Beyond High and Low: Obstacles and Opportunities Associated with Conceptualizing Middle Power and Other Middle‐Range Effects

Received: 14 February 2021 Revised: 28 April 2021 Accepted: 3 May 2021 DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12607 RESEARCH ARTICLE- - Beyond high and low: Obstacles and opportunities associated with conceptualizing middle power and other middle‐range effects Eric M. Anicich University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA Abstract Researchers disproportionately develop and test research Correspondence Eric M. Anicich, University of Southern questions aimed at understanding the effects of extreme— California, 701 Exposition Boulevard Bldg. compared to intermediate or fluctuating—positions and #142, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. Email: [email protected] states. Commonly applied theoretical frameworks and methodological tools reflect and serve to perpetuate this binary focus on extreme effects. Here, I attempt to lay the foundation for researchers to more rigorously and consistently study middle‐range effects in the psychological sciences in general and in the social power literature in particular. In proposing three different conceptualizations of “middle power,”—power fluctuation, power tension, and medium power—I identify theoretical and methodological obstacles and opportunities related to studying middle power. Overall, I argue that the landscape between a construct's poles is neither vacuous nor hypothetical space. Rather, it is potentially fertile, yet largely unharvested, scholarly terrain. Simply put, the middle matters, and de- serves greater attention. 1 | INTRODUCTION To determine if a relationship exists between two variables, researchers often ask some version of the following question: Does variable x exert a different effect on outcome y at high and low levels of x? Although this approach may be a logical starting point for many research questions, prioritizing the effects of the extreme ends of a variable's continuum on various outcomes may mask or otherwise distort potentially unique effects associated with intermediate or fluctuating positions and states. Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2021;15:e12607. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/spc3 © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1 of 17 https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12607 - 2 of 17 - ANICICH This concern is particularly pronounced in fields where experimental methods dominate. By designing exper- iments that only manipulate high and low levels of a predictor variable, researchers assume a linear relationship exists between x and y. Even in the context of analyzing continuous data, some researchers have advocated for using the extreme group approach (e.g., see Cross et al., 2002; Feldt, 1961), which involves selecting individuals on the basis of extreme scores of x and examining the relationship between x and y only for those extreme scoring individuals. Others have defended the use of median splits on the grounds that they facilitate analytic ease and communication clarity (Iacobucci et al., 2015a, 2015b). These approaches function to suppress interest in and knowledge of middle‐range effects (e.g., see also work on the binary bias, Fisher & Keil, 2018, and the extremity bias, Fiske, 1980; Madan et al., 2014; Skowronski & Carlston, 1987), which is problematic because as Preacher and colleagues astutely note, “true dichotomies are not common in psychology” (Preacher et al., 2005, p. 186). Consequently, artificially dichotomizing a variable has numerous costs (Cohen, 1983; Irwin & McClelland, 2003; MacCallum et al., 2002). In this article, I lay the foundation for scholars to more rigorously and consistently study middle‐range effects in general and in the social power literature in particular. I begin by noting the lack of existing studies designed to test middle‐power effects. Then, I overview theoretical obstacles and opportunities related to studying middle power. In particular, I distinguish among three conceptualizations of middle power—power fluctuation, power tension, and medium power—and discuss how each conceptualization may relate to various outcomes. Then, I review methodological obstacles and opportunities related to measuring and manipulating middle power. I conclude by proposing several future directions for interested scholars to consider. 2 | THE PERVASIVE, YET UNREALISTIC, VIEW OF POWER AS BINARY AND STATIC Conferring, experiencing, and wielding power—that is, asymmetric control over valued resources in social relations (Keltner et al., 2003; Magee & Galinsky, 2008; Thibaut & Kelley, 1959)—are unavoidable features of social and organizational life that profoundly affect individuals' cognition, attitudes, and behaviors (Anderson & Brion, 2014; Fleming & Spicer, 2014; Galinsky et al., 2015; Guinote, 2017; Sturm & Antonakis, 2015). Indeed, the distinction between having and lacking power is as consequential as any distinction scholars make in the social sciences. However, dominant theories and methodological traditions treat power as a binary and static construct and are thus ill‐equipped to accommodate the complexity of modern life and the velocity of technological innovation that will continue to make experiencing and wielding dynamic and, at times, contradictory power states increasingly common. As a result, some existing and future findings may obscure power's relationship with certain outcomes (e.g., see Anicich, 2014). This is especially true in the field of social psychology where experimental methods that are rarely designed to detect nonlinear relationships dominate. Much of the existing work in the power literature disproportionately prioritizes studying the antecedents and consequences of experiencing extreme power states. For example, in a review of over 550 studies that either manipulated or measured a variable related to social stratification (e.g., power, status, organizational rank, etc.), I found that 94.6% of study designs focused exclusively on the effects of the extreme ends of the relevant stratifying variable's distribution (e.g., the effects of high vs. low power; Anicich, 2016). In fact, none of the 392 reviewed studies that manipulated (vs. measured) a stratifying variable included a middle‐rank condition. This is problematic because, at a minimum, one must observe three levels of a construct in order to make any claims regarding the presence or absence of nonlinear relationships with various outcomes. As the power literature matures and high‐ versus low‐power effects continue to accumulate, scholars may be tempted to assume, on the basis of linear extrapolation, that they also understand the nuances of middle‐power effects. However, this assumption may be misguided (see Figure 1). Although scholars in various fields have offered useful perspectives related to the importance of studying curvilinear relationships (Grant & Schwartz, 2011; Le et al., 2011; Pierce & Aguinis, 2013; Swaab et al., 2014), these perspectives have been insuf- ficiently advanced in the social power literature. ANICICH FIGURE 1 Illustration of how common experimental designs are unable to detect middle‐power effects and why researchers should not assume a linear relationship between variables - 3 of 17 4 of 17 - ANICICH Moving beyond a binary conceptualization of power will further contextualize social power research (Schaerer, Lee, et al.,2018) and contribute to a growing body of work that takes seriously the importance of studying the full range of power effects (Anicich & Hirsh, 2017a; Schaerer, du Plessis, et al., 2018) and the consequences of dynamic power experiences (Aime et al., 2014; Smith & Hoffman, 2016). Doing so will also help address the lack of research on the “multiple coexisting roles that individuals play in organizations,” such as when “a given manager is high in power in that he has asymmetrical control over his subordinates but is also low in power in that the manager's boss has asymmetrical control over him” (Anderson & Brion, 2014, p. 85). In the following sections, I review initial theoretical and empirical efforts aimed at extending the binary view of power and propose three conceptualizations of middle power to guide future extensions of this work. 3 | THEORETICAL OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES RELATED TO MIDDLE POWER In recent decades, the study of social power has been almost synonymous with the application of the Approach‐ Inhibition Theory of Power (Keltner et al., 2003), which specifies that experiencing elevated power is associated with increased rewards and freedom and thereby activates approach‐related tendencies, whereas experiencing reduced power is associated with increased threat, punishment, and social constraint and thereby activates inhibition‐related tendencies. The elegance and utility of this theory is reflected in the nearly 4000 Google Scholar citations it has accumulated to date. However, the Approach‐Inhibition Theory of Power is constrained by its emphasis on two distinct systems described in reinforcement sensitivity theory (Gray, 1982)—the behavioral approach system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS)—that provide the neural and motivational foundation for understanding the experiences of high and low power. In linking the experiences of high and low power to activation of the BAS and the BIS, respectively, Keltner et al. (2003) framework spawned a generation of empirical research emphasizing the often divergent effects of high and low power on various outcomes. Subsequent theories and organizing frameworks related power have similarly embraced a binary view of power including the Situated Focus Theory of Power (Guinote, 2007), the Social Distance Theory of Power (Magee & Smith, 2013), and

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