Transcript August 1939 - Anthony Pratkanis

The Summer of 1939
Summer of 1939: Lecture
Objectives
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2.
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4.
Describe the events of the summer of 1939
and the dilemma of the Nazi vote.
Describe the Lewin democracy experiment.
State why laissez-faire turns to autocracy.
Contrast the nature of democracy and
autocracy.
Two events of Summer 1939
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Hitler invades Poland & Czechoslovakia
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Jagiellonian University
Kurt Lewin and his students Ralph
White and Ron Lippitt publish their
experiments on the nature of
democracy and autocracy conducted at
Iowa University
Hitler’s rise to power
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Fought in WWI
1920s-1930s: Germany in relative deprivation (Treaty of
Versailles; Frei Corp.)
His demagoguery emphasized: nationalism, anti-Semitism, anticommunism, Aryan strength
Becomes Chancellor in 1932; Nazi party in 1932-33 elections
receives 33.1, 37.4, & 44.9% of votes
Autocratic rule (propaganda to justify regime; power
accumulated in the Nazi party)
Results:
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36.5 million human beings died in WWII
6 million Jews (over 90% of the total Jewish population in Europe)
plus untold other “undesirables” killed in genocide known as the
holocaust
Kurt Lewin
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Fought for the Germans in WWI
Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi Germany in
1932
Founder of the field of experimental social
psychology
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First dissertations in social psychology
His heirs in social psychology
Wondered: What is the nature of
democracy?
The dilemma of Nazi vote
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Common definition of democracy: majority
rule of the people (through the vote)
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Is it just majority rule and elections? If so,
then Nazi Germany was a democracy
And so are: Soviet Union, Castro’s Cuba, Iran,
Mussolini’s Italy (mob) plus other despotic
regimes
Iraq & Palestine?
What is democracy?
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“Democracy must be something more
than two wolves and a sheep voting on
what to have for lunch.”
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James Bovard (civil libertarian)
What is the “more?”
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Wertheimer: the protection of minority rights and
the fostering of institutions to support those rights
Imagine that we vote that Student X must always
bring donuts to class.
Minority = those not in the majority due to opinion,
ethnicity, religion, or whatever.
A common complaint: Why did the courts overturn
the will of the people?
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Will of the people
Power to the people
How to protect minority rights
– America’s solution
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Madisonian principles in the US
Constitution
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Place checks and balances on the
accumulation and use of power
Bill of Rights (plus some Constitutional
amendments)
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Contract among citizens to protect each
others’ rights
What is the “more?”
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Kurt Lewin: Democracy and autocracy are
“climates” or patterns of social relationships.”
Democracy: Leader leads the group in
setting policy, tasks, and procedures
Autocracy: Leader sets policy, tasks, and
procedures
Laissez-faire: Do your own thing; no leader
involvement
Conducted an experiment to understand the
nature of these relationships
Lewin’s experiment on democracy,
autocracy, and laissez-faire
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Setting: Boy’s club
IV: Different types of leadership
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DV: Social effects
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Democracy
Autocracy
Laissez-faire
Productivity & Creativity
Satisfaction and happiness
Hostility (false accusations)
Show DVD of original footage
Results of Lewin’s experiment
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Productivity & Creativity
Satisfaction and happiness
Hostility (false accusations)
Productivity & Creativity
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Democracy
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Autocracy
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High rate of production; most creative
products
High rate of production, but only when the
boss was present; no creativity
Laissez-faire
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Lowest rate of production; poor creativity
Democracy and Productivity
on the world stage
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Poor democracies compared to poor autocracies
show democracies
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Higher economic growth rates
Better quality of life (clean water, literacy, agriculture yields,
health)
9 years longer life expectancy
Better at avoiding calamites (e.g. severe crop failure;
economic ruin)
Autocracies show short productivity increases that then
decline
From: Siegle, Weinstein, & Halperin Sept/Oct 2004
Foreign Affairs
Satisfaction
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Democracy
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Autocracy
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Friendly relations; liked the group and
group members
Dependency & frustration; manipulative of
others (hide feelings)
Laissez-faire
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High discontent; bored; high-drop-out rate
Democracy and Satisfaction on
the world stage
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Surveys of 100,000 person in 55 nations.
Nations measured on capitalistic democracy
vs. autocracy
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High income, individualism, human rights, and
social equality
Subjective well-being is highly correlated with
the indicators of capitalistic democracy
Hostility
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Democracy
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Autocracy
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Moderate rate of hostility
Exp 1: Highest rates of hostility
Exp 2: Highest rates (for certain leaders) and
lowest rates (for other leaders) that become high
when leader leaves
Laissez-faire
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High rates of hostility due to boredom (horseplay
to pass the time)
Hostility in autocracies
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Leaders maintain their power through:
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Scapegoating (blaming problems on a few out-members)
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Projection (accusing others of your own misdeeds)
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Leader excuse for failure
Hatred of scapegoat increases cohesion
Monkey on a stick: You don’t want to be a scapegoat
Self-esteem boost (not like them)
Deflects attention from leader’s sins and places blame on
others
Two important indicators of authoritarian leaders but
it requires careful analysis
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Sibling accuses sibling of stealing the cookie; to know the
truth requires detailed “detective work”
Why less hostility in
democracies?
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Throughout history: No mature
democracy has ever attacked another
mature democracy!
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War of 1812 possible exception
Mature democracies are not less aggressive than
autocracies; just that mature democracies do not
attack each other
Immature democracies have higher rates of
attacks than either autocracy or mature
democracy
Why this pattern?
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Mature democracies:
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Have mechanisms for conflict resolution other than war
Have means for status attainment other than position in
hierarchy
Have interdependencies that dampen conflict
Immature democracies
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Do not have well-established conflict resolution mechanisms
Leaders may need to appeal to the people to maintain
power and to do that it is useful to create scapegoats and
enemies
Litwin & Stringer 1968
replication
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Set up a mock business simulation with
autocratic vs. democratic (affiliation) vs.
democratic (achievement) leadership
Democratic (affiliation): leader encouraged
placing a premium on good (fun)
relationships (t-groups)
Democratic (achievement): leader
encouraged achievement through personal
goal setting
Litwin & Stringer results
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Autocratic
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Norms
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Leaders and workers separated
“Follow the rules or else” norm
Do only what you are told
Results
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High rate of production but a costly production
process that negated profits; no innovation
Low job satisfaction
Litwin & Stringer results
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Democratic (affiliation)
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Norms
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Friendliness amongst all
Equality
Democratic decision making
Results
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Low productivity and moderate innovations
High job satisfaction
Litwin & Stringer results
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Democratic (achievement)
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Norms (Silicon Valley)
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Keep busy; take on work
Teamwork
Individual responsibility for job
Make job fun
Beat everyone else (competition)
Results
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High productivity and very high innovations
High job satisfaction
The Lewin experiment in
broader context
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What have we learned about the nature
of the three types of climates?
Laissez-faire is not democracy
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Some of Lewin’s experimenters at first
thought democracy was merely do your own
thing
Today’s variants of laissez-faire
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Libertarianism
New Age
Radical free market (kleptocracy)
Lesson: Democracy is not the lack of
persuasion (propaganda) but persuasion of a
certain kind (self-generated, participatory
persuasion)
Laissez-faire becomes
autocracy
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Michels Iron Law of Oligopoly: all forms
of organizations will eventually and
inevitably develop into oligarchies
(political power rest with a few elites)
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Michels was a socialist observing his own
movement
Anthony’s Addendum: unless that
organization takes the steps needed to
prevent the rise of autocracy
Why the Iron Law of
Oligopoly?
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Power (influence) abhors a vacuum
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Why are there North and South Koreas?
Iraq post Saddam
Lord Acton: "Power tends to corrupt, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
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David Kipnis: experimental studies placing people
in power creates a metamorphism:
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Devalues target of influence; uses influence more;
believe he/she deserves to use power; believe that they
are more worthy than others
Nature of Democracy vs.
Autocracy
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The State is a
constitutional
democracy or
Abraham Lincoln’s
principles “of the
people, for the
people, by the
people” under the
rule of law
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Individual serves
state & leader or
Ulpain’s principle of
Quod principi placuit
legis vigorem habet.
(What pleases the
prince has the force
of law).
Nature of Democracy vs.
Autocracy
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Co-participation of
leaders in
discovering solutions
Authority used to
stimulate discussion
System of checks
and balances
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Predetermined
solution by elites
Authority used to
induce acceptance
of elites
Leader behavior not
constrained by rules
of group
Nature of Democracy vs.
Autocracy
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Reciprocity of influence;
multiple independent
sources of information
Decentralized
communication
Flexible group
boundaries and roles
that allow additional
resources to be
obtained to solve
problems
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Unidirectional influence
from elites; single or
colluding sources of
information
Centralized
communication
Rigid group boundaries
and social roles
Nature of Democracy vs.
Autocracy
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Minority opinion
encouraged as a means
of better decision
making; feedback
encouraged
Agenda, objectives, and
work tasks set through
group discussion
Rewards used to move
group towards
objectives
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Minority opinion is
censored via neglect,
ridicule, social pressure,
or persecution;
feedback discouraged
Agenda, objectives, and
work tasks set by elites
Rewards used to
maintain group
structure and leader’s
status and power
Nature of Democracy vs.
Autocracy
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Merit based promotion
Decisions are fact-based
and requires technical
skills
Capable of seeing
“gray” of complex
issues
Compromise & mutual
gain
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Promotion based on
obedience and loyalty to
own group
Decisions based on
truthiness, self-interest,
and corruption
Manchesian black-white
thinking
Squash the opposition
Nature of Democracy vs.
Autocracy
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Persuasion based on
debate, discussion,
and careful
consideration of
options; selfgenerated and
participatory;
persuasion as
discovery
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Propaganda that
plays on prejudices
and emotions
The next lectures
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Address John Dewey & Ben Franklin’s concerns:
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Freedom isn’t free
What are the social psychological processes that promote
autocracy and how can they be checked?
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Dewey: “Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and
education is its midwife."
As he left the 1787 Constitutional Convention, a Mrs. Powell asked:
“What have you given us, Dr. Franklin?“ Franklin replied, "A
republic if you can keep it.”
Obedience to authority, conformity, granfallooning, rationalization,
propaganda, concentration of power, corruption
What are the social psychological processes that promote
democracy and how can they be developed?
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Tolerance & empathy, minority influence, prejudice-reduction,
growth of middle-class, DIME & conflict resolution
But first….
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We will look at why utopias fail
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See the power of the Iron law and the
need for conflict resolution mechanisms to
resolve tensions
Begin our discussion on how to implement
the democratic climate
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What could these utopias have done to create a
successful social organization?