LAUSR

In this paper, we examine the relationship between the implicit power motive (nPow) and power stress in primary school children under the additional consideration of moderating effects of the implicit affiliation–intimacy motive (nAff–Int), activity inhibition (AI), and trait extraversion/surgency. The attitude towards a bossy non-player character (NPC) in a video game was used as an indicator of power stress. Eighty-four German children (39 female) in the age of 6 through 7 years ( M  = 6.83, SD  = 0.44) participated. As hypothesized, children high in nPow reported a less favorable attitude towards the bossy NPC. Furthermore, we found significant interactions of nPow with both nAff–Int and trait extraversion/surgency: Children high in nPow particularly reported a less favorable attitude towards the bossy NPC if they were also low in nAff–Int or high in extraversion/surgency. In contrast to our hypotheses, we found no significant interaction of nPow and AI. The implications of these results for implicit motive theory and power stress research in children are discussed.