“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely,” said the British historian Lord Acton. Unfortunately, this is not entirely a myth. A great deal of research—especially from social psychology—lends support to Acton’s claim: Power leads people to act in impulsive fashion, both good and bad, and to fail to understand other people’s feelings and desires. UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner explains some of the ways in which power encourages individuals to act on their own whims, desires, and impulses. When researchers give people power in scientific experiments, those people are more likely to physically touch others in potentially inappropriate ways, to make risky choices and gambles, to speak their mind, and to eat cookies like the Cookie Monster, with crumbs all over their chins and chests.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 04:43:49 +0000
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