The Good Life of the Powerful: The Experience of Power and Authenticity Enhances Subjective Well-Being

A common cliché and system-justifying stereotype is that power leads to misery and self-alienation. Drawing on the power and authenticity literatures, however, we predicted the opposite relationship. Because power increases the correspondence between internal states and behavior, we hypothesized tha...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2013-03, Vol.24 (3), p.280-288
Main Authors: Kifer, Yona, Heller, Daniel, Perunovic, Wei Qi Elaine, Galinsky, Adam D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Cognitive psychology
Emotions
Extroversion
Female
Friendship
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender roles
Humans
Interpersonal relations
Male
Men
Modeling
Personal Satisfaction
Personality psychology
Power
Power (Psychology)
Psychological aspects
Psychological factors
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Role
Self Concept
Social interactions. Communication. Group processes
Social psychology
Stereotypes
Well-being
Wellbeing
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A common cliché and system-justifying stereotype is that power leads to misery and self-alienation. Drawing on the power and authenticity literatures, however, we predicted the opposite relationship. Because power increases the correspondence between internal states and behavior, we hypothesized that power enhances subjective well-being (SWB) by leading people to feel more authentic. Across four surveys representing markedly different primary social roles (general, work, romantic-relationship, and friendship surveys; Study 1), and in an experiment (Study 2a), we found consistent evidence that experiencing power leads to greater SWB. Moreover, authenticity mediated this effect. Further establishing the causal importance of authenticity, a final experiment (Study 2b), in which authenticity was manipulated, demonstrated that greater authenticity directly increased SWB. Although striving for power lowers well-being, these results demonstrate the pervasive positive psychological effects of having power, and indicate the importance of spreading power to enhance collective well-being.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797612450891