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  4. Pamela K. Smith, Associate Professor of Economics and Management

Pamela K. Smith

Associate Professor of Economics and Management

Smith studies power, status, influence, and other sources of hierarchical differences. Her current research examines the effects of power on an individual’s thinking, motivation, and behavior, and the signals people use to determine how much power they and others have. Her work highlights how power has a multitude of both interpersonal and intrapersonal effects. She also studies gender representation in the workplace.

Smith was previously an associate editor for Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and Social Psychological and Personality Science and currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Smith received her Ph.D. in social psychology from New York University in 2004. She has previously worked at the University of Amsterdam, Leiden University, and Radboud University Nijmegen.

Selected Publications

Kunstman, J. W., Fitzpatrick, C., & Smith, P. K. (in press). Poisoned praise: Discounted praise backfires and undermines subordinate impressions in the minds of the powerful. Social Phsychological and Personality Science.

Johnson, C.S., Smith, P. K., & Wang, C. (2017). Sage on the stage: Women's representation at an academic conference. Personality and Scocial Psychology Bulletin, 43, 493-507.

Smith, P. K., & Hofmann, W. (2016). Power in everyday life. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113, 10043-10048

Wakslak, C.J., Smith, P. K., & Han, A. (2014). Using abstract language signals power. Journal of Personality and Scoial Psychology, 107, 42-55.

Magee, J. C., & Smith, P. K. (2013). The social distance theory of power. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 17, 158-186.

Karremans, J. C., & Smith, P. K., (2010). having the power to forgive: When the experience of power increases interpersonal forgiveness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 1010-1023.

Smith, P. K., Jostmann, N. B., Galinsky, A. D., & van Dijk, W. (2008). Lacking power impairs executive functions. Psychological Science, 19, 441-447.

Smith, P. K., Wigboldus, D. H. J., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2008). Abstract thinking increases one's sense of power. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 378-385.

Smith, P. K., & Trope, Y. (2006). You focus on the forest when you're in charge of the trees: Power priming and abstract information processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 578-596.

Power and Status
Motivation and Goal Setting
Social Cognition