Psychologists Say Power Does 4 Crazy Things to Your Mind

Who doesn't desire power?

There's a little Frank Underwood in all of us.

At the beginning of "House of Cards,"Kevin Spacey's character explains why power beats money

Money is the McMansion in Sarasota that starts falling apart after 10 years. Power is the old stone building that stands for centuries. I cannot respect someone who doesn't see the difference.

But should you find and hold power — as Underwood so deliciously does — it's going to do some really weird things to your perception of yourself and others.

Here's what the research says:

1. If you feel powerful, you're more inspired by yourself than anybody else.

According to a 2015 study led by Gerben A. Van Kleef at the University of Amsterdam, powerful people find themselves more inspiring than anybody else. In a study of 140 undergraduates, he found that people who agreed highly to statements like "I can get others to do what I want" were more inspired by talking about their own life-changing experiences than hearing other people discuss theirs.

To Research Digest blogger Alex Fradera, it's indicative of self-sufficiency.

"As a matter of course, powerful people don't expect others to fulfill their needs, and may therefore find it difficult to consider anyone else a worthy source of inspiration," he writes. "It's a little like a child for whom no one in the playground is up to scratch, so they become their own best friend."

2. If you feel powerful, you're the first to act.

In a 2003 study led by Columbia University psychologist Adam Galinsky, people who felt more powerful than their peers were more likely to take a card in a game of blackjack, fix an annoying fan in a room, and take action in social dilemmas. A 2007 study coauthored by Galinsky added to that theme, finding that powerful people are more likely to act first in a negotiation.

In 2012, the University of Texas' Jennifer A. Whitson found an explanation as to why: Powerful people are less likely to perceive — and remember — constraints to their goals.

It's like how eagles and alligators evolved to have their eyes close together.

"The vision of predators is fixated on their object of pursuit — their prey — leaving little visual room for unexpected danger or potential threats in their surroundings," she and her authors write. "This directed focus allows them to pounce into action to secure their meal."

Same for CEOs.

3. If you feel powerful, you're more likely to cheat.

It's not that men are more disposed to having sex outside of their marriages than women.

According to a 2011 study led by Joris Lammers at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, it's that powerful people are more likely to cheat.

His team surveyed 1,561 professionals, asking how high up in their organizations they were and their history or interest in cheating.

"Results showed that elevated power is positively associated with infidelity because power increases confidence in the ability to attract partners," they wrote. "This association was found for both actual infidelity and intentions to engage in infidelity in the future."

Gender didn't matter.

Powerful women were just as likely to have or pursue affairs as powerful men. This goes against a commonly held assumption about cheating. It's not that men are inherently more likely to cheat than women, it's just that men are more likely to hold powerful positions.

"As a social psychologist, I believe that the situation is everything and that the situation or instance is often stronger than the individual," Lammers said in a statement. "As more and more women are in greater positions of power and are considered equal to men, then familiar assumptions about their behavior may also change."

4. If you feel powerful, you feel distant from other people.

According to Joe Magee at New York University and Pamela Smith at the University of California at San Diego, powerful people feel more socially distant than non-powerful people.

It happens for a few reasons:

• People become close to one another when they are "symmetrically dependent" on one another and have repeated interactions, Magee and Smith say. You and your boss aren't symmetrically dependent; you depend on her approval more than she does yours. But you and the other people on her team are symmetrical, so you're likely to become close over time.

• Research indicates that powerful people don't need to associate with others in the same way.

• Powerful people have to think more abstractly than everybody else. They're concerned with meeting goals more than developing relationships.

So the isolation is a result of the social situation that power puts you in — and the need to get things done.

It works for Mr. Underwood.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244339

How to Reinvent Yourself

Once I was a traditional management consultant. It didn’t suit me.

I quit and started a construction company. 

Then I was running a large construction company.

I loved it.

But I got cancer. Eventually I became a global speaker and a consultant and coach focusing on entrepreneurs. 

I made that initial career switch because I could not go on, waking up each day with dread, facing another day of having the sense that I needed to be somewhere else.  

First, I had to redraw the lines for how I defined myself. Then I had to paint the picture so that the world that had once known me in a certain way could see me in another. 

Truth be told, it was less difficult getting others to respect and view me as competent and capable in my reinvented role than it was getting my own head around it. That's because I had valued myself according to how I had identified myself.

Being a management consultant held a certain value for me. I had incorporated my job title into a part of my personal value. 

What I came to understand (and how I ultimately embraced and enjoyed my reinvention) was that my title never held the value. It was what I had done while holding the title that had the value. 

Winning contracts, completing good negotiations, developing relationships -- these were the things that mattered and the reason that the people around me assigned value to my stock. But it wasn’t the title that held the value. It was me and my ability to perform. 

It's worth stating, though, that the comfortable identifier let people who didn't previously know me put me in a category of respect and high value. And it's rather nice to be introduced as someone whom people respect. It's an easy door opener.

And this is exactly what sometimes holds a person back from taking the leap into entrepreneurship -- the fear of losing the easy identitier. 

When I reinvented myself, it took some time for me to be OK without that management-consultant intro and to feel comfortable with a new one that held less swagger. Like any stock that has not been listed for long, my new intro took a while to carry value for others. 

Yet what's valuable for those undergoing reinvention is to have the opportunity to identify with other reinventors -- the innovators who have taken decidedly new paths more suited to pursuing what they want. 

If you're considering a reinvention, here are some pieces of advice that have steered me well through the process:

1. Know what you want.

Don't just understand what you don’t want. Work toward something with the reinvention. Don't just simply run away from something else.

2. Get clear on what you want and why.

Then when you get it, you will want what you have.

3. Don’t feel the need to justify your move.

If someone is curious about your why, tell him or her in simple and truthful terms. No one can argue with the facts. He or she may have opinions, but the five minutes he or she spends thinking about you is nothing like having to live your life 24 hours a day.  

4. Find others.

Get in touch with a reinvention mentor and someone who has transitioned from one thing to another. Such people are available more places than you would think -- and more people are wanting to reinvent themselves than ever before.

5. Take action.

Every day you spend in stagnation is one less day you’ll spend in success. Small deliberate steps add up. Take one. 

There are simply too many people looking at reinvention as a risk, when it is an opportunity with a poor name tag. 

Instead of asking yourself, What should I do? consider asking yourself, What do I want to get out of what it is that I do?

This rephrasing illuminated a lot for me during my reinvention and I hope it does for you, too. It is after all less about getting what you want and more about wanting what you get.  

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241593