Caricatures of the powerful as remorseless and unrelenting are common, but are they accurate?  Research from the University of California San Diego’s Rady School of Management suggests they may have more than an element of truth to them as the researchers find that the powerful are not only more likely to blame others for their own shortcomings but are also far more comfortable with inequality than the average person.

The research reveals that people in positions of power are far more likely to have a “choice mindset”, which results in them assuming that those with less power have the same number of choices that they have, even though their circumstances are likely to be wildly different.  This leads them to blame others for any poor outcomes.

“Being in a choice-mindset changes how individuals think, feel and behave,” the researchers say. “Compared to low-power people, high-power people are less likely to be aware of others’ constraints. As a result they assign more blame when people make mistakes or have shortcomings. Thus, they see the current hierarchy as more justified.”

Skewed perspective

The results emerged from three distinct experiments, all of which aimed to understand how power influences our perspective on the lives of others.  Volunteers consistently showed that people who were conditioned to believe they were more powerful were harsher, more judgemental and less understanding of others than their less powerful peers.

“Each study was designed to build on the others,” the researchers say. “In study one, we were measuring power, in study two, we manipulated power and in study three, we created a world in which the judges knew the target person had less power and less choices. We wanted to see if the perceptions remained consistent in all three settings. It was a combination of replication and adding these additional twists and turns.”

They believe that their findings have implications not only in the workplace but also for policymakers as well, especially in terms of the self-reflection of those in positions of power.

“Policymakers are in a position of power and privilege and may be less sensitive to the disadvantages of their constituents,” they explain. “This is especially important as we come out of the pandemic when there are big discussions in the political domain on pulling back on unemployment benefits, or rent assistance. If you are in a position of power, you may assume people are choosing to stay home and not work and they can make better choices. However, you may need to think much more carefully about how many choices citizens have and if you are missing constraints they face.”

There are also obvious implications for the workplace, especially during a time in which we’re increasingly expecting leaders and managers to show more compassion to employees.

“Mangers should be aware of how many more choices they have than their subordinates and their tendency to project their own choices onto others, especially when employees make mistakes.” the researchers conclude.

“It might require having more discussion with employees and being cognizant of their situation because sometimes lack of choice and constraints can be invisible to someone from the outside.”