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| Saturday, 21 March | ||
| 8:30 | Registration | |
| 9:00 | Opening | Hosts |
| 9:15 | Talk | Adam Galinsky The Social Relations-Approach Theory of Social Hierarchy: Understanding the Distinct Psychological Experiences of Status and Power In this talk, I will introduce the Social Relations-Approach Theory of Social Hierarchy, which provides a unified theoretical framework that accounts for the psychological experience of both power and status. This theory identifies social relations and approach as the two fundamental dimensions that shape how individuals psychologically experience social hierarchy. We propose that status and power have similar effects along the approach dimension but divergent effects along the social relations dimension. Whereas status heightens a sense of symmetric interdependence across status levels, power enhances asymmetric interdependence, with high power experiencing a sense of independence and low power experiencing a sense of dependence. I will present novel propositions about how status and power differentially guide intrapsychic processes and interpersonal processes and how they operate in tandem (e.g., when one is high and one is low). Finally, I will present evidence that many sex-gender differences mirror the differences between high and low power, suggesting that demographic differences in psychological orientations are more closely tied to power than to status. |
| 10:00 | Talk | Michelle Ryan The 4 missteps we make when trying to achieve gender equality In this talk, Michelle will present research looking at four common missteps that are made when designing and implementing gender equality initiatives: (1) when we don’t go beyond describing the numbers; (2) when we try to ‘fix’ women rather than fix systems; (3) when we are overly optimistic about the progress we have made; and (4) when we fail to be intersectional. She will consider each of these missteps in turn, referencing a programme of research that suggests alternative ways of approaching gender equality initiatives. |
| 10:45 | Break | |
| 11:15 | Talk | Hannah Riley Bowles AI Negotiation Coaching May Reinforce Traditional Gender Roles Artificial intelligence is increasingly used as a negotiation and career coach, one that promises personalized guidance and broader access to support. Yet little is known about whether large language models (LLMs) provide equitable advice. We conduct a large-scale audit study examining whether LLMs exhibit gender bias in negotiation recommendations. Across two complementary studies, we test whether LLMs (a) recommend different salary levels and (b) prioritize different employment terms for candidates signaled as female versus male, while holding qualifications and job context constant. Results indicate that LLMs consistently recommend lower salaries for female candidates and systematically emphasize caregiving and flexibility-related employment terms for women, while prioritizing financial, logistical, and resource support benefits for male candidates. Together, the findings indicate that AI-based negotiation advice risks reinforcing traditional gender roles and workplace inequalities. The results underscore the need for auditing and mitigation to ensure AI tools promote equity and avoid perpetuating harmful stereotypes. |
| 12:00 | Talk | Corinne Bendersky Organizational Characteristics that Amplify the Perceived Threats of Organizational Diversity Efforts Although many organizations recently intensified their diversity efforts, they have faced considerable backlash. This paper seeks to better understand why “diversity threat” – the perception that diversity efforts harm organizational integrity – diffuses more readily in some organizational contexts than in others. In a large-scale, mixed-methods field study of a U.S. city’s public sector workforce, we advance theory about the processes by which diversity threat emerges, is socially amplified, and varies across contexts. We inductively develop a theoretical framework about the organizational characteristics that engender salient threat reactions to diversity efforts, then deductively compare the extent of perceived diversity threat across department types. We develop propositions about generalizable organizational characteristics that may promote the normalization of diversity threat narratives in other contexts. This elevates our understanding of the phenomenon of resistance to diversity efforts to a multi-level theoretical construct and provides guidance for practitioners to counteract diversity threat narratives. |
| 12:45 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Talk | Jennifer Tackett Power and influence in the making: A developmental framework for leadership Leadership is fundamentally concerned with power, status, and social influence, psychological phenomena that emerge early in life. Yet, empirical and theoretical work on leadership has focused almost exclusively on adulthood. This gap is consequential, as adolescence represents a period in which individuals are highly attuned to social hierarchies, experimenting with influence strategies, and develop leadership-related motivations and identities that shape later trajectories. In this talk, I integrate insights from leadership theory, personality psychology, and developmental science to advance a framework for the empirical study of adolescent leadership. Drawing on data from ongoing laboratory- and field-based studies of community adolescents, I examine heterogeneity in pathways to influence, with particular attention to dominance- and prestige-oriented strategies for attaining status and power. Preliminary findings demonstrate meaningful individual differences in leadership motivations and behaviors that map onto theoretically relevant personality traits and emerge well before adulthood. Other work attends to peer conferral of leadership status in youth and measurement challenges when examining early social dominance traits. By centering adolescence as a critical period for the formation of power- and influence-related processes, this work lays the groundwork for a developmentally informed science of leadership that extends theory, informs practice, and supports more inclusive leadership development across the lifespan. |
| 14:45 | Talk | Nate Fast |
| 15:30 | Break | |
| 16:00 | Talk | Nickola Overall Negotiating Power in Interdependent Relationships Examining the way power operates within close relationships offers insights into how humans negotiate, enact, and divide power. Both people in interdependent relationships have power over each other, amplifying the use and consequences of cooperative and competitive behavior. Dyadic models used to study interdependent relationships reveal people’s own power and their partner’s power have distinct behavioral consequences, including determining when power leads to inhibition, aggression, or manipulation and accommodation, protection, or neglect. These behavioral effects emerge in dyads characterized by symmetrical or asymmetrical power, but structural power asymmetries outside relationships prompt competitive and cooperative strategies that shape the enactment of power asymmetries. Dyadic processes managing tensions between relationship interdependence and structural power asymmetries align with and extend models of power in hierarchical contexts. |
| 16:45 | Talk | Khandis Blake Gender, Kinship, and the Architecture of Group Relations Intergroup psychology has traditionally conceptualized group relations through boundaries defined by ethnicity, race, nationality, or religion. Gender appears in this canon but occupies a distinctive position: unlike most intergroup categories, gender is embedded in relations of intimacy, positive interdependence, and everyday coordination. Gender also emerges early, is cognitively primary, and structures social expectations in ways that precede and scaffold other forms of group differentiation. Together, these features suggest that gender plays a more foundational role in organizing intergroup dynamics than has been fully recognized. In this talk, I outline a developing theoretical framework which treats gender as a relational system that not only organizes gender relations themselves, but shapes how intergroup boundaries, power, and alliances are constructed beyond gender. The theory proposes that the gender dynamic of a cultural group functions as a template for intergroup life, radiating outward from the home and family to the macro-level institutions of politics, economics, and conflict resolution. The key mechanism driving this process is kinship systems: culturally evolved rules and practices governing descent, residence, marriage, and inheritance. I suggest that kinship systems provide the primary institutional context through which gendered relations are organized, learned, and generalized beyond the household. I will examine the antecedents of kinship systems, showing how they evolve in response to ecological and intergroup selection pressures within a psychologically constrained design space. Using cultural evolution as a unifying framework, I further demonstrate how kinship translates adaptive pressures into durable social structures that scaffold gendered psychological schemas of power, belonging, and threat. These structures do not merely reflect ecological conditions; they actively reshape them, generating feedback loops that reproduce gendered and intergroup dynamics across generations. I use honour culture as an exemplar to illustrate how kinship systems embed relational asymmetries within group-level structures, and how institutionalized gender relations and intergroup conditions become mutually reinforcing. After developing this account, I will engage with alternative theoretical perspectives, address potential objections and highlight points of complementarity, contention, and future integration. With this proposal I hope to advance theory, stimulate debate, and support efforts aimed at realizing more equitable and harmonious intergroup relations. |
| 17:30 | Conclusion/reflection | Hosts |
| 18:30 | Dinner - Old Melbourne Gaol | |
| Sunday, 22 March | ||
| 9:00 | Opening | Hosts |
| 9:15 | Interactive session | |
| 10:45 | Break | |
| 11:15 | Rapid fire talks | Charleen Case Ashley Martin Masculine Objectification: How Androcentrism Dehumanizes Men From a social-cognitive perspective, “man” is the measure of all things and the societal and cognitive default when we think about a “person.” When people anthropomorphize objects, read gender-neutral names, or envision humans, they tend to picture men. Yet at the same time, a broad body of evidence suggests that feminine traits are seen as descriptive of and fundamental to what makes humans “human.” How can it be that we simultaneously see humans as men but see women as more human? The present research aims to resolve this paradox with the hypothesis that masculinity is the cognitive default not only when perceiving humans but also when perceiving many non-human things (i.e., objects), which results in people associating men and masculinity (compared to women and femininity) with objects—an association that has consequences for the way that men’s humanity is understood. This talk explores and tests the masculine-objectification hypothesis, finding that objects are more likely to be described with masculine, compared to feminine traits; men, compared to women, are more likely to be described using object-like traits; and masculinity’s association with objects contributes to the dehumanization of men. In sum, the very fact that men are “the measure of all things,” ironically, may make them seem less fundamentally human. Garrett Brady Influence That Follows You Home: Two Pathways from Leader Dominance and Prestige to Work–Family Conflict and Enrichment Employees might leave their workplace physically, but the social interactions they experience there can affect their home life. Studies on work–family conflict (WFC) and enrichment (WFE) have mainly focused on job structure and individual traits, paying less attention to how daily interpersonal interactions contribute to spillover effects. Drawing on the dual-strategies theory of social rank and the work–home resources model, we argue that leaders affect employees’ home lives by how they secure deference, dominance versus prestige, and through two distinct pathways. Dominant leaders elicit supervisor-directed exemplification, effort aimed at signaling dedication, which reflects resource expenditure that increases WFC. Prestigious leaders increase job satisfaction, reflecting resource gain that increases WFE. We test these predictions in two preregistered field studies: a three-wave survey of full-time employees and a 10-day daily diary study of employee–partner dyads that captures day-to-day spillover, including partner reports of employees’ work–family outcomes. Across studies, leader dominance and leader prestige predict WFC and WFE, respectively, via exemplification and job satisfaction. These findings identify how leaders' influence on their followers serves as a proximal interpersonal driver of work–family spillover and show that dominance and prestige have systematically different consequences for employees’ home lives. Siyu Yu Why hierarchies fail to discipline: Dehumanization in hierarchical organizations weakens peer observer punishment and fuels the spread of wrongdoing Wrongdoing is often more pervasive in hierarchical organizations, despite their reputation for stricter discipline and harsher punishment than flatter ones. We argue that this hierarchy–wrongdoing paradox stems from a blind spot in prevailing approaches to discipline, which emphasize top-down enforcement while overlooking the role of punishment by observers. We propose that hierarchical structures foster dehumanization among organizational members, dampening observers’ moral outrage and reducing their motivation to reciprocate the organization by sanctioning misconduct. As a result, observer punishment weakens, allowing wrongdoing to persist, eroding observers’ ethical standards, and ultimately facilitating the spread of misconduct. Across four sets of studies, we provide convergent evidence for this process. Studies 1A and 1B, using large-scale archival data from U.S. federal employees and survey data from full-time employees in India, show that observer punishment is lower in more hierarchical organizations. Study 2, analyzing employee reviews from Fortune 500 firms using machine learning and large language models, reveals higher levels of both dehumanization and wrongdoing in more hierarchical firms. Studies 3A and 3B demonstrate experimentally that hierarchy heightens observers’ experiences of dehumanization, which weakens observer punishment and increases the spread of wrongdoing. Study 4 further shows that this effect is stronger among lower-ranking observers than higher-ranking ones. Together, these findings challenge the view that hierarchies foster effective discipline, revealing instead how dehumanization within hierarchies undermines observer punishment and fuels organizational wrongdoing. Sonya Mishra What’s he compensating for? Precarious manhood as a driver of dominance motives The past decade has witnessed a global rise in dominant leaders, defined as leaders who attain status through intimidation, aggression, and coercion. Although the numerous negative consequences of dominance-based leadership are well documented, less is known about why individuals pursue dominance rather than prestige-based leadership, which rests on earned respect and admiration. Drawing on precarious manhood theory, the present research proposes that a fragile sense of manhood is one key factor channeling men toward dominance: when manhood is threatened, men tend to compensate by subscribing to masculine-coded attitudes and behaviors, which encompass dominance more so than prestige. This hypothesis is tested through three preregistered studies (N = 1,013). In Study 1, concern about appearing gender-incongruent was a stronger predictor of dominance motives for men than for women and predicted men’s motives for dominance but not prestige. In Study 2, experimentally threatening (vs. affirming) men’s manhood increased their dominance motives, but not their prestige motives. In Study 3, threatened men engaged in greater retaliatory behavior in a dictator game, and this effect was mediated by their heightened dominance motives. By integrating precarious manhood theory with the dual pathways of social hierarchy, this research identifies a core psychological driver of dominance motives, highlighting the gendered identity pressures that sustain destructive forms of influence. More broadly, the present research advances theory on gendered leadership pathways by showing that the gender stereotypes underpinning hierarchical pathways not only constrain women’s access to leadership but also steer men toward dominance through pressures to defend their manhood. Feng Bai Middle Managers in the Status Hierarchy: A Dual‑Perspective Framework of Evaluation from Above and Below Middle managers occupy pivotal yet precarious positions in organizations—serving as conduits of executive strategy while leading frontline employees. Their effectiveness rests not only on formal authority but also on sociometric status, the degree to which others voluntarily confer deference and influence. We develop and test a dual‑perspective framework explaining how hierarchical vantage—viewing a manager from above versus below—shapes status conferral. Adopting a person‑centered approach, we identify three behavioral profiles associated with superior status attainment: humble champions (high virtue and competence, low dominance), triple achievers (high on all three dimensions), and unscrupulous bullies (low virtue, high competence and dominance). Across three studies and an initial profile‑validation pilot (total N = 1,677), we find a systematic asymmetry in evaluations. Subordinates, evaluating upward, confer higher status on humble champions, whereas superiors, evaluating downward, favor triple achievers. We further demonstrate that organizational threat magnifies this asymmetry: under threat, senior evaluators’ preference for triple achievers intensifies, while subordinates’ preferences remain stable. These findings reveal that status in hierarchies is not a single uniform judgment but a multi‑audience evaluation process. Jennifer Dannals Marlon Mooijman Power and the spillover effects of past trust experiences Trust is a cornerstone of successful work relationships and, according to rational-choice theories, should only be affected by interactions with persons in those work relationships and not by trust experiences with third parties outside of them. Yet, research on the experiential view of trust has shown that the decision to trust someone in one work relationship is often impacted by trust experiences with third parties outside of that relationship. To reconcile the rational viewpoint that third-party spillover effects should not occur with the experiential viewpoint of trust that they do, I propose that power helps explain when and why trust is subject to spillover. Specifically, I argue that high-power individuals do not let trust experiences with third parties shape their trust in other relationships whereas low-power individuals do. I also develop a theoretical model that explains why this occurs, arguing that power prevents spillovers because high-power individuals are better than low-power individuals at preventing the emotions that result from third-party trust actions from shaping their trust. I further theorize that normative beliefs—the belief that one should not display spillovers—are a prerequisite for these effects to emerge. I find evidence for these predictions across three (multi-wave) studies that use a variety of samples, measurements, and manipulations. Taken together, these findings integrate opposing theoretical perspectives on trust spillovers, advance the idea that power can lead to more rational trust, and suggest that organizations can view the power they grant employees as an asset for the trust decision-making process. |
| 12:15 | Lunch | |
| 13:30 | Interactive session | |
| 15:00 | Conclusion/reflection | Hosts |
| 15:15 | Excursion | |
| 18:00 19:00 20:00 |
Dinner - small group bookings | |
| Monday, 23 March | ||
| 8:30 | Registration | All |
| 9:00 | Opening | Hosts |
| 9:15 | Keynote/Podcast Interview | Adam Galinsky, Columbia Business School Lisa Leong, This Working Life (ABC) Adam and Lisa will discuss Adam's new book Inspire and its lessons about effective leadership. Note: This session will be recorded for the This Working Life podcast and later shared by the ABC. |
| 10:15 | Panel Discussion: Gender & Leadership |
Laura Kray, University of California, Berkeley Ashley Martin, Stanford Graduate School of Business Michelle Ryan, Australian National University Moderator: Sally Capp, AO, fmr Lord Mayor of Melbourne The panel will discuss the latest research on gender and leadership, and how it contributes insights and solutions to current challenges in organisations. |
| 11:15 | Break | |
| 11:40 | Presentation: Populism: What you need to know |
Paul Kenny, Australian Catholic University Paul will present his latest book, Populism: What you need to know, and discuss its implications for power dynamics in organisations and society. |
| 12:15 | Presentation: Patriarchy, Inc. |
Cordelia Fine, University of Melbourne Cordelia will present her latest book, Patriarchy, Inc., and discuss its implications for power dynamics in organisations and society. |
| 12:45 | Lunch | |
| 14:10 | Panel Discussion: Stress & Power |
Tim Ford, fmr CEO, Treasury Wine Estates other panelists TBC Moderator: Modupe Akinola, Columbia Business School (& host of TED Business podcast) Modupe will bring her expertise in power and stress to elicit insights and reflections from organisation leaders about the personal and professional challenges encountered in top-level roles.. |
| 15:10 | TBD | TBD |
| 15:40 | Close | Hosts |
| 15:45 | Drinks reception | All |
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Details are now available about the official conference dinner on Saturday evening. Please visit this article for details (restricted access to PSI members - please sign in!).
Saturday conference dinner
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Our Saturday conference dinner will be held at the Old Melbourne Gaol (jail), in keeping with Australia's prison history and Foucauldian themes of power and punishment.
The Gaol is especially well known in Australian lore as the site of the hanging of Ned Kelly, folk hero bandit or villainous outlaw (depending on your viewpoint). Ned's armor appears in the State Library of Victoria, on Swanston Street. If you want to come armed (so to speak) with knowledge of the history, you can check out one or more of the many film representations of the story of the Kelly Gang--see the bottom of this page. That said, the evening will feature small-group tours and a historical speaker, so you don't need prior study to appreciate the venue.
The evening begins at 6:30pm with welcome drinks and canapes. At 7:15 we'll transition to seating for a relatively informal dinner, with a speaker joining at about 7:45. Small (20-person) tours of the gaol will run in parallel to the eating and drinking throughout the evening. We'll wrap up at 9:30pm; for those who like late nights at conferences, you'll find lots of great spots nearby to continue socializing. Please note that drinks are hosted by the conference for the first hour, and cash bar afterward.
If you are coming to Melbourne with family and you'd like to bring them along to dinner, you can purchase a dinner-only ticket on our conference registration page at Eventbrite. The cost is A$125 (about US$84 on Jan 21), which represents the actual breakeven cost to the conference.
The Gaol is extremely convenient to Zagame's and still close to Veriu QVM and MBS--at most a 13-minute walk from any location:
To learn more about the Ned Kelly story (and if you do watch/read, you may be interested to know that Redmond Barry is the namesake of the building housing the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, i.e., the University of Melbourne psych department):
FILMS
The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)
World's first feature-length film, directed by Charles Tait
https://archive.org/details/TheStoryOfTheKellyGang
The Kelly Gang (1920)
Directed by Harry Southwell
When the Kellys Were Out (1923)
Directed by Harry Southwell
When the Kellys Rode (1934)
Directed by Harry Southwell
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/ned-kelly-australian-cinema-1906-2019
The Glenrowan Affair (1951)
Directed by Rupert Kathner, starring Bob Chitty
Ned Kelly (1970)
Directed by Tony Richardson, starring Mick Jagger
https://www.amazon.com/Ned-Kelly-Mick-Jagger/dp/B001EYLZSM
https://tubitv.com/movies/663310/ned-kelly
The Last Outlaw (1980 miniseries)
Directed by Kevin James Dobson and George Miller, starring John Jarratt
Four-part miniseries (379 minutes total)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081033/
Ned Kelly (2003)
Directed by Gregor Jordan, starring Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Naomi Watts, Geoffrey Rush
Based on Robert Drewe's novel Our Sunshine
https://www.netflix.com/title/60033337
https://www.amazon.com/Ned-Kelly-Heath-Ledger/dp/B00622B9XC
True History of the Kelly Gang (2020)
Directed by Justin Kurzel, starring George MacKay, Russell Crowe, Nicholas Hoult
Based on Peter Carey's Booker Prize-winning novel
https://www.netflix.com/title/81170705
https://www.amazon.com/True-History-Kelly-George-MacKay/dp/B086KKNVK2
BOOKS
Our Sunshine (1991) by Robert Drewe
A vivid reimagining of Ned Kelly's final days, shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/our-sunshine-9781742283524
https://www.amazon.com/Our-Sunshine-Robert-Drewe/dp/1743140126
True History of the Kelly Gang (2000) by Peter Carey
Winner of the 2001 Booker Prize and Commonwealth Writers Prize. Written in Kelly's vernacular voice
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/24049/true-history-of-the-kelly-gang-by-peter-carey
https://www.amazon.com/True-History-Kelly-Gang-Novel/dp/0375724672