Charisma and health

[todaysdate]

By Kimberly Burnham

When I apply my brakes at a red light and keep my car stopped until the light turns green, I am mindlessly following a rule or what someone has told me to do. Each time I see a red light, I don’t think about whether I feel like stopping or look both ways and chose to drive through the red light because no cars are coming. I obey traffic rule as a matter of course because someone in power told me to do it. I believe in this case it is a good thing, but is it always?

When I lived in Japan, I heard a joke, “What would happen if there was a revolt and the people stormed the imperial palace?” says a foreigner.

“The mob would never get into the palace,” says his Japanese friend.

“How would the government stop them?”

“Simple, they would just turn all the lights around the palace red and no one would cross the street.”

Who do we obey? Who do you believe?

Is charisma about the speaker’s ability to convince you of their argument with persuasive verbal or writing skills, thereby drawing you in to their way to thinking about the world or is it just as much about your desire to believe in them?

In a 2011 MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) study, published in the Journal of Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, researchers noted, “Recipients’ assumptions about senders’ charismatic abilities have important effects on their executive network [brain function]. Most notably, the Christian participants deactivated the frontal network [frontal lobe] in response to speakers who they believed had healing abilities. These observations point to an important mechanism of authority that may facilitate charismatic influence, a mechanism which is likely to be present in other interpersonal interactions as well,” according to Schjoedt, U., H. Stodkilde-Jorgensen, et al.  “The power of charisma–perceived charisma inhibits the frontal executive network of believers in intercessory prayer.” 

There can be many situations in which we deactivate our frontal lobe function (thinking, cognitive processing) and get lead in a particular direction. If we consciously make those same choices we may or may not act in the same way.

How much consciousness do we need to apply to our choices? The other day I was editing a book and noticed with my Word document spelling and grammar checker that many of the stories were written in passive voice. Things were happening to the people rather than the speaker writing about each choice they made and how their choices lead to a certain experience. Part of this is how we tend to write about past events but I believe the words we use and how we describe the choices and results influence how we feel about the results.

Following leaders can sometimes be a good thing. We might follow someone who has more experience, more education, or more sense than we do. It can be a short cut to success and happiness to follow someone’s lead, especially if they have already achieved goals you admire.

But what of those times when the leader is not working for the good of the community or worse is leading people down what turns out to be a dangerous path? How can we keep our frontal lobe functioning, make good choices and still be open to learning from those who know more than we do?

One way to answer this question is to make a list of the leaders in your life. Who do you respect, listen to or rely on for guidance? For each person list the characteristics you appreciate and the goals that you feel they can help you with. Bring some consciousness to whose direction you choose to follow.