Feeling Powerless Impairs Higher Mental Abilities

Building on earlier research showing powerlessness causes us to constantly evaluate and redirect our actions based on watchful response to those in power, Pamela Smith from Radboud University Nijmegen completed an interesting set of experiments showing that even the suggestion of powerlessness has an effect on performance.

See the original Not Exactly Rocket Science post about these studies.

Photo by K’tanya de la Etalon