Powerful don't practise what they preach
Science suggests that power can corrupt
Influential members of society with a strict moral outlook have often been accused of hypocrisy when news emerges of private-life scandals.
The MP expenses saga is a good example, where those in power call for high ethical standards while adopting morally suspect practices themselves.
Now the theory that powerful people who take a moral high ground do not always practise what they preach has been backed up by scientific research, reports the Association for Psychological Science (APS).
Researchers from the Northwestern University in Illinois, US, assigned roles of high and low power to a group of volunteers, such as "prime minister" and "civil servant".
The participants were then presented with moral dilemmas related to breaking traffic rules, declaring taxes, and returning a stolen bike.
In one experiment the "powerful" participants condemned cheating but, when given a chance to cheat on a dice game to win lottery tickets, the high-power group recorded more wins than low-power participants did.
Research leader Adam Galinsky said that power and influence "can cause a severe disconnect between public judgment and private behaviour".
"As a result," he continued, "the powerful are stricter in their judgment of others while being more lenient toward their own actions."
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