The data shows that those who score higher on the Big Five “Extraversion” dimension are more likely to gain power in the future.
Editor’s note: This article from the public micro-channel number ” husk “(ID: Guokr42 ) , author: eating hedgehog little fox.
They all say that they are good at being in charge.
No matter whatZhen Huan, who had lost her life, and An Lingrong, who had suffered bitter almonds, seemed to have exhausted all means to climb higher. Looking around, there is no shortage of selfish and aggressive guys for a certain official and part-time job.
Wait…it seems…there are many “good old people” with high authority? Is the stereotype wrong, in fact, good people can be in high positions? Or are those “good guys” just “super bad guys” who are more hypocritical and scheming?
So what kind of person can be a boss! ! | giphy
Psychologists who are not highly powerful and have no status are very interested in this question.
On August 31 this year, Cameron Anderson, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and others published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), discussing The relationship between “bad guys” and “power” is very gratifying.
Insidious and cunning, Uh, it seems useless
First, let’s clarify what is “bad” and what is “power”.
Anderson and others have adopted the “agreeableness” in the Big Five personality to mean “bad”. The lower a person’s “agreeableness”, the more “bad” it is. To put it simply, if a person is selfish, indifferent, aggressive, self-conscious, and loves to control others, then he is “bad”.
How do you define “power”? Most people may think that this person’s position is high or not. High position means power. But position does not represent power, power means being able to influence and manipulate others. Therefore, the author measured a person’s scores in controlling subordinates, position levels, and influencing decision-making, and combined them into a total score that represents a person’s power level.
Selfish, indifferent, aggressive, scheming… | giphy
With the tools, you can research. In the past, researchers usually used the method to test whether the subject is “bad or not”, then test “whether they have power”, and then see if there is a relationship between the two. However, this method cannot distinguish whether people gain power because they are bad enough, or whether they become bad when they have power.
The research this time is quite impressive, and it is a long-term tracking project. From 1999 to 2008, psychologists used Big Five personality to measure the personality characteristics of a large number of college students and save the data.
By 2018, once college students have been working hard in the workplace for a while, Anderson and others sent emails to 1,558 of them to measure their power. 506 people replied to the email, 49 of whom were excluded for various reasons (no job, freelance, etc.), and finally collected the power index of 457 people.
Not bad or not has nothing to do with whether you can gain power | pixabay
Through rigorous data analysis, they came up with the result: Whether it is bad or not has nothing to do with whether it can gain power. Whether you are a selfish and indifferent bad person or a selfless and enthusiastic good person, it will not help you gain power.
This result is too abnormal. In life, some people see others being humble and kind, and then rise all the way up, so they think that being a good person can help them gain power; some people see others being selfish and indifferent, unscrupulous, and then occupy a high position, so they think that they have no power and are not bad enough. In the end, both views were slapped in the face by this research. The hard truth tells us: The law you think is not reliable.
Since the worse (or better) people are not easier to gain power, what kind of people are easier to gain power? The answer is:
Extrovert people.
Extroversion seems to have a greater relationship with being a leader | giphy
Data shows that those who score higher on the Big Five “Extraversion” dimension are more likely to gain power in the future. Thinking about it carefully, this is actually very consistent with our life experience.
The upper four methods
To explain this phenomenon, we must start with the four ways of gaining power.
Domination-Attack Behavior
That is, the fist is big and reasonable. Many animals practice this iron law. Chimpanzees, gorillas, mice, etc., are the ones who are better able to fight and who are the boss. Humans are no exception. Whoever can make people scared through intimidation, attack, and oppression can control power.
Political Behavior
Power is the theme of politics, and the core is “when there are more people in the world, when you divide the world, there are fewer people.” To put it bluntly, it means to use benefits, human relations, etc. to pull alliances and build relationships. The American political scientist Mesquita pointed out that whoever can seize the core supporters can control power. For example, at the end of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan received the support of the Guanlong nobles, and only then did the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Getting in a relationship (something seems wrong) | giphy
Public Behavior
It means doing more good deeds. Laozi’s philosophy has the wisdom of “giving first if you want to get it”. Psychologists have summed up a “principle of reciprocity”. Before gaining power, give favors to gain the trust and approval of others. Whether it’s Liu Bei, the “benevolent gentleman” or Songjiang, the “distributor of wealth”, whether it is a true gentleman or a hypocrite, all have gained power.
Prestige Behavior
Thrush has a characteristic of this bird. The most prestigious big boss will feed the birds and give everyone a watch. If there are other birds who want to watch instead of the big boss, the big boss will attackit. To put it plainly is to compete for the opportunity to “serve the people.” Corresponding to human society, if you have the ability, and this ability can help everyone and bring prestige to yourself, it will be easier to gain power.
Although there are four methods, but the core is only one: find the right person to influencebang ta.
Domination-aggressive behavior is scary; political behavior emphasizes finding someone, who can help him achieve his goal, buy him or threaten him; public behavior and prestige behavior are respectable. Whether it is scary or respectable, it can influence others.
Lively and cheerful is the last word
Next, let’s talk about the relationship between these four methods and “extraversion”.
There are two studies in the paper with the same idea: first measure the personality characteristics of a group of people, and then measure the power index of these people after 14 years. The difference is that the second study also measured the behavior patterns of these people in the organization (dominant-aggressive behavior, political behavior, public behavior, prestige behavior). In the second study, Anderson and others obtained data on 214 people.
After some analysis, the researchers found that the strongest relationship with “high power” is political behavior and prestige behavior. At the same time, those who are more “bad” are more likely to make “dominant-aggressive behavior”, but rarely do “political behavior”, “public behavior”, “prestige behavior”. Extroverts are more likely to perform the above four behaviors.
Extroverts are better at four methods and multi-pronged approach | giphy
In other words, “bad guys” are more likely to help them gain power by dominating and attacking others, but they rarely serve the people and don’t care about their reputation, which prevents them from gaining power. If the two are offset, the advantage is gone. On the other hand, extroverts, although they may also dominate and aggressive behavior, are also good at handling relationships, so they are more likely to succeed as leaders.
The researcher also admits that this research is still inadequate. For example, if only the situation in the United States is studied, the results of different cultures may be different. For another example, the participants in the research are all undergraduates from elite universities. Perhaps their academic qualifications and abilities allow them to “success without getting worse.”
Furthermore, although the time span has been more than ten years, in the longer term, will the bad guys “hold on to power after gaining power and not let go” so that they can better retain power? Hope that more research in the future will give the answer.
According to the current research results, if you really desire power, but are not so outgoing, it doesn’t matter, you might as well try to serve the people more.
Hey…why! | giphy
References
[1]Anderson, C., Sharps, DL, Soto, CJ, & John, OP (2020). People with disagreeable personalities (selfish, combative, and manipulative) do not have an advantage in pursuing power at work. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(37), 22780–22786.