Power stress in primary school children

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate that, in accordance with research on adults, children with high implicit power motive show power stress when their need for influence cannot be satisfied. Participants, ranging between 8 and 11 years of age, had to convince a puppet to drink apple juice after they were made aware of the puppet’s dislike for the juice. Half of the children encountered a cooperative puppet; the other half encountered an uncooperative puppet that rejected attempts to get it to try the juice. Results showed participants with a high implicit power motive showed more negative affect when their efforts to convince the puppet to drink the juice failed. Implications for research on power stress in children and further directions are discussed.