Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of status change on the powerholder's behavior and cognition (attribution) to their sub-leaders and subordinates. The experimental situations consisted of multistage power structures: one powerholder, four sub-leaders, and 16 subordinates. Instead of being delegated by the experimenter (as in experiment I), the subjects in experiment II were screened and elected as a powerholder. The results of experiment I and experiment II showed that; (1) The powerholders under status change condition attempted more to influence the high performing group (experiment I, II), (2) They highly evaluated their own contributions to the high performing group (experiment I, II), (3) They exercised more coercive power to the high performing group (experiment II), and (4) They gave more difficult tasks to the high performing group (experiment II) than the powerholders under non status change condition.
