POWER AND STATUS - EXCHANGE, ATTRIBUTION, AND EXPECTATION STATES

The complex relationship between power and status requires clarificati on. Why does power seem to confer more status in some situations than in others? Theoretical ideas used to answer this question come from th ree major areas of social psychology: exchange theories of power the s tatus characteristics and expectation states theoretical research prog ram and attribution research Results of an experiment provided partial support for the main hypothesis derived from the theory: Differences in status will result consistent with power differences between actors . Power differences produced differences in expectations of ability on self-report measures but not on a behavioral measure of interpersonal influence. Although knowledge about the power structure was predicted to reduce the status derived from power; no effect of knowledge was f ound During the experiment, participants' emotional reactions were obs erved to play a role in the relationship between power and status.