fake signals Hard to fake signals are either costly signals or indexes Signal Continuum Indexical Signals Easy to fake thumbs up a thumbs up is easy to fake Anyone can do it at any time barring of course some disease or affliction Moderate smile A smile is moderately hard to fake It is difficult to smile if we are not happy However it is not impossible Hard to fake Rolex A Rolex watch is hard to fake because it is SO expensive If you drop 15 000 dollars on a watch you must have some money An indexical signal is a signal that is almost INEVITABLY connected to what it signals For example large muscles are an INDEX of strength because they are directly related to strength They are hard to fake because you can t get big muscles without also getting strength COSTLY SIGNALS are signals that force a price on the signaler that is difficult for dishonest signalers to bear For example a Porsche is a COSTLY SIGNAL of wealth because it is difficult for people who are not wealthy to purchase and maintain a Porsche They are hard to fake because the cost is nearly prohibitive for cheaters Costly Signal Signals Signals are everywhere in the biological world Traits are not always manifest and require time to discern Signals can broadcast those traits quickly and efficiently Humans possess many traits that are not immediately obvious kindness commitment status intelligence wealth health Logic of Costly Signaling Humans possess traits that are difficult to detect Those who perceive humans would benefit from discerning traits Humans might be motivated to cheat signals Costly signals are hard to fake and so are reasonably honest Michael Spence Why do we get degrees Why do employees care SO MUCH about degrees Often degrees are in areas that are irrelevant for the job For example pharmaceutical sales people often have degrees in chemistry According to Spence we can assume that there are good workers and bad workers Employees can not distinguish between them
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