The Effects Of Power And Power Distance Belief On Aggressive Behavior

Aggressive behavior usually has the effect of competing for resources or selfprotection.Previous studies have pointed out that aggressive behavior is an important means of restoring power.The relationship between power and aggressive behavior is a question that scholars have been discussing.Previous studies showed the inconsistency of the effect of power on the aggressive behavior.This study believed that one of the reasons is that power has inconsistent effects on different types of aggressive behavior,such as proactive aggression and reactive aggression.The study also introduced the acceptance of hierarchy,that is,power distance belief,to explore the interactive influence on aggressive behavior.Since power and power distance belief can have an effect on self-focus,and self-focus positively predicts aggressive behavior,this study used self-focus as a mediating variable to construct a mediation model and verified it.In study 1,116 subjects were measured power,proactive aggression and reactive aggression to explore the relationship between power and the two types of aggression.The results showed that power can positively predict proactive aggression,but the prediction of reactive aggression is not significant.Study 2 changed the sample from college students to work groups,collected 273 data,verified the results of study 1,and examined the moderating effect of power distance belief on the relationship between power and aggressive behavior.Research had found that power distance belief mediates the relationship between power and proactive aggression: under low power distance belief,power is positively predicting proactive aggression;while under high power distance belief,power is not significantly predictive of proactive aggression.For reactive aggression,the interaction between power and power distance belief is not significant.Study 3 adopted an experimental design of 2(high power vs.low power)* 2(high power distance belief vs.low power distance belief),with 169 college students as the subjects,and primed power and power distance belief,verified the moderating role of power distance belief in the causal relationship that power influences proactive aggression.Study 4 explored the mechanism of power and power distance belief affecting proactive aggression,180 participants took part in the experiment.It was a betweenparticipants design that initiated power and measured power distance belief,self-focus and proactive aggression.The results showed that power and power distance belief had an interactive effect on self-focus,which in turn affects proactive aggression.This study used different methods to examine the influence of power on different types of aggressive behavior among different groups,and jointly verified the positive predictive effect of trait power on proactive aggression.The power distance belief moderates the influence of power on proactive aggression.The interaction of power distance is mediated through self-focus.The hypothesis about proactive aggression had been verified,and a new explanation mechanism was provided for the relationship between power and aggression and prevention of aggressive behavior,which has theoretical and practical significance.