Power Poison on Humanity Essay Sample

In today's world, power is often used in many different ways, from controlling something or controlling behavior to directing or influencing others, as a result, many people are seeking power. However, power can also be a destructive force; not just physically but also psychologically. Humanity suffers from power in many ways because it lessens morality and leads people to dehumanize themselves and others around them.

Although power can give you more control over the decisions you make, having too much control can lessen your moral integrity.The article “power and morality”  discusses how power influences morality of the individual holding it. “the powerful have reduced pressure to abide by social norms or perform ‘good’ behaviors.”(Lammer et al.) .As humans perceive power as superior, powerful people have no pressure from their surroundings to behave ethically or morally, and this can result in immoral acts,which lead to a lack of morality.The article also argues that power encourages an individual to engage in only self-beneficial behavior.  “ those with power is more likely to engage in self-beneficial behavior”(Lammer et al.).Whenever an individual gains power, they are more likely to want to keep it and acquire even more, as a result, they are more likely to engage in behaviors that will benefit them and their power, these behaviors are performed out of fear of losing power, or in other words, losing control and becoming inferior. These often immoral or self-beneficial behaviors are motivated by this fear.

The article " The impact of power on humanity" examines how power affects our self-perception which in turn affects our humanity.“Self-perception directs a person’s attention inward, focusing on the self and comparing it with the most salient self-relevant standard or goal [”(Yang et al.). Since power is one of the most important standards we frequently compare ourselves with, the more removed a human is from the standard, the more enclosed they become and the less human they believe themselves to be in comparison to the individual with power. Therefore, they deem themselves to be less worthy or less human compared to the individual with power, which leads them to dehumanize themselves. The article also talks about how power affects  our perception of ourselves more than our negative thoughts.“Self-dehumanization also appears to be a consequence of powerlessness rather than an incidental result of a change in mood or a negative self-view. ”(Yang et al.).Because power is perceived by humans as superior, in other words, more human, powerless humans see themselves as less human since they lack superiority. Instead of dehumanizing themselves because of their pessimistic self-view, powerless humans dehumanize themselves because they lack power.While humans perceive power as being  superior, when we use it to confine our thoughts, we come to think negatively. Consequently, we dehumanize ourselves automatically and unconsciously.

Power can confine our thoughts and our self-perception, doing so causes  us to dehumanize those around us because we see them as less human as a result of lack of power and its affect.In the article “the impact of power on humanity” discusses how dehumanization has developed and what its effects are on the surrounding environment.”People in a position of low power viewed themselves as less human relative to people in a position of high power; furthermore, people with low power believed that they were viewed as less human by others as well”(Yang et al.).In human culture, power is viewed as being superior and what makes you more human, and if a human has little power, they tend to see themselves as being less human in comparison to the powerful, and as a result, people also tend to think they are viewed as being less human by others. This self-view can catalyze dehumanization among powerless society and will create a society that sees itself as less human and believes that others think the same.In the article Dehumanization in organizational settings" discusses how society can impact humanity and what defines humanity.“When someone is dehumanized, they are implicitly or explicitly perceived as lacking qualities that are considered to be characteristically human.”(Ellemers et al.).Considering power superior to humans means altering one's sense of human decency among the powerless. It is considered fundamental to society to have power because it signifies being more human. Humans are dehumanized when they are considered to lack certain traits that make them human. Therefore, if lack of power means less human, then it leads to the dehumanization of those without power.

Our  Human culture views power as a sweet candy, but in fact, it is poison; it not only destroys those around it, but it destroys the individual who holds it. Power has a detrimental effect on the way people perceive themselves and others, but it also has a detrimental impact on the morality of an individual.So as power seems to be great it is an enemy of a great magnitude , but we can’t  get rid  of power,since  it became one of  our human nature.Humans are born with some  traits but others are created.