Dominance (Psychology)

The current studies examined the interplay of dominance and power in their effects on various forms of prosociality, along with potential mechanisms that may account for their differential effects. Study 1 found that dominance and power had opposing effects on general prosocial tendencies, with dominance negatively relating to and power positively relating to general prosociality. Study 2 found the negative effects of dominance to be consistent both for general and relationship-specific prosociality. The effects of power were not replicated for the outcomes shared with Study 1, but other positive associations were found between power and prosocial propensities. Indirect effects in studies 1 and 2 supported the potential mediating role of other focus in explaining the differential effects of dominance and power. Study 3 utilized an experimental design to directly examine the potential mediating role of other-focus, by manipulating independent versus interdependent self-construals. Significant interactions between power and condition supported the notion that power positively affects prosociality by increasing other-focus. In the interdependent condition, power significantly predicted perspective-taking, whereas in the independent condition, the effect of power on perspective-taking was not significant. Study 4 involved collecting dyadic data from romantic partners, but did not find any significant partner effects. In line with the other studies, dominance was negatively associated with self-reported supportive tendencies as well as self-reported perceptions of a partner’s supportive behaviors.

Rape play is a type of consensual, ritualistic domination and submission, developed and enacted in a sado-masochistic (S/M) sex culture, which involves the appearance of force. There are two feminist theories that can be employed in a feminist analysis of rape play: dominance/radical feminism and libertarian/"sex positive" feminism. Libertarian/"sex positive" feminism holds that S/M, including rape play, is potentially compatible with feminism because the power dynamic between a dominant/"rapist" and submissive/"victim" does not draw on either practitioners' actual social identity and the power it possesses or lacks. Dominance/radical feminism argues that gender, which is socially constructed, can best be understood as a form of sexualized domination and submission, so social identity could not be dissociated from power in S/M. My reading of guidebooks and narratives about rape play suggests that the dominance/radical feminist position is more accurate in the case of rape play, though not necessarily all of S/M culture.