Image by Sanna Jågas
In This Article:
- How does power influence happiness and authenticity?
- What do studies reveal about power's impact on well-being?
- How does cultural context affect the power-authenticity relationship?
- Why can power be both beneficial and dangerous?
- How can power be wielded responsibly to enhance collective well-being?
Is Power a Drug, or a Means to Happiness?
by Patricia Anne Saunders.
The rich philistinism emanating from advertisements is due not to their exaggerating (or inventing) the glory of this or that serviceable article but to suggesting that the acme of human happiness is purchasable and that its purchase somehow ennobles the purchaser. -- Vladimir Nabukov
According to research by Yona Kifer of Tel Aviv University and her colleagues, powerful people can “navigate their lives in congruence with their internal desires and inclinations.”2 The reason for this is that power increases the connections between the way we feel and the way we behave. Therefore, the authors of the research hypothesize that power enhances our subjective well-being by letting us feel more “authentic.”
Authentic is a much-used word today. Basically, it means being true to ourselves, honest with ourselves and with others, and avoiding pretense. A caveat here is that “authentic” should not mean hurting others with our honesty. There is such a thing as speaking the sweet truth that is honest yet kind and uplifting.
If we are being true to ourselves, then, apparently, we are more content with our lives. The only caveat here is that our personalities, beliefs, and feelings are not set in stone; they change as we mature and as we reject some things and accept others.
Being true to ourselves makes more sense if we not only recognize and accept the fact that we change but look more deeply into the essence of ourselves—who we really are. This is true authenticity.
Does Power Lead to Contentment?
Yona Kifer’s team carried out three experiments. In the first, 350 participants were surveyed to see if inner feelings of power were tied to subjective well-being in the contexts of work, romantic relationships, and friends. In a fascinating study, the outcomes demonstrated that the most powerful people in any of these contexts tended to be more content.
- 16% experienced greater satisfaction with their lives compared to the least powerful people as seen primarily at work; and
- powerful employees experienced a 26% increase in job satisfaction compared to colleagues who were considered powerless.
However, in the categories of romantic relationships and friends, the results indicated a smaller percentage.
- In only 18% of romantic relationships were powerful romantic partners more satisfied.
- With friendships, this figure shrank to 11%.
The researchers consider that in terms of friendships, such a low figure might be due to the fact that friendships are associated with feelings of community rather than power rankings.
Does Power Lead to Authenticity?
In the second and third experiments, Yona Kifer and colleagues evaluated the causal relationship between power, feelings of authenticity, and general well-being by manipulating each of these independently.
The results showed that power causes people to feel more “true to themselves” in the sense that there is a close bond between beliefs, desires, and actions. Hence, in the minds of the researchers, feelings of authenticity increase subjective feelings of well-being and happiness.
Authenticity vs. Collectivism
While the importance of authenticity is supported by earlier research, which suggests that authenticity is integral to well-being, more recent research exploring the relationship between authenticity, well-being, and employee engagement suggests that the bond between authenticity and well-being is stronger in the West than it is in the East. The reason for this may be due to the “collectivist” nature of Eastern cultures.
Collectivist cultures exist where a group emphasizes the needs of the collective over the needs of an individual within the group. Anna Sutton from the University of Waikato in New Zealand states, “In general, the more collectivist a culture is, the weaker the positive relationship between authenticity and well-being.” This finding confirms the suggestion that in collectivist cultures, a tendency to be true to oneself may come into conflict with the interests of the group as a whole.
On A Final Note
Yona Kifer and her colleagues point out, “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.”
But however true this conclusion may be, adding and spreading happiness by achieving power can be fraught with danger, since power has a tendency to breed the desire for more power.
In the worst-case scenarios, Hitler’s greed for power resulted in a horrific world war. Stalin caused the deaths of millions through famine and terror concentration camps. Mao was responsible for the deaths of approximately 1.5 million people in the cultural revolution and anywhere up to 45 million during the great famine. And Cambodia’s Pol Pot forced mass evacuations of cities, killed and displaced millions of his own people, and left his country impoverished.
Clearly, achieving happiness through power needs to be handled with caution. It has the added challenge of being largely temporary as any historian knows.
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Article Source:
Book: Creating a Happy World
Creating a Happy World: Cultivating Happiness through the Transcendental Meditation® Program
by Patricia Anne Saunders.
Click here for more info and/or to order this paperback book. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
Patricia Anne Saunders studied music before training as a teacher of the Transcendental Meditation technique. She is now a Ph.D. researcher in the department of Maharishi Vedic Science at Maharishi University of Management, researching into consciousness and Vedic sound from the perspective of the Vedic tradition of knowledge.
Article Recap:
Power, when used wisely, can foster happiness by enhancing authenticity and aligning beliefs with actions. Studies show that power improves well-being, particularly in professional settings, but its benefits vary in relationships and friendships. Cultural factors, such as collectivism, can diminish the power-authenticity link. However, the pursuit of power carries risks, as history reveals its potential to harm. Caution and balance are essential for spreading power and achieving sustainable happiness.
#PowerAndHappiness #Authenticity #WellBeing #CulturalDifferences #PowerDynamics