In another, each of the 166 female participants was asked to imagine two scenarios.
That she was married with a child and made most of the household decisions, or that she made most decisions with her husband. The women then rated their life goals in order of importance.
In the final experiment, 644 male and female participants were again presented with the scenario of being married with a child and the choice of wielding household power or sharing it with their spouses.
But this time, there was another option: The participants had to imagine doing most domestic chores without the distinction of having control of the household.
Again, women who wielded household power expressed less interest in workplace power than women who imagined making household decisions equally with their husbands.
Chen presented the findings at the annual meeting of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology in New Orleans, US.
