Self-perceived social status: its relation to aggression and personality traits in two Spanish speaking samples

Abstract

Dominance and prestige are two strategies to achieve status in humans. Dominance is the use of threat and aggression, and prestige is the pursuit of cultural achievement. This research presents a study carried out through self-report measures with two native Spanish speaking samples from Madrid (Spain) and San José (Costa Rica). Self-perceived dominance and prestige were correlated with dimensions of aggression and the big five personality traits. Results showed that a component that grouped different aggression subscales and agreeableness was the best predictor of dominance in samples of men and women of both countries. Prestige was mainly predicted by conscientiousness and extraversion in both samples and by low hostility and neuroticism but only in Spanish men.

Keywords

• Social status
• prestige
• dominance
• personality