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Power Trip By Jonah Lehrer: An Analysis

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Just as many feel a sense of accomplishment when successfully solving a puzzle or mastering a challenging task, obedience can fulfill that same feeling in the brain. Often times, desiring control in life is common from person to person. Obedience rewards the psychological craving for accomplishment, control, and leadership depending on the particular situation, how well that authority is monitored, and the duration of holding that authority position.
Many undervalue the fact that personality traits don’t accurately depict how someone will obey (Ross/Nisbett 628). What is even more undervalued is the influence of a person's environment on what authority they will take in making a decision. As much as obedience is desired, the counterpart is to also fulfill some sort of self interest or fulfillment. Therefore, even if it's out of character, having the authority to make a decision can lead to unpredictable outcomes. …show more content…

In this case, “the very traits that [help someone] accumulate control in the first place all but disappear once they rise to power” which lead to extraordinary ways to justify decisions they may never had made if they had not been in that position of authority and surrounded by certain influences (Lehrer 645). For example, Lee Ross and Richard NIsbett in “The Power of Situations” creates a scenario to explain this false

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