Perceptions of power: A cognitive perspective

Upper level college students in the United States (N= 28) were presented with vignettes describing a manager as possessing either (a) high coercive and reward power, or (b) low coercive and reward power. The manipulation of these two power bases had a significant impact on all five of French and Raven’s (1959) power bases (i.e., referent, coercive, expert, legitimate, and reward). Moreover, population effect size estimates (eta-squares) were noticeably large, ranging from .17 to .68. These findings are interpreted utilizing a cognitive perspective, and expanding the construct of cognitive structures to the realm of social power.