The Desire Justification Effect: Daily Power and Chronic Power Interact to Predict Indulgent Behavior

Abstract: Prior research shows that power disinhibits behaviors, especially the pursuit of reward and pleasure, and powerlessness tends to suppress such tendencies. However, individuals experiencing low power may still crave fulfillment of their desires. What do they do? This paper examines how powerlessness shapes a specific form of disinhibited reward-seeking behavior, namely indulgent behavior, such as excessive social media use and unhealthy snacking. Drawing on compensatory consumption and indulgence licensing research, we predict that daily powerlessness triggers a cognitive process of desire justification and, subsequently, indulgent behavior. Results from two pre-registered experience-sampling method studies with 4,146 daily observations from 451 participants show that daily powerlessness increases indulgent behavior. Furthermore, for high-chronic-power individuals, the negative indirect effect of daily power on indulgent behavior via desire justification is stronger. These findings advance the power literature by challenging assumptions that daily powerlessness inhibits all reward-seeking behaviors and demonstrating how chronic power moderates this effect.

Keywords: power; indulgence; chronic power; experience sampling method