"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" - John Acton
Other posts of the series here:
1 - Evidence for a limit to human lifespan
2 - The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research
Hey there!
Today I bring you a new paper that is "Hubris syndrome: an acquired personality disorder?".
Reading a newspaper in the past weekend, I came across the subject that presented the Daedalus Trust, which mission is to raise awareness of hubris and Hubris Syndrome in public and business life and also to encourage multi-disciplinary research in the topic.
There I found the paper of David Owen and Jonathan Davidson about hubris where they talk about the unattractive but understandable aspects of those who crave power, thinking about hubris in medical terms.
What is hubris and its characteristics
Hubris is the symptom of popular expressions like "the power corrupts", exaggerated pride, overwhelming self-confidence and contempt for others. Scientific evidence suggests that when practiced over long periods and without counterbalancing power, power leads to brain changes that lead to pride and loss of discernment.
This can result in disastrous leadership and cause damage on a large scale.
The authors believe that extreme hubristic behaviour is a syndrome, constituting a cluster of features (symptoms) evoked by a specific trigger (power), and usually remitting when power fades. Hubris syndrome is seen as an acquired condition, and therefore different from most personality disorders which are traditionally seen as persistent throughout adulthood.
The authors proposed 14 symptoms constituting the hubristic syndrome, mapping their broad affinities for several criteria like narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. In this sense hubris syndrome was formulated as a pattern of behaviour in a person who has the following symptoms:
1 - A narcissistic propensity to see their world primarily as an arena in which to exercise power and seek glory.
2 - Has a tendency to take action primarily to enhance personal image.
3 - A disproportionate concern with image and presentation.
4 - A messianic manner of talking about current activities and a tendency to exaltation.
5 - An identification with the nation, or organization to the extent that the individual regards his/her outlook and interests as identical.
6 - A tendency to speak in the third person or use the royal ‘we’.
7 - Excessive confidence in the individual’s own judgement and contempt for the advice or criticism of others.
8 - Exaggerated self-belief, bordering on a sense of omnipotence, in what they personally can achieve.
9 - Shows accountability only to a higher court (history or God).
10 - An unshakable belief that in that court they will be vindicated.
11 - Loss of contact with reality (often associated with progressive isolation).
12 - Restlessness, recklessness and impulsiveness.
13 - A tendency to allow their ‘broad vision’, about the moral rectitude of a proposed course, to obviate the need to consider practicality, cost or outcomes.
14 - Hubristic incompetence, where things go wrong because too much self-confidence has led the leader not to worry about the nuts and bolts of policy.
To diagnose hubris syndrome, the authors suggest that more than three of the 14 defining symptoms should be present of which at least one must be amongst the five components identified as unique in hubris syndrome (symptoms 5, 6, 10, 12 and 13).
So, do you have hubris syndrome? Or your current leader has it? I'm not a specialist in the matter but, in my personal opinion, the 14 items listed are very common to find nowadays in a society. Power changes those who are not humble and not conscious of their limits.
Heads of Government in the US and UK over the last 100 years
We may think that Heads of Government might be expected to have a lower incidence of mental illness than the general population, reflecting the robust personality of people who are prepared to run for the highest political office in the two countries.
Think twice.
The authors listed US Presidents and UK Prime Ministers whose hubristic traits were most obvious (take into consideration that this study was published in 2009):
- Theodore Roosevelt (1901–09)
- Woodrow Wilson (1913–21)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–45)
- John F. Kennedy (1961–63)
- Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–69)
- Richard Nixon (1969–74)
- George W. Bush (2001–09)
- Herbert Asquith (1908–16)
- David Lloyd George (1916–22)
- Neville Chamberlain (1937–40)
- Winston Churchill (1940–45, 1951–55)
- Anthony Eden (1955–57)
- Margaret Thatcher (1979–90)
- Tony Blair (1997–2007)
Based in the list, it is important to mention that, for example, both Tony Blair and George W. Bush were driven by excessive self-confidence, the disrespectful daring of expert opinions and lack of attention to detail. Their pride was the fuel for the invasion of Iraq, a decision based on disrespect for the facts.
But while there is some patchy evidence of pre-morbid personalities, we must remember that all these leaders held high, if not always the highest, office after winning elections within the democratic process and were judged by those electorates as being fit to hold that office.
Preventive measures
How to prevent hubris? The capacity to leave the office at the right time is the most obvious recommendation. It is also important to be surrounded by the people who transmit the truth and not only yes-(wo)men.
In ancient Rome, the victorious generals celebrated victory in a parade. To mitigate the risks of dazzlement, a wise measure was adopted. Behind the general, in the same carriage, was a slave with one single task: to remind the general of his mortality. He would say in his ear: Memento Mori (remember death).
Maybe hubris develops due to the connivance, active or passive of those who are in service of the leader. When someone gains power, others change their behavior towards that person. They can let go of their critical spirit towards the powerful, either because they are afraid of retaliation, because they simply do not want to be bothered or because they want to get benefits.
We should all remember that leadership crimes are often facilitated by the obedience crimes.
References:
David Owen, Jonathan Davidson; Hubris syndrome: An acquired personality disorder? A study of US Presidents and UK Prime Ministers over the last 100 years, Brain, Volume 132, Issue 5, 1 May 2009, Pages 1396–1406, doi.org/10.1093/brain/awp008
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Legman