A recent study has found that how well people control themselves might decide how powerful they appear to others. Published in the Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, the research explains that high self-control is linked to strength, goal achievement, and resource management, making people seem more powerful.
The study involved 1,953 participants across seven experiments, including real-life situations, hypothetical scenarios, and controlled setups. Researchers discovered that people with strong self-control were perceived as more assertive and competent. This made others see them as powerful and even grant them more power in decision-making.
Interestingly, people were judged as more powerful when they set modest goals and exceeded them, compared to setting big goals and falling short. Even if the effort was the same, the outcome played a big role in how their strength was judged.
The findings are crucial for understanding how leadership preferences and power dynamics work. Strong self-control, combined with assertive and competent behavior, was the key to being seen as powerful.
The study sheds light on why self-control is not just important for personal success but also for gaining respect and influence in society.
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