The acton principle
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an overview of psychological research on power and its effects on those who hold it, Including whether they take advice ... and from whom
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The acton principle
- 1. Power, advice and the ‘Acton Principle’: Does ‘All power corrupt’?
- 2. What is the impact of having power on how people behave? Does ‘power corrupt’? Here is some evidence from the published research …
- 3. Powerful people … 1 ….are less affected by the judgments of others’ when making decisions—which is double edged, depending on how good their judgement and ‘intel’ are;
- 4. Powerful people … 2 … benefit from power at the cognitive level— they stay more goal focused and have better ‘executive function’ than the less powerful (and it isn’t that these factors lead to getting power)
- 5. Powerful people … 3 … can reach good decisions under pressure both by ‘gut feel’ and reason. Less powerful people match on ‘gut feel’ but not the reasoning. (see further below on ‘taking advice’.)
- 6. People given power in lab experiments are • more likely to rely on stereotypes when judging others; • pay less attention to the characteristics that define those other people as individuals; • predisposed to stereotype, they also judge others' attitudes, interests, and needs less accurately; • believe they have control over events even when they don’t (“illusory control”—see below)
- 7. They are also likely to … • flirt in more direct fashion • make risky choices and gambles • make first offers in negotiations • physically touch others in potentially inappropriate ways; • speak their mind, and • eat cookies like the Cookie Monster, with crumbs all over their chins and chests.
- 8. High-power individuals are more likely to • interrupt others; • speak out of turn; • fail to look at others who are speaking; • tease friends and colleagues in hostile, humiliating fashion; • compensate—if they feel incompetent—by bullying subordinates and being aggressive.
- 9. Overall, having power lets people… • become more focused on their own needs and wants; • become less focused on others’ needs, wants, and actions; and • act as if written and unwritten rules that others are expected to follow don’t apply to them
- 10. People with power tend to behave like patients who have damaged their brain's orbitofrontal lobes … a condition that seems to cause overly impulsive and insensitive behaviour. Thus 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 behaviour. Prof. Dacher Keltner
- 11. Many bosses suffer a form of power poisoning: They believe that they are aware of every important development in the organization (even when they are remarkably ignorant of key facts). This affliction is called “the fallacy of centrality”—the assumption that because one holds a central position, one automatically knows everything necessary to exercise effective leadership.
- 12. Is this ‘corruption’? Corruption may be too strong a word. But these results clearly show that having power (real or in a simulation) readily leads towards behaviour patterns, many of them unreflective, which allow people to do things they would not approve of/ like were they subject to these behaviours from others.
- 13. Illusory control … appears to be a generative cause of and driving force behind a number of effects previously found to be associated with power, including action, optimism, and self- esteem. This shed lights on why the powerful often seem to exhibit hubristic overconfidence. By producing an illusion of personal control, power may cause people to lose touch with reality in ways that lead to overconfident decision making.
- 14. High self-esteem is the cause of poor decision-making "People are afraid to admit they are wrong, so they pour more time and resources into a lost cause. They are afraid to look bad by failing, so they engage in self- handicapping, which increases the likelihood of failure. They avoid taking a chance in order to prevent a possible rejection“ Baumeister, Roy F. (1997) ‘Esteem Threat, Self-Regulatory Breakdown, and Emotional Distress as Factors in Self-Defeating Behavior’, Review of General Psychology VoL 1. No. 2, 145-174
- 15. Do the powerful take advice? From whom? Under what circumstances?
- 16. People offered advice… • Under value it on easy tasks and over value it on difficult tasks. • Are more responsive to it from older, better educated, wiser, or more experienced advisors. • Take more notice of confident advisors • Take more notice of good quality advice (but still may ignore it!)
- 18. Overconfidence impacts on status and being listened to … • overconfidence predicts higher status in groups • overconfident members are the ones who speak the most often, use a confident tone, give the most information, and come across as calm and relaxed. These individuals are also more convincing in displays of ability than other members who are highly competent.
- 19. The type of problem affects accepting advice: • When a task is intellective (‘cut and dried’ with a right answer) advice is accepted from anyone based on expertise, accuracy and being ‘right’ • When a task is more a ‘judgement’ (ethical, ‘best guess’, etc.) people rely on advice from the social majority who support each other rather than any ‘minority’
- 20. Taking personal advice or not: When facing judgments about their own behaviour, people weigh information from similar advisors more than information from dissimilar advisors. However, when facing judgments about others’ behaviour, people weigh information from dissimilar advisors more than similar advisors.
- 21. Rosy glasses or red haze? In an experiment where people were primed with gratitude (+), anger (-) or neither (0): + led to increased trust, accepting advice and increased task accuracy; - led to decreased trust, ignoring advice and decreased task accuracy; 0 sat in between these
- 22. So, does power corrupt? Maybe not as an absolute rule, but possession of power in real situations and simulations consistently offers strong temptations and chances to behave unwisely and / or shamefully. To resist this requires both insight and good character.