The Accentuation Bias: Money Literally Looms Larger (and Sometimes Smaller) to the Powerless David Dubois 1 , Derek D. Rucker 1 , and Adam D. Galinsky 1 Abstract The present research explores how people’s place in a power hierarchy alters their representations of valued objects. The authors hypothesized that powerlessness produces an accentuation bias by altering the physical representation of monetary objects in a manner consistent with the size-to-value relationship. In the first three experiments, powerless participants, induced through episodic priming or role manipulations, systematically overestimated the size of objects associated with monetary value (i.e., quarters, poker chips) compared to powerful and baseline participants. However, when value was inversely associated with size (i.e., smaller objects were more valuable), the powerless drew these valued objects smaller, not larger. In addition, the accent- uation bias by the powerless was more pronounced when the monetary value associated with the object was greater, increased when the object was physically present, and was mediated by differences in subjective value. These findings suggest that power- lessness fosters compensatory processes that guide representations of valued objects. Keywords power, social hierarchies, value perception, money More than 60 years ago, Bruner and Goodman (1947) offered a provocative hypothesis: Ingrained differences stemming from one’s social class alter representations of reality. In their study, children low in socioeconomic status systematically overesti- mated the size of coins compared to children high in socioeco- nomic status. One unanswered question is whether their pattern arose not just from an actual deprivation of resources but also from socioeconomic status as a fundamental form of social hierarchy. Although stable differences in socioeconomic status repre- sent one form of hierarchy, one’s place in a social hierarchy can also result from one’s temporary and immediate control over resources or others. The current research examines how experi- mentally manipulated differences in a power-based hierarchy affect people’s representations of monetary objects. Specifi- cally, we propose that lacking power fosters compensatory processes that produce an accentuation bias, altering the repre- sentation of monetary objects in a manner consistent with the size-to-value relationship. When larger is considered more valuable, the powerless, relative to having power or baseline conditions, will inflate the size of monetary objects. However, when smaller becomes more valued, the powerless will repre- sent objects of value as smaller than they actually are. Power as a Form of Social Hierarchy Defined as asymmetric control over other people or valued resources, power is a foundational basis of social hierarchy (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). Because hierarchy is the most prevalent form of social organization (Leavitt, 2004; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999), one’s current position in a power hierarchy affects numerous psychological processes related to how people think (Brin ˜ol, Petty, Valle, Rucker, & Becerra, 2007; Galinsky, Magee, Gruenfeld, Whitson, & Liljenquist, 2008; Smith & Trope, 2006), feel (Anderson & Galinsky, 2006; Guinote, 2007), and behave (Galinsky, Magee, Inesi, & Gruenfeld, 2006; Keltner & Robinson, 1997; Magee, Galinsky, & Gruenfeld, 2007; Rucker & Galinsky, 2008, 2009) in important domains spanning from negotiation to consumption. The pervasiveness of hierarchy also explains why the psychological experiences of power and powerlessness are so easily activated, either by ran- domly assigning people to high- and low-power roles or through episodic and semantic priming (Chen, Lee-Chai, & Bargh, 2001; Galinsky, Gruenfeld, & Magee, 2003; Guinote, 2007; Lammers, Galinsky, Gordijn, & Otten, 2008; Smith & Trope, 2006). 1 Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA Corresponding Author: David Dubois, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, 2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 Email: duboisd@kellogg.northwestern.edu Social Psychological and Personality Science 000(00) 1-7 ª The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1948550610365170 http://spps.sagepub.com 1 Social Psychological and Personality Science OnlineFirst, published on April 26, 2010 as doi:10.1177/1948550610365170