Privilege as Brain Damage
Aug. 17th, 2010 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yelosonStudy indicates social power results in poor behavior.
"It's an incredibly consistent effect," Mr. Keltner says. "When you give people power, they basically start acting like fools. They flirt inappropriately, tease in a hostile fashion, and become totally impulsive." Mr. Keltner compares the feeling of power to brain damage, noting that people with lots of authority tend to behave like neurological patients with a damaged orbito-frontal lobe, a brain area that's crucial for empathy and decision-making. Even the most virtuous people can be undone by the corner office.
I guess we can see where the whole issue of normal folks being incredibly racist, sexist or homophobic comes up- once the power difference is great enough, suddenly the nice boy down the street is one of the 10 kids beating up the foreigner...
This sadly only confirms privilege as socially groomed narcissistic personality disorder.
"It's an incredibly consistent effect," Mr. Keltner says. "When you give people power, they basically start acting like fools. They flirt inappropriately, tease in a hostile fashion, and become totally impulsive." Mr. Keltner compares the feeling of power to brain damage, noting that people with lots of authority tend to behave like neurological patients with a damaged orbito-frontal lobe, a brain area that's crucial for empathy and decision-making. Even the most virtuous people can be undone by the corner office.
I guess we can see where the whole issue of normal folks being incredibly racist, sexist or homophobic comes up- once the power difference is great enough, suddenly the nice boy down the street is one of the 10 kids beating up the foreigner...
This sadly only confirms privilege as socially groomed narcissistic personality disorder.
