The sense of power affects risk preference in gain-loss situation: the moderating effect of power motivation
HE Qi1 SUN Qian2 LIU Yong-fang2
(1. Shanghai Party Institute of CPC& Shanghai administration Institute,Shanghai 200233,China; 2. School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 20006, China)
Abstract:Numerous studies showed that the sense of power exhibits a number of important influences on one’s decision-making processes. The current study aims to explore the influence of power on risky decision making depends on moderating variables with power motivationin gain-loss situation.A total of 108 division director level officials were studied by using the self-designed risk preference questionnaire involving twelve items under gain or loss task frameworks, and the power motivation scale compiled by Harms et al., using the experimental design to manipulate the sense of power (high / low). The results show that: (1) the risk level of the powerful take is significantly higher than it of the powerless in gain situation, while the risk level of the powerful is not different from that of the powerless; (2) in gain situation, the powerful with a higher powermotivation take less risks than the powerful with a lower power motivation, while the powerless with a higher motivation take more risks than them with a low power motivation; in loss situation, the risk level is higher no matter the sense of power and power motivation are high or low. These results suggested that thesense of power, power motivation and gain-loss situation can affect individuals' riskpreference. Moreover, gain-loss situation and power motivation play moderating roles in the relationship of the sense of power and risk preference. The present findings make up for the deficiency of the studies existing, and provide experimental evidence to help us to understand the relationship between the sense of power, power motivation, gain-loss situation and risk preference better.
何琪,孙倩, 刘永芳. 损益情境下权力感对风险偏好的影响:权力动机的调节作用[J]. 应用心理学, 2020, 26(4): 340-347.
HE Qi, SUN Qian, LIU Yong-fang. The sense of power affects risk preference in gain-loss situation: the moderating effect of power motivation. 应用心理学, 2020, 26(4): 340-347.