Power, politics, and paranoia : why people are suspicious of their leaders

"Powerful societal leaders - such as politicians and Chief Executives - are frequently met with substantial distrust by the public. But why are people so suspicious of their leaders? One possibility is that 'power corrupts', and therefore people are right in their reservations. Indeed, there are numerous examples of unethical leadership, even at the highest level, as the Watergate and Enron scandals clearly illustrate. Another possibility is that people are unjustifiably paranoid, as underscored by some of the rather far-fetched conspiracy theories that are endorsed by a surprisingly large portion of citizens. Are societal power holders more likely than the average citizen to display unethical behaviour? How do people generally think and feel about politicians? How do paranoia and conspiracy beliefs about societal power holders originate? In this book, prominent scholars address these intriguing questions and illuminate the many facets of the relations between power, politics and paranoia"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 Figures 9 Tables 11 Contributors 12 Preface 15 1 Power, politics, and paranoia: an introduction 19 The origins of suspiciousness towards leaders 20 Part I - power 23 Part II - politics 25 Part III - paranoia 27 Closing remarks 31 I Power 33 2 The effects of power on immorality 35 Positions of power 37 Feelings of power 39 Actual differences in power 44 Discussion: does power corrupt? 46 Conclusion 48 3 Do we give power to the right people? When and how norm violators rise to the top 51 From power to norm violation 52 From norm violation to power 53 When do norm violators rise to power? Making sense of a paradox 55 Proposition 1: prosocial norm violations fuel power affordance, but selfish norm violations do not 56 Proposition 2: cultural tightness and collectivism alter people’s attitude towards norm violations 60 Proposition 3: norm violations are an insidious means of hierarchy reinforcement 62 Epilogue 65 4 The leaders’ rosy halo: why do we give power holders the benefit of the doubt? 71 Corruption as a function of the power holder 71 A more complex view of the power holder 73 Corruption as a function of the perceiver 75 The rosy halo: power casts a positive light on those who hold it 76 Evidence for the rosy halo 79 Conclusions and implications 84 5 “Power corrupts” revisited: the role of construal of power as opportunity or responsibility 91 From power to responsible action 92 The construal of power as opportunity or responsibility and its impact on the attraction of power 95 When power is construed as opportunity versus responsibility 98 Conclusion 101 II Politics 107 6 Never trust a politician? Collective distrust, relational accountability, and voter response 109 Fundamental dimensions of social cognition 110 Foreshadows 110 Candidates 110 Groups in society 111 Politicians in the warmth by competence space 112 Affect matters 116 Warmth, competence, emotions, and behavior 117 Importance of affect for politicians 117 Role of emotions in decisions 118 Recap 119 Relational accountability 120 Conclusion 120 7 Political distrust: the seed and fruit of popular empowerment 124 Political distrust 127 Putting people, government, and political distrust in context 129 The conditions of disadvantage 134 The failures of institutional structures and political elites 136 Conclusions and future directions 139 8 All power to our great leader: political leadership under uncertainty 148 Leadership and influence 150 Social identity and leadership 152 Social identity theory 153 Uncertainty-identity theory 154 Social identity theory of leadership 155 Uncertainty and power in authoritarian states 157 Conclusion 161 9 Those who supported and voted for Berlusconi: a social-psychological profile of the willing followers of a controversial political leader 168 Introduction 168 Social attitudes and political beliefs 170 Values 177 Personality 181 Rise and decline but no surrender 185 Why have people continued to support Berlusconi over the years? 187 10 A growing confidence gap in politics? Data versus discourse 194 A growing gap between citizens and politicians? 194 Distinguishing democratic regime, institutions, and political actors 197 Within-country variation 206 From legitimacy crisis to healthy mistrust? 210 III Paranoia 215 11 Misconnecting the dots: origins and dynamics of out-group paranoia 217 Conceptualizing out-group paranoia 219 Hierarchical trust dilemmas as contexts for the emergence of out-group paranoia 221 Out-group paranoia in hierarchical trust dilemmas: a conceptual framework 223 Implications and conclusions 229 12 Political paranoia and conspiracy theories 236 What makes a theory conspiracist? 237 The paranoid style 239 Psychological perspectives 242 Personality and individual differences 244 What is to be done? 246 13 The social dimension of belief in conspiracy theories 255 Conspiracy beliefs as perceived intergroup threat 256 Interpersonal paranoia versus conspiracy beliefs 258 Interpersonal paranoia 258 The social dimension of conspiracy beliefs 260 Feeling rejected by a powerful out-group 263 Feeling connected with the in-group 264 Concluding remarks 267 14 Examining the monological nature of conspiracy theories 272 The monological belief system 274 Problems for the monological position 275 Conspiracy theories are not mutually supportive 276 Lack of evidence 277 Lack of parsimony and viability of simpler alternatives 278 Conspiracy theories: variable or variables? 282 Closing comments 285 15 The role of paranoia in a dual-process motivational model of conspiracy belief 291 Psychology and conspiracy belief 291 Motivational goals underlying individual differences in prejudice and sociopolitical behavior 294 SDO, RWA, and conspiracy 295 Psychopathology, paranoia, and conspiracy belief 295 Accounting for paranoia in a dual-process motivational model of conspiracy belief 296 Data 297 Paranoia and conspiracy belief: analysis and discussion 298 Bringing together paranoia, conspiracy, and the dual-process model: analysis and discussion 299 Concluding remarks 304 16 Searching for the root of all evil: an existential-sociological perspective on political enemyship and scapegoating 310 Enemyship and politics 310 An existential theory of (political) enemyship 312 Enemyship in service of death denial 314 Enemyship in service of identity maintenance 315 Enemyship in service of control maintenance 317 Enemyship in service of guilt denial 318 A sociological perspective on political enemyship 319 The social construction of ambiguously powerful enemies 319 Quantitative variation in enemyship and scapegoating processes 320 Qualitative variation in enemyship and scapegoating processes 321 System disorder under general conditions of existential insecurity 322 System disorder under totalitarian conditions 323 System disorder with resource inequality 324 Conclusion 325 Index 330 Why are people frequently suspicious of powerful societal leaders? Does power corrupt? Or are people just paranoid? This book offers novel insights into power, leadership, political psychology, and paranoid beliefs. It will appeal to scientists, students, and practitioners with an interest in the psychological roots of political paranoia.