The Psychology Of Power
With gread power comes gread responsiblity
Jonah Lehrer wrote about an interesting study on power, and hypocrisy. Basically, people were split into high and low power groups. The high power group tended to cheat more (at dice) and simultaneously moralize more. In other studies people tended to behave the most like ‘assholes’ (and I quote) when they were in a position of power and isolated from other people, and thus empathy. Basically, power makes people more selfish, probably because they can get away with it without the usual social checks and balances. “Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner has found that, in many social situations, people with power act just like patients with severe brain damage.”
It’s an interesting article, I recommend reading the whole thing.
The scientists argue that power is corrupting because it leads to moral hypocrisy. Although we almost always know what the right thing to do is – cheating at dice is a sin – power makes it easier to justify the wrongdoing, as we rationalize away our moral mistake. For instance, when Lammers and Galinsky asked the subjects (in both low and high-power conditions) how they would judge an individual who drove too fast when late for an appointment, or whether it was acceptable to cheat on the income tax, people with power consistently said it was worse when others committed those crimes than when they did. In other words, the powerful people believe they had a good reason for speeding – they’re important people, with important things to do – but everyone else should follow the posted signs. We become the exception to the rule, which is the law.
This has interesting applications for our little island, where the law seems to apply disproportionately to those out of power.
To quote agin:
We live in an age when our most powerful people – they tend to also have lots of money – are also the most isolated. They live in gated communities with private drivers. They eat at different restaurants and stay at different resorts. They wear different clothes and skip the security lines at airports, before sitting at the front of the plane. We shouldn’t be surprised that they’re also assholes.
Here’s an unfortunate fact. Society needs “assholes” (as the article calls bad behaving high power people) to protect us from other assholes. That is in our social contract. Read it.
In a democracy, we give consent to a few special assholes to run the show. Otherwise too many aspiring assholes fighthing among each other will zap all energy.
Sometimes these special assholes tend to be likeable, other times not. Either way, we have an intimate association with a certain amount of sh_t. That is the price of admission to any organized group or society.
Cops, Monks, Accountants, school prefects, they all behave the same. That is why we should always make sure they are few in numbers and switch often.
From comment by I witness:
“Society needs “assholes” (as the article calls bad behaving high power people) to protect us from other assholes.”
I guess it follows that we would need more transgressive sinners to protect us from less transgressive sinners?
If people practiced what they preached, society would not be in this mess.
The most disappointing of all is the United States of America where the idea was to get rid of the exclusive ruling class. Of course America now has a ruling class who are without checks and balances (since 9/11 esp.) and today have a far worse situation than England does under the Queen.
Ironic don’t you think?