Psychologie du pouvoir : le paradoxe

Selon un chercheur de l’université de Stanford, D. Keltner:

A great deal of research has also found that power encourages individuals to act on their own whims, desires, and impulses. When researchers give people power in scientific experiments, those people are more likely to physically touch others in potentially inappropriate ways, to flirt in more direct fashion, to make risky choices and gambles, to make first offers in negotiations, to speak their mind, and to eat cookies like the Cookie Monster, with crumbs all over their chins and chests.

… Power may induce more harmful forms of aggression as well. In the famed Stanford Prison Experiment, psychologist Philip Zimbardo randomly assigned Stanford undergraduates to act as prison guards or prisoners—an extreme kind of power relation. The prison guards quickly descended into the purest forms of power abuse, psychologically torturing their peers, the prisoners. Similarly, anthropologists have found that cultures where rape is prevalent and accepted tend to be cultures with deeply entrenched beliefs in the supremacy of men over women. This leaves us with a power paradox. Power is given to those individuals, groups, or nations who advance the interests of the greater good in socially-intelligent fashion. Yet unfortunately, having power renders many individuals as impulsive and poorly attuned to others as your garden variety frontal lobe patient, making them prone toact abusively and lose the esteem of their peers.

Peut-être faut-il se méfier des gens qui sont dans des situations de pouvoir et être un plus critique face à eux et se rappeler l’expérience de la prison de Stanford  avant de sortir le tapis rouge et de leur signer des chèques en blanc. On a juste à regarder les premières pages des journeaux pour voir comment les médias font de certaines personnes des idoles. Les Charest, Black , Madoff, Lacroix ont tous eu les honneurs de la presse ou de leurs pairs…avant la chute.

Le magazine américain sur internet, “Greater Good Magazine”, publié par des gens de l’université Berkley , semble se donner pour vocation de créer un monde plus heureux en favorisant la compassion, la diminution de la violence, de la confiance , de former de meilleurs managers…On n’y parle pas de fraude, ni business  mais de changement culturel et social dans un sens très large tout en amenant des solutions pratiques. Ce  qu’il faut dans les organisations: des managers qui utilise leurs pouvoirs de façon responsable et éhique.