Power Goggles
May/19/2011 08:43 Filed in: Morality | Current Events
As Maureen Dowd cleverly notes in her NYT column, power can seem to distort the view of men when it comes to sex. So, while it seems that Messrs. Schwarzenegger and Strauss-Kahn appear to have a history of misbehavior with women, the question that arises, of course, is why?
One reason, though probably not the only one, comes from the psychological effects of power and status. Although most of us tend to wear some blinders when it comes to judging our own transgressions, work by Adam Galinsky and colleagues shows that the biasing influence of these "moral goggles" increases as a function of the power/status we have. The researchers made some of their participants feel powerful through careful manipulations and then confronted them with moral dilemmas (like opportunities to cheat). What they found was that increasing power lead participants to condemn others for transgressions while feeling free to engage in these same transgressions themselves. Power, in essence allows one to feel special -- to engage in acts that would normally be readily condemned without feeling the guilt.
Why does it work this way? One reason is that increased power is usually accompanied by an increased sense that others will like you (or at least follow you). In terms of short- vs. long-term mechanisms, this translates to a weakening of the long-term side's interest -- others are going to keep liking of following you because of power, you're special, it doesn't really matter what you do. The result is that short-term desires (in these cases for sexual pleasure) become less inhibited; the long-term mechanisms aren't working hard enough to keep them in check, with the result being that the scale of character shifts too far to one side. And with it, the titans tip over.
Why does it work this way? One reason is that increased power is usually accompanied by an increased sense that others will like you (or at least follow you). In terms of short- vs. long-term mechanisms, this translates to a weakening of the long-term side's interest -- others are going to keep liking of following you because of power, you're special, it doesn't really matter what you do. The result is that short-term desires (in these cases for sexual pleasure) become less inhibited; the long-term mechanisms aren't working hard enough to keep them in check, with the result being that the scale of character shifts too far to one side. And with it, the titans tip over.
