Complaisant or coercive? The role of dominance and prestige in social influence

Abstract Research in evolutionary psychology has identified two general strategies – dominance and prestige - used to attain influence and high social rank within groups. Whereas dominance is defined by the use of force to gain social rank, prestige is defined by the display of valued skills and abilities. Although studies have provided insight into the personality traits and motivations that characterize people high in dominance versus prestige, less is known about specific social influence tactics used by people who adopt those strategies. Participants (n = 207) reported on their use of nine social influence tactics, including both complaisant (e.g., building relationships, using reason) and coercive (e.g., punishing or directly coercing others) tactics. Prestige was positively associated with complaisant tactics but negatively associated with coercive tactics. Dominance was positively associated with both coercive tactics and complaisant tactics. This study provides evidence linking the overarching strategies people use to regulate their social rank to specific forms of social influence.