Elevated Power Promotes Prosocial Behavior More Than Elevated Status

Power and status are fundamental elements of social hierarchy, yet their influence on prosocial behavior remains unclear. To distinguish between prosocial and self-serving motives, we focused on behaviors that provide no benefit to the actor’s status and may even harm it. We hypothesized that high power increases such behaviors compared to high status. In Studies 1a-2 (N = 824), participants in high-power roles were more likely to prevent harm or provide help at the expense of their reputation compared to those in high-status roles (Studies 1a-2), and those in low-power or low-status roles (Study 1a). In Study 3 (N = 150), greater perceived power was linked to increased anonymous resource allocation in a dictator game, while greater perceived status was linked to decreased allocation. Study 4 (N = 1,135) found that higher Twitter status was associated with delayed prosocial speaking up. These findings suggest that elevated power is more conducive to prosocial behavior than elevated status.