The current research investigated how a third-party observer interprets a request for help from the high-status group to the low-status group as a sign of gentle dominance. Gentle dominance was...Show moreThe current research investigated how a third-party observer interprets a request for help from the high-status group to the low-status group as a sign of gentle dominance. Gentle dominance was operationalized as a combination of two helping motives: inclusion and superiority. We expected that participants in the stable status relationship condition would more often attribute a high-status group's request for help to a low-status group to be rooted in a gentle dominance motive compared to participants in the unstable status relationship condition, but only when the two groups had a common identity rather than separate identities. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions of a 2 (Stability: stable vs. unstable) x 2 (Identity: common identity vs. separate identities) between-subjects experimental design. Results from an online questionnaire (N = 212) did not support previous research and our predictions that both a stable status hierarchy and the presence of a common identity were attributed to the gentle dominance motive. Exploratory analyses showed that participants perceived more prosocial emotions, from the requesting high-status group to the low-status group, when the groups had a common identity. Conversely, more negative emotions were found in the separate identities condition and unstable status relations, indicating that the high-status group wants to protect their high-status position. Implications of these findings in help-seeking as the high-status group are discussed.Show less
