14 DAY TRIAL // In an interesting new study, experts were able to determine that people who accede to power tend to change, and start playing a part that has been laid out by others before them. They suddenly begin to smile less, speak louder than usual, and interrupt others all the time.
There seems to be a connection in the minds of those who have power that being in a certain position means that rules can be bent or broken, or politeness forgotten. At the same time, it was found that people who tend not to respect social norms are more likely to be considered powerful.
All societies have some basic rules on which they function, the disruption of which can lead to chaos. Those who do break the rules – and the social trust that is placed in them – are usually perceived as being more powerful than others.
Objectively speaking, there are multiple things separating those with poor from the common folk. Some of these aspects include being subjected to fewer and more elastic rules, having access to knowledge and support, and being surrounded by significant material means.
In the new experiments, conducted by Gerben Van Kleef, PhD of the University of Amsterdam and his team, participants were asked to watch a video showing a rude man ordering something in a bar.
Another segment of the group was made to watch the same clips, only this time the man in the video was behaving politely. Participants who saw the first video said that the impolite man was more likely to make good decisions, or to get people to listen to his point of view.
“Norm violators are perceived as having the capacity to act as they please,” Van Kleef and colleagues write in a paper published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
In other words, showing outward signs of corruption is very likely to get people thinking that you are powerful. On the other hand, the downside is that – if we all act like this – there would be no more norm followers to compare power levels to, PsychCentral reports.