TRACK 25

Power Play
POWER PLAY

The most
powerful
people on
the planet
In a recent article
The effects of power. on the 50 most
powerful people in
Does power corrupt people? No! “Power Powerless or Neutral. Then the students had the planet, the top
breeds competence,” says a new study by to perform several tasks. “In the end, the four were:
Psychological Science magazine. Researchers students in power positions did better than Bill Gates (chairman
are surprised at the results. They expected the others,” a researcher said. “The powerless of Microsoft);
to find that power would affect people participants felt out of control. We believe
negatively. However, they found that that the psychology of feeling powerless is
power actually forces people to act more what keeps society’s poorest members poor.
intelligently. For example, people in top This new power perspective could help us
job positions make fewer mistakes at work, fight large-scale poverty,” she added.
researchers say. And people who feel
unimportant and powerless at the office Areyoufeeling
make more mistakes. It’s not for lack of powerfultoday?
intelligence or ability, though. It’s about how Eric Schmidt (CEO
of Google);
you feel about your role. Why work hard if
you feel your job is unimportant?

America’s Northwestern University and

Dutch researchers tested this theory on
Dutch university students. Psychiatrists
put the students in three groups: Powerful,

Larry Ellison (CEO of

Oracle) and

Sam Palmisano
(CEO of IBM).

ANSWERS ON PAGE 58
1 Discussion 3 Reading II
Discuss these questions with your partner. Use these useful True or false?
expressions to help you express yourself: Well, it depends on… 1. According to new research, power can be
I believe… I think… positive. GLOSSARY
to breed vb
1. Who is the most powerful person in the 2. Power makes people act foolishly. to produce; to create
a researcher n
world? 3. The main point of the article is: more power = a scientist
2. Who is the most powerful person in your fewer mistakes. powerless adj
with no power
country? 4. The experiment on Dutch employees was to a lack of n
3. What would you do if you were the most determine how power affects your work. an absence of something
a role n
powerful person in the world? the part you play in something

4. Does power corrupt people? Language alert! a task n

a job
poverty n
How many parts of speech can you make a situation in which many people
2 Reading I from “power”? powerful, powered, etc. are poor and do not have basic
amenities (water, electricity, etc)
Read the article and find the answer to question 4. What do they mean?. CEO abbr
Chief Executive Officer

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