Power Corrupts

According to this article in The Economist, recent research into the psychology of power has provided som interesting insights into the anecdotal hypothesis that “power corrupts”. In a study done by Dutch and American researchers, experiment participants in an emotionally induced position of power tended to hold themselves to a lower moral standard than participants assigned to a control group not given power. That is, they would be significantly more likely to think that it would be perfectly fine for them to cheat on their taxes while at the same time frowning upon others doing the same. There are of course ample examples of this throughout human history and present.  Ted Haggard, the former leader of one of the largest American conservative evangelical mega-churches as well as the enormous National Association of Evangelicals, condemned homosexuality while frequently purchasing sex and methamphetamine from male prostitutes. The notorious Chairman Mao (pictured above gracing a crowd of cheering Chinese proletarians with his presence) caused the deaths of more than 70 million people and demanded that the entire population of China give up private property while he himself lived a life of extreme luxury.

However, the most interesting part of the recent study suggest that the picture is more complicated. In particular, the study found that when people feel like the power they have is not deserved the picture changes completely. In fact, test subjects who felt like they had undeserved power were significantly more likely than the control group to judge themselves much more harshly than others. That is, they would think it would be more okay for their neighbor to cheat on their taxes or steal a bike than for themselves to do it.

This brings up some interesting points about leadership, both in politics and business. In a sense, the moral foundation of capitalism is the idea that you always get what you deserve – and what better way of being told you are entitled to power than being given millions of dollars to thank you for having it. Democratic government is perhaps even worse. Cheering crowds and millions of supporters marching off to vote for you on election day is hardly a way to make you feel like you didn’t deserve it.

Venetian Democracy

The Greeks and their successors emphasized education as a means to ensure moral ballast and humility. Anarchists believe that we could do away with power altogether (I’ll see you in the Hobbesian state of nature).  Personally, I like the Venetian approach.  The longest surviving republic in history partially solved the problem outlined above by using an exceedingly complicated election process featuring numerous lotteries to select people  for office. Of course, the question remains whether humble and responsible leaders selected by random are better than self-righteous ones we elect. Optimality, as always, is elusive.