FlashReport The powerful size others down: The link between power and estimates of others' size Andy J. Yap ⁎, Malia F. Mason, Daniel R. Ames Columbia University, USA HIGHLIGHTS ► Power distorts impressions of another person's physical size. ► The powerful systematically underestimated the size of the target. ► The powerless systematically overestimated the size of the target. ► Results emerged whether the target was in a photograph or face-to-face. ► Power leads people to misperceive complementary power cues in others. abstract article info Article history: Received 9 August 2012 Revised 1 October 2012 Available online 13 October 2012 Keywords: Power Social hierarchy Social perception Physical size Interpersonal interaction The current research examines the extent to which visual perception is distorted by one's experience of power. Specifically, does power distort impressions of another person's physical size? Two experiments found that participants induced to feel powerful through episodic primes (Study 1) and legitimate leadership role manipulations (Study 2) systematically underestimated the size of a target, and participants induced to feel powerless systematically overestimated the size of the target. These results emerged whether the target person was in a photograph or face-to-face. These findings suggest that the experience of powerfulness and powerlessness leads people to misperceive complementary power cues in others, and in doing so, distorts what they actually see. We discuss how these findings elucidate the interplay between how psychological states influence perception, and through this, facilitate social coordination. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction A growing body of research suggests that the visual system is not a passive recording device that relies exclusively on a bottom-up sensory-triggered process (Bar, 2004, 2007; Cheung & Bar, 2012; Proffitt, 2006). Instead, the visual system is proactive and construc- tive. It draws as much on a priori knowledge and past experiences in identifying objects, as on spatial frequency, color and other sensory information reaching the retina (Atkinson & McClelland, 1948; Bruner & Minturn, 1955; Markus & Zajonc, 1985). Indeed, people tend to interpret ambiguity in stimulus properties in a manner that confirms their beliefs, expectations and motivations (Balcetis & Dunning, 2006; Biederman & Cooper, 1991; Carter & Schooler, 1949; Dubois, Rucker, & Galinsky, 2010). An open question is whether per- ception is also affected by power. Power is a fundamental and perva- sive force in all social relationships. The present research tested and demonstrated that the psychological experience of powerfulness and powerlessness distort impressions of others by causing one to misperceive complementary power cues in others. Power, the capacity to influence other people through asymmetric control over valued resources (Blau, 1964; Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2003; Magee & Galinsky, 2008), is widely conceived of as a force around which social relationships are organized (Fiske, 1992; Russell, 1938). By providing clues about which interpersonal conflicts to avoid, to whom one should defer, and how best to coordi- nate interdependent action, power serves a relational heuristic func- tion (Chance, 1967; Keltner, Van Kleef, Chen, & Kraus, 2008). Consistent with the view that power streamlines social interactions by helping people efficiently decide how to interact and coordinate with others, people are acutely sensitive to cues that signal who does and who does not control shared resources (Anderson, Srivastava, Beer, Spataro, & Chatman, 2006; Mason, Zhang, & Dyer, 2010). For example, Anderson et al. (2006) demonstrated that group members achieve impressive levels of consensus about the existing power structure after just a few weeks of interaction. Importantly, people also have an unconscious desire for hierarchi- cally differentiated relationships (Tiedens, Unzueta, & Young, 2007). This desire results in dominance complementarity, whereby people view interaction partners as contrasting with the self in terms of dominance (i.e., a powerful person views his/her partner as power- less and vice versa). Since people are effective at recognizing power cues and tend to contrast themselves in terms of power with others, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 49 (2013) 591–594 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Columbia University, 3022 Broadway, Uris Hall, Room 7P, New York, NY 10027, USA. E-mail address: andy.yap82@gmail.com (A.J. Yap). 0022-1031/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.10.003 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Experimental Social Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jesp