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Good news: being nice is the key to accumulating power. Bad news: once power is attained, leaders become less ethical. Jonah Lehrer’s recent weekend essay in the Wall Street Journal presents the paradox of power:

The very traits that helped leaders accumulate control in the first place all but disappear once they rise to power. Instead of being polite, honest and outgoing, they become impulsive, reckless and rude. In some cases, these new habits can help a leader be more decisive and single-minded, or more likely to make choices that will be profitable regardless of their popularity.

The article goes on to discuss the myopia caused by power, and notes that those in positions of power have an easier time “rationalizing away” lapses in ethical behavior. This certainly sounds familiar.

The most interesting part of the article to me is the claim that power influences the way people process information. Researchers found that in several situations, people in power fall victim to observational selection when evaluating facts – only paying attention to information that confirms what they already think to be true:

In a recent study led by Richard Petty, a psychologist at Ohio State, undergraduates role-played a scenario between a boss and an underling. Then the students were exposed to a fake advertisement for a mobile phone. Some of the ads featured strong arguments for buying the phone, such as its long-lasting battery, while other ads featured weak or nonsensical arguments. Interestingly, students that pretended to be the boss were far less sensitive to the quality of the argument. It’s as if it didn’t even matter what the ad said—their minds had already been made up.

A similar conclusion was drawn by Stanford Business School psychologist Deborah Gruenfeld, who analyzed US Surpreme court decisions to find that judges with more power consider fewer perspectives when making their decisions.

The article finishes by suggesting that transparency and oversight can help keep those in power honest. As we continue our pursuit of design ethics, remember that as designers, we need to be conscious of the role power plays into our everyday work. Perhaps another way to counteract the negative effects of power is simply to recognize and anticipate these effects.