Spillover Tendency in Self-Perpetuating Hierarchies

We examine the idea and consequences of a "hierarchical mindset" by exploring the possibility that putting people in a hierarchical setting will cause this mindset to carry over to an unrelated setting. Across two studies, we found that participants who were asked to allocate resources in a hierarchical way in one setting (e.g., social policy, organizational resource) were more likely to distribute resources this way in an unrelated setting. This work helps to understand the ubiquitous and self-perpetuating nature of hierarchies.