Patricia Andrews Fearon

All Publications

• Is Status a Zero-Sum Game? Zero-Sum Beliefs Increase People's Preference for Dominance but Not Prestige JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-GENERAL Andrews-Fearon, P., Davidai, S. 2023; 152 (2): 389-409

  Abstract

  Why do people often pursue social rank using coercive and potentially costly dominance-oriented strategies (grounded in fear and intimidation) rather than noncoercive prestige-oriented strategies (grounded in respect and admiration)? In 10 studies (N = 3,372, including a high-powered preregistered replication), we propose that people's beliefs about the nature of social hierarchies shape their preference for dominance strategies. Specifically, we find that zero-sum beliefs about social hierarchies-beliefs that one person's rise in social rank inevitably comes at others' expense-drive the preference for dominance-oriented, but not prestige-oriented, approaches to status. The more participants viewed social hierarchies as zero-sum, the more they were willing to use dominance tactics and the more interested they were in reading books about how to use such tactics. Moreover, we find evidence that zero-sum beliefs about social hierarchies causally increase the preference for dominance-oriented, but not prestige-oriented, strategies for gaining rank, and that both objective factors in the organizational environment and people's subjective interpretations of these environments can trigger this effect. We discuss implications for the intragroup and intergroup dynamics of attaining and retaining high social rank. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/xge0001282

  View details for Web of Science ID 000838266900001

  View details for PubMedID 35951376

• Increasing Cognitive Complexity and Meta-Awareness Among At-Risk Youth in Bosnia-Herzegovina In Order To Reduce Risk of Extremism and Interethnic Tension PEACE AND CONFLICT-JOURNAL OF PEACE PSYCHOLOGY Savage, S., Fearon, P. 2021; 27 (2): 225-239

  View details for DOI 10.1037/pac0000557

  View details for Web of Science ID 000663932100013

• Use newfound trust in science wisely NATURE Andrews Fearon, P., Gotz, F. M., Good, D. 2020; 580 (7804): 456

  View details for DOI 10.1038/d41586-020-01145-7

  View details for Web of Science ID 000527685200010