An experimental study on the power maintaining tendency of the powerholder under status change condition

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of status change on the powerholder's behavior and cognition (attribution) to their sub-leaders and subordinates. The experimental situations consisted of multistage power structures : one powerholder, four sub-leaders, and 16 subordinates. Instead of being delegated by the experimenter (as in experiment the subjects in experiment F were screened and elected as a powerholder. The results of experiment I and experiment showed that (1) The powerholders under status change condition attempted more to influence the high performing group (experiment II), (2) They highly evaluated their own contributions to the high performing group (experiment II), (3) They exercised more coercive power to the high performing group (experiment and (4) They gave more difficult tasks to the high performing group (experiment than the powerholders under non status change condition. © 1987, The Japanese Psychological Association. All rights reserved.