Powers Corruptive Potential

[Trav]

Recently a string of scandals amongst high ranking political figures have been occurring, first was the discovery that Arnold Schwarzenegger had a son with one of his cleaning staff. Now their are charges levied against International Monetary Fund Chief (Dominique Strauss-Kahn) of Sexual Assault. Of course the two cases are very different, in one the sexual relations were clearly consensual and occurred years ago, and in the other their are criminal charges that sexual assault was perpetrated recently by the defendant.

Of course these arn't the only recent news of corrupt dealings at the hands of powerful people. Considering the recent discovery that facebook has been hiring a PR company for smear campaigns as pointed out in Button's thread.

All of this brings to mind an interesting question from the perspective of psychologists. In a recent article on wired the question that is asked is just how corruptible power is and what trends are observed in those given heightened status in society.

What do you think?

As the wired article implies, does even just the sense of being more in control of a situation make people act in ways they otherwise wouldn't?

Also, Does the media's release of information over a decade old about Schwarzenegger's love life seem somewhat strange when other news that is current and relevant to far more people (such as the increased unemployment rates of undergraduates) abound? Do you think Schwarzenegger's love life is somehow relevant to the majority of society?

[ThexDarksider]

I've never had much power so I wouldn't know. Knowledge is power and I'm stupid.