| Abstract: | This article focuses on the fact that women and men have equal but different needs for power. Integrating a psychoanalytic relational approach with feminist theory and social psychology, the author explains gender differences and societal influences on the pursuit of power. Social psychology research indicates that women are more likely to pursue power in ways that help others, whereas men are more likely to pursue their own individual ambitions. However, both genders become more nurturing in their expressions of power as they age. The presence of siblings in early life and having children as adults are more likely to produce an individual who demonstrates prosocial power. Young women today appear to be less conflicted about pursuing power in the world than the previous generation, but they are still ambivalent when it comes to making their way in the world. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
