Institute For The Future

Power should never be lonely

 

We take it for granted that power corrupts, but WHY does it corrupt? What is it about our nature (or our nature in certain contexts) that makes those with power behave in ways we find morally bankrupt? Recent research by psychologists Joris Lammers and Adam Galinsky has generated some answers, and the main finding is not surprising. With a series of experiments using "priming" techniques to engender a sense of empowerment or powerlessness (by asking people to write about episodes when they were in positions of power or powerlessness), Lammers and Galinsky showed how the sense of entitlement associated with power allows people to justify their otherwise immoral or unethical acts--like speeding or not paying taxes.

 

Jonah Lehrer's recent post on this research brings up another very important aspect about the psychology of power--it's connection to empathy. As far back as Adam Smith, Lehrer notes, we have been aware of the role of simple "human feeling" in the mitigation of the abuses of hierarchical arrangements and inequities of power. When those in power are disconnected from other people, the abuse of power increases significantly. Lehrer notes:

 

 

Even when people have power, they remain mostly constrained by their sympathetic instincts.

 

However, it only takes one minor alteration for this benevolence to disappear. When the dictator cannot see the responder?the two players are located in separate rooms?the dictator lapses into unfettered greed. Instead of giving away a significant share of the profits, the despots start offering mere pennies, and pocketing the rest. Once we become socially isolated, we stop simulating the feelings of other people.* As a result, our inner Machiavelli takes over, and our sense of sympathy is squashed by selfishness. The UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner has found that, in many social situations, people with power act just like patients with severe brain damage. "The experience of power might be thought of as having someone open up your skull and take out that part of your brain so critical to empathy and socially-appropriate behavior," he writes. "You become very impulsive and insensitive, which is a bad combination."

 

 

 

People scoff at Bill Clinton's claim to "feel your pain" but much of the world would be better off if more leaders did "feel the pain" of their constituents. IFTF has been following the work of Stanford researcher Jeremy Bailenson in the use of virtual worlds for creating pre-views of decisions and simulating the experience of "being" another person. Considering the logistical barriers to actual human contact of the sort that creates feelings of empathy, might leaders and those in power virtually simulate the experience of others in order to make more caring and moral choices?

 

Or better yet, whenever you get the chance, let those in power know your presence, know your feelings, and share some human experience together. Go ahead and feel free to hug your Senator or the CEO of your bank. Be proud to say you are a "power-hugger" (the world might just be better off for it).