388 Iv. COGNITI vE AND M OTIvATIONAL P ROCESSES
Scholarship on the effectiveness of politi -
cal leaders similarly illustrates the complexi -
ties inherent in affiliation-  motivated behav -
ior in the real world. Some studies show that 
n Affiliation may predispose individuals to 
surrounding themselves with like-  minded 
individuals to whom they feel bound in 
loyalty and cannot let go of even if circum -
stances demand it. In the political arena, 
this leads to bunker mentality and scandal 
(Winter, 2010). But n Affiliation is also a 
positive predictor of arms-  limitation treaties 
and the peaceful resolution of crises (Win -
ter, 2010), which suggests that even within 
the same general context, a motive can be a 
vulnerability or an asset, depending on the 
specific incentives and contingencies preva -
lent in the situation.
The Power Motive
Individuals high in n Power have a capac -
ity to derive pleasure from having physical, 
mental, or emotional impact on other indi -
viduals or groups of individuals and to ex -
perience the impact of others on themselves 
as aversive  (Schult  heiss, Wirth, et al., 2005; 
Winter, 1973). Although the ultimate goal of 
n Power may be dominance over others, the 
canonical definition of this motive focuses 
on an intermediate step toward dominance, 
namely, having impact  on others, which is 
not synonymous with being dominant. This 
is an important distinction, because the ste -
reotypical picture associated with power is 
a kind of in-your-face aggressive and domi -
neering behavior. Yet among many mam -
malian species, particularly primates (cf. de 
Waal, 1998), this type of behavior is rarely 
a sustainable strategy for attaining and 
maintaining dominance, and it is not what 
typically characterizes individuals high in n 
Power. Although they can be aggressive, ir -
responsible, and uncooperative (e.g., Hofer, 
Busch, Bond, Campos, et al., 2010; Rawolle, 
Schult  heiss, Strasser, & Kehr, 2017), more 
often they have been found to be clever and 
intelligent in their quest for impact expe -
riences (McClelland & Burnham, 2003). 
For instance, Ditlmann, Purdie-  Vaughns, 
Dovidio, and Naft (2017) found that in 
members of an oppressed minority, when 
talking to members of the majority group, 
high n Power leads to the adoption of com -munication strategies characterized not by 
self- assertion or demands but by a socially 
engaging, warm style. This in turn helps 
power-  motivated minority members to have 
a greater impact on their audience, which 
finds such messages to be particularly mem -
orable.
Recent research has begun to take a closer 
look at how power-  motivated individuals 
succeed at having social impact. Power- 
motivated individuals are generally quick at 
detecting (Donhauser, Rösch, & Schult  heiss, 
2015) and correctly classifying others’ facial 
expressions of emotion (Vongas & Al Hajj, 
2017); they show enhanced cortical process -
ing of, attentional orienting toward, and 
memory for such emotional signals, even if 
they are presented below the threshold of 
conscious recognition (Schult  heiss & Hale, 
2007; Wang, Liu, & Yan, 2014; Wang, Liu, 
Yang, Zhang, & Yan, 2017); and they effi -
ciently learn behaviors reinforced by signals 
of others’ low power and inhibit behaviors 
leading to signals of others’ high power 
(Schult  heiss, Pang, et al., 2005; Schult  heiss, 
Wirth, et al., 2005; Stoeckart, Strick, Bij -
leveld, & Aarts, 2017, 2018). In short, they 
have a highly sensitive social-  impact detec -
tion system that enables them to optimize 
their behavior for exerting influence on oth -
ers (Schult  heiss & Schiepe-  Tiska, 2013).
Consistent with their knack for inter -
personal sensitivity and influence, power- 
motivated individuals are more likely to as -
cend to the highest levels of management in 
hierarchically organized corporations (Mc -
Clelland & Boyatzis, 1982; McClelland & 
Burnham, 2003), to be more effective once 
they are in management positions (Stein -
mann et al., 2015), and, more generally, to 
have productive and successful careers (Mc -
Clelland & Franz, 1992; Peterson & Stewart, 
1993). However, when working in leader -
ship positions, power-  motivated individuals 
become vulnerable to ingratiating behavior 
by subordinates and favor an autocratic style 
of decision making that leaves little room for 
subordinates’ input (Fodor, 2010). Another 
way for power-  motivated individuals to have 
impact is to “make a splash,” to do some -
thing that will increase their social visibility 
by attracting others’ attention, such as plac -
ing risky gambling bets (McClelland & Wat -
son, 1973). Finally, n Power is also involved 