When power increases

When power increases

Equal distribution of power among all in society will probably never be possible. If every person has the same amount of power, social unrest is sure to arise. In every society, the roles and responsibilities of different people are different. In these roles, inequality in the gain of power arises due to differences. In a country, when someone takes on military responsibility, someone takes on administrative responsibility. Another person performs the responsibility of teaching. When a person in military responsibility performs his duty by punishing others, the person in administrative responsibility uses his legal power. The head of the teaching staff also exercises his intellectual power. The basis of power in these areas varies.

How every person can lead a prosperous, peaceful and happy life in a society where there is inequality in the distribution of power is a matter of research. Before eliminating the evils created by unequal power, it is necessary to study why these evils arise. Why people in power, in particular, become corrupt, requires psychological study.

Lord Acton Power tends to corrupt, absolute Power corrupts absolutely Many are familiar with the saying. People in power tend to corrupt, causing harm to others. The actions of people in power are often violent and harmful. The harmful aspect of power is not outside the scope of the thinking of psychologists and social scientists.

Of course, it should not be understood that gaining power is always harmful. The idea that we have some power to bring about changes in our lives and in the outside world is an indicator of a healthy mind. When we think that we are completely powerless, a sense of helplessness comes to mind, and this sense of helplessness increases our inaction and reduces mental happiness. Therefore, the experience of powerlessness is a barrier to mental health. But awareness is also needed regarding the problems that arise after becoming powerless.

It has been observed from many observations that people bring about some changes in their behavior when they gain power. This change has been clearly observed in one study. Some college students were told that if they participated in a research project, they would be given some daily reward. After the college students gave their consent, they were given the responsibility of maintaining peace and order in the prison. They were also given considerable freedom to carry out this responsibility. They can explain to the prisoners, give them a warning, and even punish them.

In this research, the behavior of students who were actually in the role of guards was observed. The students thought that the researchers were observing the prisoners. As a result, the students behaved in a non-judgmental manner. The observation showed that as time passed, the behavior of the college students became harsher. They abused the prisoners and sometimes punished them. Methods such as persuasion, advice, and encouragement of good behavior were used less to maintain discipline. Most of the time, commanding expressions were used when addressing the prisoners and sometimes the prisoners were given a loud and logical argument.

It is said to maintain order. As the day of observation progressed, such abuse by the guards increased. Despite the protests of the prisoners, such behavior continued.

The behavior of a student guard who was working as a discipline guard was observed without his knowledge. Early in the morning, it was seen that a student was pacing back and forth in the prison yard. At that time, the prisoners were asleep. The guard was hitting his hand with his hand with his stick. Another student got angry with a prisoner and kept him alone in a small room all day and did not inform the researcher about this.

When power increases

Overall, the students' behavior provided more and more information about the punishment of prisoners. In one sense, the students, like the actual guards working in the prison, have long been victims of the treatment of prisoners in the prison.

Not. In this regard, it is not very reasonable to expect disciplinary behavior from students. However, observations have shown that individuals in positions of power have a certain weakness in their minds. Even if there are other means, they use disciplinary tactics to achieve their goals.

From a psychological point of view, it can be seen that abuse of power corrupts through five levels. A person, knowingly or unknowingly, corrupts himself through these five levels. To demonstrate this, psychologist Kipnis conducted a beautiful experiment. The psychologist persuaded senior MBA students to participate in this experiment. Their job was to supervise the work of high school students working in a small industrial company. Actually, this industrial company was established only for research work and high school students were asked to work here in exchange for a small reward. Of course, the high school students did not know that all this was just a research project.

The scope of power of the MBA students working as managers was greatly expanded. Some managers were told that they could supervise the work of the employees (high school students) and increase their salaries, transfer them to other departments, reprimand them, cut their salaries and, if necessary, fire them from the company. Needless to say, such managers had a lot of power.

On the other hand, some managers had a very limited scope of power. They could only direct and control the employees.

It was said that they could get work done by using abusive language. The experiment lasted for several days to see what level the use of authoritarian managers was. It was found that the use of authoritarian people goes through five levels.

First, as the scope of power increases, the likelihood of exercising authority increases. The above-extended experiment showed that authoritarian managers were using their authority excessively. Very rarely, they tried to force employees to do their jobs. But 16 percent of the time, such authoritarian managers were observed to use persuasion. They often tried to change the behavior of employees by showing greed for salary increases and punishing them.

Secondly, the more the use of authority is widespread, the more the authoritarian person will believe that he can control the actions of others. As the use of his power continues to expand, the idea that he controls the fate of others becomes entrenched in his mind. When a person in authority sees that he is bringing about a change in the employee by giving rewards and punishments, he thinks that the change in the employee's behavior is due to the manager's high reluctance. As a result of this perception, the belief that the employee has a will or a desire gradually decreases in the person in authority. The belief that the person did so because I wanted him to increases in the person in authority.

If a person in authority is asked what is the root cause of the employee's change, he does not give importance to the employee's will and motivation. He simply says that the employee has changed himself out of greed for more money or fear of punishment. Indirectly, the manager's impartiality and work ethic are responsible for the employee's change.

The authoritarian manager suggests. The tendency to view oneself as the master of others' fortunes increases with the degree of power exercised.

When power increases

Third, as the belief that the plans of the powerful person are responsible for the changes in people increases, the powerful person will increasingly view his subordinates as insignificant. As the idea that people can be easily changed, manipulated to his will, and their course determined according to his plans is strengthened, subordinates begin to appear insignificant. The idea that subordinates have desires, aspirations, and ambitions diminishes in the mind of the powerful person. Especially if the powerful person feels that the employee is working out of fear of punishment, the powerful person takes advantage of his weakness and thinks of him as more and more controlling. In this process, the worthlessness of the employee is cemented in the mind of the powerful person.

Fourth, the psychological distance between the powerful person and the subordinate increases. This gap is created by the power-hungry person considering the person below them as worthless. As a result, the possibility of establishing friendly relations between them gradually fades. The possibility of friendly conversations, discussions and social gatherings decreases.

The people who played the role of the narrator who participated in the above-mentioned experiment were asked how much they wanted to meet and talk to the participating employees after the experiment. It was found that the other powerful managers had very little such desire. They

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When power increases