The Psychology of Social Status

Abstract

This volume was conceived several years ago when we were attending the an- nual Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) conference, the single largest annual meeting place for social and personality psychologists. As research- ers broadly interested in the psychology of social status and rank dynamics, we were naturally attracted to many symposia sessions and presentations themed around the topic of power and status. One thing we noticed, however, was that the research agenda seemed to be dominated, to a certain extent, by power—or institutionally driven rank differentials (exemplified by a boss/employee relationship)—to the ne- glect of research on social status and dominance—or naturally emerging hierarchi- cal differences that arise in everyday interpersonal relationships. Further reflecting this state of affairs, an excellent volume reviewing the extant literature on power was published several years ago (Guinote and Vescio 2010), but the present volume marks the first comprehensive review of research on the psychology of status and broader rank-attainment processes