Illusory Power Transference
通过三个实验发现，与有权势者仅有微弱关联的男性会感到自己更有权力，变得更乐观、自信和冒险，但女性没有此效应；关联的合作或竞争性质也会影响权力感的同化或对比。
We use two experiments to investigate “illusory power transference,” in which individuals minimally associated with powerful others act as if they themselves are powerful outside the boundaries of the association. The experiments elicit this phenomenon through social comparison processes that result in individuals’ perceptions of their own power assimilating toward the power of the powerful other, which is driven by the motivation to characterize oneself as powerful. We demonstrate that men who have a tenuous association with a powerful other (versus a powerless or equal-power other) felt more powerful and were more optimistic, confident, and risk seeking, even though they could not leverage the associate’s power. Consistent with research suggesting that women are less motivated to characterize themselves as powerful, however, this effect did not emerge among women. A third experiment suggests that, besides underlying motivations, whether the association is cooperative or competitive determines if one’s sense of power is likely to assimilate to, or contrast away from, the associate’s level of power.