Powerful people rely more on gut feelings for decisions

People who have social power tend to rely a lot on their internal body cues when taking important decisions, suggests new research. “Our research suggests that the powerful more strongly rely on gut feelings and internal cues when they make judgments about what they like, what is true, and what they should do,” said lead researcher Karl-Andrew <g data-gr-id="18">Woltin</g> from Royal Holloway, University of London. 

The research looked at how the easiness of high power individuals’ motor actions impacted their judgments. To illustrate, in the experiments people wrote about situations in which they had power over someone else or in which someone else had power over them. “Our findings suggest that mechanisms need to be put into place that make sure power holders do not favour internal cues over other information available to them when they make important decisions,” <g data-gr-id="19">Woltin</g> noted. 

The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.