Compliance and the use of threats and promises after a power reversal

Abstract

Compliance and the effects of a power reversal in a dyad were examined using the modified prisoner's dilemma game. A total of 60 subjects were first the targets of a simulated source's coercive or reward power employed with resolutely accommodative, irresolutely accommodative, or resolutely exploitative intent. Sex of subject made up the final factor in the 3 × 2 × 2 factorial design. Midway through the experiment, subjects were given the opportunity to exercise reward and coercive power. Compliance fitted the cost-gains model. Although the resolutely exploitative use of power conveyed the impression of the greatest degree of potency, it did not elicit overall the greatest degree of compliance. After the power reversal, when subjects decided to use their coercive power exploitatively, they punished the simulated target's defiance most when they had previously faced the resolute sources, and least when they interacted with the irresolute source. During power irrelevant interactions, subjects, in both the weak and strong power positions, reciprocated the degree of accommodative intent with which the source had used power.