Social rank strategies in hierarchical relationships

Social rank theorists propose that threat appraisals evoke escalation behavior toward subordinates and de-escalation behavior toward superiors. These hypotheses were examined among records of behavior sampled ecologically from the work environments of 90 individuals. At the level of the event, situated threat appraisals (feeling criticized) predicted different kinds of behavior across status situations. Individuals tended to quarrel when criticized by subordinates and to submit when criticized by superiors. At the level of the person, aggregated rank appraisals (feeling inferior) predicted different kinds of behavior across status situations. Individuals who typically felt more inferior tended to quarrel more frequently with subordinates and to submit more frequently with superiors. Findings implicated inferiority and threat as fundamental dimensions underlying the behavior of the social rank system.

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