By: Luis Pellegrini
Lately, when so many politicians in Brazil and around the world are behaving in a clearly insane way, an important and very old question resurfaces: does power drive people crazy? This topic is the focus of a recent article published in The Atlantic magazine. According to this important American publication, which follows current political events from a scientific and technological perspective, the link between power and loss of lucidity is far from being merely a figurative phenomenon.
According to Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who has been researching the topic for two decades, power can have the same consequences on the brain as a traumatic injury: increased impulsivity, disregard for danger, and an inability to empathize with others. Keltner calls this syndrome the "paradox of power": once a high position is achieved, the characteristics that were activated to attain it are lost.
Abroad, the very recent cases of Italy's Matteo Renzi (who proposed a referendum and lost), David Cameron (who "challenged" the British, and they voted in favor of Brexit), and Theresa May (who maneuvered to secure early elections to have a larger and stronger base, and things went badly for her) are just recent examples that seem to confirm how and to what extent various politicians who reach power begin to disregard the danger. In Brazil, it is not even necessary to mention names, so many are the politicians who fit this pattern.
Suddenly, the politician becomes nearsighted.
Sukhvinder Obhi, a neuroscientist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, confirmed this theory through a series of experiments using brain imaging techniques: power reduces the ability to "mirrore," that is, to reflect the actions, expressions, and emotions of others, which constitutes the very basis of empathy processes.
This loss has been demonstrated in different ways over the years. A 2006 study asked volunteers to draw the letter "E" on their foreheads so that others could read it. Those who felt powerful drew the E facing themselves, as if they themselves had to read it. And, in this sense, it is worth remembering George W. Bush who, in 2008, during the Olympics, displayed the American flag upside down. Other experiments have revealed that those who possess more power have more difficulty identifying the emotions expressed by people in photographs.
Loss of references
The fact that we instinctively tend to imitate the expressions of our superiors does not help to resolve the dilemma. This mechanism, which we activate unconsciously, helps us to put ourselves in the shoes of others and to get in tune with their feelings. However, once we reach a certain level of power, we run the risk of having no one above us left to imitate: this can lead to a fatal lack of empathy.
Sukhvinder Obhi asked some volunteers to watch a video in which a person squeezed a ball. In the non-powerful individuals, the same brain areas essential for performing the action of the person in the video were activated. But in the volunteers who enjoyed positions of power, these areas appeared practically anesthetized. This effect is generally reversible; but when one is surrounded by flattering advisors (or in situations where one is always right), one might think that it is not.
Clementine Churchill with her husband. On the day Hitler entered Paris, she had the courage to write to Winston that she had observed a decline in his behavior, both in terms of good manners and in the way he addressed his collaborators. It takes little to put people back in their place when power goes to their heads.
Remembering one's own origins
Is there an antidote for those who succumb to the delusion of power? In a way, yes. A study from February 2017 demonstrated that managers and executives of large companies who, as children, lived in places marked by tragic natural disasters, are less likely to make decisions that pose a risk to others.
For some people, surrounding themselves with relatives and friends who keep them grounded can be effective. Indra Nooyi, an Indian woman who held a high-ranking position in PepsiCola's administration, recounts that when she was chosen for that high post in 2001, she returned home full of pride, but her mother, before she could even speak, asked her to go out and buy milk. A beautiful – and useful – lesson in humility.