Absolute power corrupts absolutely

An Intercepted Correspondence, Cairo. Painting by John Frederick Lewis, 1868. (Image: The Economist)

The Economist published an interesting article on the psychology of power where a series of experiments were conducted in an attempt to elicit states of powerfulness and powerlessness in the minds of volunteers.

Taken together, these results do indeed suggest that power tends to corrupt and to promote a hypocritical tendency to hold other people to a higher standard than oneself…These results, then, suggest that the powerful do indeed behave hypocritically, condemning the transgressions of others more than they condemn their own…But another everyday observation is that powerful people who have been caught out often show little sign of contrition. It is not just that they abuse the system; they also seem to feel entitled to abuse it.

Read the full article here.

Tagged as: Lord Acton, power, powerfulness, powerlessness, psychology of power, The Economist