Here at Deceiver, we don’t think of ourselves as doing much good for society as a whole. We rank ourselves somewhere between a colon cleanse company and Ipecac manufacturers. We have a great product, but we make a lot of people feel sick inside.
According to a recent Northwestern University study, though, we are helping restore balance to the universe. Yep, you heard me right.
It turns out that powerful people really do hold those beneath them to a much higher standard than they hold themselves. So nyah-nyah, it’s not just our enlightened proletariat opinion anymore. The study also confirms that people who don’t feel entitled to power let “the deceivers” get away with it.
We try not to let that happen here, of course. That’s the whole point. We play bookie to the social order, tilting the whole thing back toward center. And our mission has just been legitimized by science. (What WILL we use this new found power for?)
From London’s Telegraph — the parenthetical references are my own, with apologies to Kevin Nealon:
Experts say that these so-called “powerful people” also make stricter moral judgements of others – while doing exactly as they please. Professor Adam Galinsky, from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Illinois, said:
“According to our research, power and influence can cause a severe disconnect between public judgment and private behaviour, and as a result, the powerful are stricter in their judgment of others while being more lenient toward their own actions. The past year has been marked by a series of moral transgressions by powerful figures in political, business and celebrity circles. And this research is especially relevant to the biggest scandals of 2009, as we look back on how private behaviour often contradicted the public stance of particular individuals in power. For instance, we saw some politicians use public funds for private benefits while calling for smaller government, or have extramarital affairs while advocating family values [Mark Sanford, John Edwards, David Letterman]. Similarly, we witnessed CEOs of major financial institutions accepting executive bonuses while simultaneously asking for government bail-out money on behalf of their companies [Goldman Sachs].”
To simulate an experience of power, the researchers assigned roles of high-power and low-power positions to a group of participants. Some were assigned the role of prime minister and others civil servant. The participants were then given moral dilemmas related to breaking traffic rules [Maria Shriver], declaring taxes [Tim Geithner, Bono, Pinch Sulzberger], and returning a stolen bike [Lindsey Lohan, just because...] — in order to “examine the impact of power on moral hypocrisy”.
It was found that the “powerful” participants condemned the cheating of others while cheating more themselves and that high-power participants also tended to condemn over-reporting of travel expenses. But when given a chance to cheat on a dice game to win lottery tickets – played alone in the privacy of a cubicle – the powerful people reported winning a higher amount of lottery tickets than the low-power participants did.
It was also found that those assigned to high-power roles showed “significant” moral hypocrisy by more strictly judging others for speeding, dodging taxes and keeping a stolen bike, while finding it acceptable to do these things themselves.
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If Karma is running a little slow, we can always count on Deceiver to do the job right!
Are these the same scientists they worked on the global warming religion. lol
That picture of John just screans Douche and deceiver.
Hate to say it but this falls in the “No sh$t” category of scientific studies. Like the one awhile back that found out college kids binge drink. And god bless you Deceiver for taking the wind out of a lot of sails. I hope the powers that be don’t come after you.
You hold those guys accountable for their actions. Or not. O.o
Keep up the great work Deceiver, it’s way past time to call out the frauds no matter where they come from. May your site go worldwide viral, and be bigger and better-known than eBay.