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The Legitimacy of Power and the Sense of Entitlement
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Robert Wechsler
It is a truism of government ethics that a sense of entitlement is an
important cause of unethical conduct. People who feel entitled to the
power they wield feel they have the right to deviate from ethical norms
in ways others do not (see my blog post on this
topic). Now there is research that supports this view.
According to a new paper based on research by Joris Lammers, Diederik A. Stapel, and Adam D. Galinsky, people who see themselves as powerful are more likely to condemn other people's unethical conduct while themselves engaging in unethical conduct more than others. An important factor in this sort of hypocrisy is how legitimate they feel their power is. The more legitimate they consider their power, the more likely they are to feel entitled to engage in conduct they condemn in others. The less legitimate they consider their power, the more likely they are to condemn their own conduct even more than others', what the authors call "hypercrisy."
The authors also look at other recent research, which provides valuable related conclusions. For example, the idea that "feelings of power make people more likely to judge others and be more strict in their moral judgments when doing so—is strengthened by Lammers and Stapel’s (2009) demonstration that the powerful tend to be more focused on rules and less willing to make exceptions to those rules."
This is what I have often found: in conflict situations, officials and government attorneys focus on the provisions and the language of ethics codes to the exclusion of the spirit and goals of these codes.
Also, "according to Keltner, Gruenfeld, and Anderson’s (2003) approach/inhibition theory of power, the powerful are more focused on the potential rewards of any action and therefore tend to follow their self-interest more compared to the powerless." It's not just that government officials have more opportunities than most people to use their positions to benefit themselves and their families, but when they act, they focus on these benefits more than most people do when they act. In other words, those who feel powerful tend to be primed to benefit themselves in ways others are not.
A third group of studies deals with the other end of unethical conduct: social disapproval. "Normally, social disapproval acts as a check against self-interest (Batson et al., 1997; Gilbert & Jones, 1986), but feelings of power reduce sensitivity to social disapproval (Emerson, 1962; Thibaut & Kelley, 1959)."
Yes, elected officials care about getting re-elected, but they are less likely than other people to care about social disapproval that does not rise to the level of outright rejection. And they are usually not in a good position to determine what conduct, even when it becomes public, would lead to serious disapproval, because they are protected by strong egos and a circle of yesmen and yeswomen.
God only knows what validity these experiments have, that is, how well they transfer to the real world (read the 15-page paper for details of the experiments), but the authors' conclusions certainly seem to fit the reality I've seen.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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According to a new paper based on research by Joris Lammers, Diederik A. Stapel, and Adam D. Galinsky, people who see themselves as powerful are more likely to condemn other people's unethical conduct while themselves engaging in unethical conduct more than others. An important factor in this sort of hypocrisy is how legitimate they feel their power is. The more legitimate they consider their power, the more likely they are to feel entitled to engage in conduct they condemn in others. The less legitimate they consider their power, the more likely they are to condemn their own conduct even more than others', what the authors call "hypercrisy."
The authors also look at other recent research, which provides valuable related conclusions. For example, the idea that "feelings of power make people more likely to judge others and be more strict in their moral judgments when doing so—is strengthened by Lammers and Stapel’s (2009) demonstration that the powerful tend to be more focused on rules and less willing to make exceptions to those rules."
This is what I have often found: in conflict situations, officials and government attorneys focus on the provisions and the language of ethics codes to the exclusion of the spirit and goals of these codes.
Also, "according to Keltner, Gruenfeld, and Anderson’s (2003) approach/inhibition theory of power, the powerful are more focused on the potential rewards of any action and therefore tend to follow their self-interest more compared to the powerless." It's not just that government officials have more opportunities than most people to use their positions to benefit themselves and their families, but when they act, they focus on these benefits more than most people do when they act. In other words, those who feel powerful tend to be primed to benefit themselves in ways others are not.
A third group of studies deals with the other end of unethical conduct: social disapproval. "Normally, social disapproval acts as a check against self-interest (Batson et al., 1997; Gilbert & Jones, 1986), but feelings of power reduce sensitivity to social disapproval (Emerson, 1962; Thibaut & Kelley, 1959)."
Yes, elected officials care about getting re-elected, but they are less likely than other people to care about social disapproval that does not rise to the level of outright rejection. And they are usually not in a good position to determine what conduct, even when it becomes public, would lead to serious disapproval, because they are protected by strong egos and a circle of yesmen and yeswomen.
God only knows what validity these experiments have, that is, how well they transfer to the real world (read the 15-page paper for details of the experiments), but the authors' conclusions certainly seem to fit the reality I've seen.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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