Reducing Racial Biases in Leaders' Decisions About To Whom Power is Relinquished
Open Access
- Author:
- Ratcliff, Nathaniel John
- Graduate Program:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- November 13, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Theresa K Vescio, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Theresa K Vescio, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Karen Gasper, Committee Member
Jose Angel Soto, Committee Member
Lisa Elizabeth Bolton, Committee Member
Michael Jason Bernstein, Special Member - Keywords:
- Relinquishing Power
Social Power
Leadership
Group-Based Biases
Leadership Preferences - Abstract:
- Relinquishing power, or the voluntary transfer, sharing, or abdication of influence and/or control, is an understudied phenomenon. Despite historical examples of relinquishing power (e.g., Lucius Cincinnatus, George Washington), little empirical research has examined the contexts and situations in which leaders willfully relinquish their power. Similar to previous treaties on power, the current research documents the influence of cultural stereotypes on the decision-making of power holders and possible interventions aimed to attenuate race-based biases. Across several studies, people placed into leadership roles showed a preference for relinquishing their power to White men over Black men (Pilot Study, Studies 1 and 3). Thus, in-line with cultural stereotypes about who is fit to lead, leaders showed a tendency to give power to prototypical leaders with positively associated stereotypes regarding leadership (i.e., White men) rather than individuals who are underrepresented in leadership with negatively associated stereotypes regarding leadership (i.e., Black men). In addition, consistent with predictions, experimental interventions like counterstereotypic task framing (Study 2) and other-focused perspective-taking (Study 3) reduced the relinquishing power gap between White and Black co-workers. Together, these results suggest that race-based biases may be malleable and eliminated in relinquishing power decisions depending on conditions surrounding leadership. Furthermore, the current research adds to a growing model of relinquishing power by adding new insight into when, by whom, and to whom power is likely to be relinquished by leaders.