We have all heard that famous saying, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I think we all know what it means on the surface. That power can and often will corrupt someone. Power can come in many forms. Fame, money, family, even a job can give you a type of power. I aim to give you some simple answers on why power could corrupt someone.
Do you know anyone where power has “gone to their head?”
We all know that person in any setting. Someone with the smallest bit of power who seems to think they are God. The question is why would anyone become this way. How does someone go from seemingly average or humble person to be so unpleasant to be around? Like anything with the human brain, it's one part science and two parts psychology.
What is the psychological part?
Not surprisingly psychology seems to play a huge part in this. Most likely you have heard of the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment. If not you can read about it here. The short version is this. A study had one group of participants act as security guards and the other as prisoners. The idea is to see what impact total control would have on the security guards. Not surprisingly, it had a bad impact, to the point where the organizer had to call the real police to halt the study due to the “Prison guards” abusing their prisoners. This newfound power drove them to act out of control. Since then other studies have had fairly similar results, though they have varied slightly.
A study at the University of Toronto took it a step further first taking the time to identify people’s moral compass. This was done by people to both rate ethical related attributes and how it related to them. Caring, compassion, generosity and such. To help gauge behavior some people wrote essays about feeling powerful while others wrote essays on a regular day. The volunteers took part in a game where they were told they shared a pool of 500 points with other people. And they could take between 0 to 10 points for themselves.
The more points they had the better odds they would win $100. But if they took to many the pot would be empty and the lottery would be called off. They had no way of knowing what the tipping point was. Interesting enough people who felt powerful took the most points 7.5 on average, while those with a high moral identity kept it balanced at 5.5. In a survey after the study, it seemed people with a high moral compass/identity had a better understanding of how their actions could impact other people.
Other studies have found interesting results with one survey finding that an increase in power also made both men and woman more likely to cheat on their spouse.
What about on the hormone side?
We all know hormones impact everything our lives from our body to the way we think. It is easy to not give this much thought, but make no mistake it’s an important factor. Researchers in Switzerland found a link between high testosterone readings and dictator like behavior. In one game volunteers were split into groups and assigned leaders who had followers.
They were then given an amount of money to distribute between them and their followers. Those with more followers and more power were more likely to take a significantly larger portion for themselves. Other studies have found similar results as well. A study by Jack van Honk on woman only tested them using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). This test measures how well an individual can interpret another person's emotion by reading expressions in the eye area of the face.
The woman were given either a placebo and or a testosterone supplement. The results consistently showed that when given testosterone had a harder time “reading” emotions. This would suggest more difficulty in understanding and being able to empathize with another person.
Not everything about hormones and power comes out this way though. In a study at an executive education program at Harvard, it was found that managers who had higher levels of testosterone and low-stress hormone ie cortisol actually performed better in leadership roles.
Other studies have shown how hormones impact behavior in a more positive way. In one study using Oxytocin the “love” hormone. They found when people were given Oxytocin their ability to work together as a team in a leader-follower game actually improved. This fits in line with the work of people like Simon Sinek who has found a connection between positive behaviors which leaders inspire in those they lead. Positive reinforcement actually helps to produce hormones such as Oxytocin. There seems to be a connection between positive behavior and production of bonding or selfless hormones such as serotonin and oxytocin.
Does power really make us bad?
Yes and no. Generally speaking, the data seem to suggest that more people give in to their “bad” side when given power. Power seems to a have positive points as well. Such as being more assertive, confident, willing to take risks, all good traits of a leader. But it can also lead people to be more selfish and self-serving. This, however, seems to depend more in the individual than anything else. Generally, those who seek power are easily corrupted due to their personality.
Pamela Smith, a power researcher at the University of California, San Diego points out that abuse of power isn't always the case. It more just seems to bring out the real you. If you're a selfish person power will only make you more selfish. If you're a thoughtful person and remain thoughtful on how you impact others. Your power will only aid you in helping other people. Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California found this to be true in his research.
Successful people who were also kind and generous to their employees seemed to not only be liked more but also have more productive employees. One study found that employees who were helpful by contributing new ideas or directly assisting on projects not their own were deemed more worthy of respect and influence and more suitable for leadership. When faced with power the kind of leader you are depends on the type of person you choose to be.
How to fight the negative side of power
Remain generous in your praise of others when they do good work. People appreciate small expressions of gratitude more than you realize. This can have very positive results. Be emphatic to others when they are in distress. And show gratitude when others do their part to help you even in the smallest way. Other things you can do include working to improve your Emotional Intelligence. Many of the positive traits I mention actually relate to having a high emotional intelligence. If you want to know more about EI you can read my previous posts about it here and how it influences you.
Remember, you are fully in control of yourself. Power doesn't need to corrupt you. Like anything, it's simply a tool and if you choose to use it wisely you can have a positive impact to improve your life and the lives of others.
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Sources for research below:
Prison Expirment
Infidelity
Power corrupting
testosterone
testosterone 2
testosterone 3
Hormones leadership
Oxytocin test
empathetic leader
Power corrupt the mind
Don't let power corrupt you