Competence-based social status and implicit preference modulate the ability to coordinate during a joint grasping task

Abstract

Studies indicate that social status influences people's social perceptions. Less information is available about whether induced social status influences dyadic coordination during motor interactions. To explore this issue, we designed a study in which two confederates obtained high or low competence-based status by playing a game together with the participant, while the participant always occupied the middle position of the hierarchy. Following this status-inducing phase, participants were engaged in a joint grasping task with the high- and low-status confederates in different sessions while behavioural (i.e., interpersonal asynchrony and movement start time) indexes were measured. Participants' performance in the task (i.e., level of interpersonal asynchrony) when interacting with the low-status partner was modulated by their preference for him. The lower participants' preference for a low- relative to a high-status confederate, the worse participants' performance when interacting with the low-status confederate. Our results show that participants' performance during motor interactions changes according to the social status of the interaction partner.

Figure 1

Status-inducing procedure.

Figure 2

Graphical representation of the Joint Grasping task. Power and Precision trials are considered from the point of view of the Participant (P, on the left side). Opposite and Same movements are considered from the point of view of both the Participant and the Confederate (C, on the right side).

Figure 3

Experiment timeline. AMP = Affect Misattribution Procedure.

Figure 4

Vas scores attributed to the neutral primes preceded by the high status (HS) and the low status (LS) confederates’ picture in Session 1 (before the status manipulation), Session 2 (after the status manipulation) and Session 3 (after the Joint Grasping task). Horizontal lines in the boxes indicate the median, upper and lower borders indicate 1st and 3rd quartile, "whiskers" extend to the farthest points that are not outliers.

Figure 5

Explicit ratings of the High and Low status confederate on Attractiveness, Competence, Intelligence and Dominance. Asterisks indicate p values: p < 0.05. Horizontal lines in the boxes indicate the median, upper and lower borders indicate 1st and 3rd quartile, "whiskers" extend to the farthest points that are not outliers, dots represent outlier trials.

Figure 6

Grasping Asynchrony with the high- and low-status confederates during the Interactive task was modulated by participants’ implicit preference. Positive values of Preference (right side of the x axis) indicate a preference for the high-status, while negative (left side of the x axis) values indicate a preference for the low-status. Smaller values of Asynchrony indicate a better performance. A star indicates a simple slope that is significantly different from zero (i.e., the 95% confidence interval does not contain zero).