Scientific Definition
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Plain-English Definition
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Feynman Explanation
Give someone a crown and watch the halo slip.
Core Principle
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Concentrated decision rights erode judgment over time.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Give someone a crown and watch the halo slip.
Examples
- Founders who become intolerant of dissent as the company grows.
- Concentrated decision rights erode judgment over time.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Distribute power and rotate who holds the veto.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Distribute power and rotate who holds the veto.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
A group decides on a course of action that nobody actually wants, because everyone assumes others prefer it.
We attribute our own actions to situations but others' actions to their character.
We favor people who are similar to us or who like us.
Sacrificing for others without expecting a personal reward.
Masking the sponsors of a message to make it appear grassroots.
Disagreement grows more extreme as the parties think more about the issue.
Systematic errors in explaining the causes of behavior — yours or others'.
We accept vague, general statements as personally meaningful.
Adding the word 'because' (with any reason) increases compliance dramatically.
Behaviors spread through groups via observation and imitation.
We come to like people we've done a favor for, more than people who've helped us.
Subconscious preference for numbers (and letters) that appear in our own name or birthday.