Is status a zero-sum game? Zero-sum beliefs increase people's preference for dominance but not prestige.

Why do people often pursue social rank using coercive and potentially costly strategies (grounded in fear and intimidation) rather than noncoercive strategies (grounded in respect and admiration)? In 10 studies ( = 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 --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 to use such tactics. Moreover, we find evidence that zero-sum beliefs about social hierarchies 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).