PERCEPTIONS OF POWER - A COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

Upper level college students in the United States (N = 28) were presen ted with vignettes describing a manager as possessing either (a) high coercive and reward power, or (b) low coercive and reward power. The m anipulation of these two power bases had a significant impact on all f ive of French and Raven's (1959) power bases (i.e., referent, coercive , expert, legitimate, and reward). Moreover, population effect size es timates (eta-squares) were noticeably large, ranging from .17 to .68. These findings are interpreted utilizing a cognitive perspective, and expanding the construct of cognitive structures to the realm of social power.