Active Mechanisms for Rationalizing and Forgiving Misconduct of the Powerful

Key Insight

Several cognitive and social mechanisms actively work to ignore or rationalize the misbehavior of powerful individuals, ensuring their enduring status. Motivated cognition is a fundamental process where personal goals and needs steer thinking toward desired conclusions, leading people to 'see—and believe—what they want to.' This desire for cognitive consistency means that once a person is identified as powerful, rich, or successful, other beliefs about them, such as being moral, competent, or intelligent, are automatically generated and reinforced, making it easier to believe traits congruent with their achievements than to deny the objective facts of their power.

The belief in a just world also plays a significant role; most people want to believe that individuals get what they deserve, which means those who have prospered are seen as deserving their good fortune, even if their success resulted from chance. This cognitive bias imputes positive behaviors and traits to the powerful, prompting others to act favorably toward them, seek proximity, and praise them, thereby perpetuating their reality of power and status. Furthermore, moral rationalization allows individuals to continue supporting public figures or companies despite immoral behavior by redefining harmful conduct, minimizing the perpetrator's role or the harm caused, or even blaming the victim.

An even more common process is moral decoupling, where observers acknowledge wrongdoing but rationalize their continued attraction by arguing that the immoral behavior is irrelevant to the present context or the individual's performance. For instance, Tiger Woods’s extramarital affairs are deemed irrelevant to his skill as a golfer, or Bill Clinton’s dalliance with Monica Lewinsky separated from his ability to manage the US economy. This psychological separation is cognitively easier, allowing support for an immoral actor while condemning the transgression, thus preserving one's moral self-image. Furthermore, the powerful actively control their narratives, using resources to 'create' history that whitewashes misdeeds, as seen with Jack Dorsey's rebranding of his role in Twitter's creation. Wealth is also strategically deployed for charitable donations to prestigious institutions, effectively 'purchasing' social status and legitimacy, thereby ensuring missteps are overlooked or forgotten. Examples include Gary Winnick, who sold 738 million in stock as Global Crossing went bankrupt, but after contributing 80 million to settlements, retained 658 million and avoided criminal charges, becoming a generous benefactor. Michael Milken, after pleading guilty to six criminal violations and paying 1.1 billion in fines, donated over 1 billion to various causes, leading to a university school being renamed in his honor. Tech executives like Parker Conrad, despite being forced to resign from Zenefits amid allegations of flouting laws, had no trouble attracting initial investment for new ventures, such as Rippling raising 145 million at a 1.35 billion valuation, or Mike Cagney receiving 17 million and later another 41 million for his startup after being ousted from SoFi for misconduct.