Individuals
with a higher sense of power experienced less compassion and distress
when confronted with another's suffering, compared to low-power
individuals, a new study suggests. (Credit: iStockphoto/Nicole Waring)
Dec. 23, 2008 — The fact
that many cultures emphasize the concept of “noblesse oblige” (the idea
that with great power and prestige come responsibilities) suggests that
power may diminish a tendency to help others. Psychologist Gerben A. van
Kleef (University of Amsterdam) and his colleagues from University of
California, Berkeley, examined how power influences emotional reactions
to the suffering of others.
A group of undergraduates completed questionnaires about their
personal sense of power, which identified them to the researchers as
either being high-power or low-power. The students were then randomly
paired up and had to tell their partner about an event which had caused
them emotional suffering and pain. Their partners then rated their
emotions after hearing the story. In addition, the researchers were
interested in seeing if there were physical differences in the way
high-power people and low-power people responded to others’ suffering;
specifically they wanted to test if high-powered individuals would
exhibit greater autonomic emotion regulation [or respiratory sinus
arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity]. When we are faced with psychological
stress, our RSA reactivity increases, resulting in a lower heart rate
and a calmed, relaxed feeling. To measure RSA reactivity and heart
rates, all of the participants were connected to electrocardiogram (ECG)
machines during the experiment.
The results, reported in the December issue of Psychological Science,
a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reveal that
individuals with a higher sense of power experienced less compassion and
distress when confronted with another’s suffering, compared to
low-power individuals. In addition, high-power individuals’ RSA
reactivity increased (as indicated by lower heart rate) as they listened
to the painful stories; that is, high power participants showed more
autonomic emotion regulation, which buffered against their partner’s
distress.
Analysis of the participants’ final surveys (where they rated their
thoughts about their partners) revealed that high-power individuals
reported a weaker desire to get to know and establish a friendship with
their partner. In other words, powerful people were not motivated to
establish a relationship with distressed individuals. This idea is
supported by the fact that the distressed participants reported less of a
social connection with high-power partners compared to low-power
partners. The authors suggest that powerful people's tendency to show
less compassion and distress towards others reinforces their social
power.
These results do not just apply to how powerful people react to
strangers; the authors note that this study “suggests that high-power
individuals may suffer in interpersonal relationships because of their
diminished capacity for compassion and empathy. The many benefits
enjoyed by people with power may not translate to the interpersonal
realm.”
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
No comments:
Post a Comment