Authority-Misinfluence Tendency
Having evolved to follow leaders within dominance hierarchies, humans defer to authority figures more or less automatically — which causes serious harm when the authority is wrong, misheard, or misunderstood. One of Charlie Munger’s 25 causes of human misjudgment.
Examples
- Milgram’s experiments: ordinary people administering “shocks” on an experimenter’s say-so
- A co-pilot deferring to a captain’s error rather than challenging it
- Accepting a claim because an authority asserted it, without checking the reasoning
Why It Happens
Following competent leaders was usually adaptive, so the deference response is fast and largely unconscious. It fires on the trappings of authority (title, uniform, confidence) as readily as on genuine expertise.
How to Counteract
- Distinguish authority from evidence — ask for the reasoning, not just the rank
- Build cultures where subordinates are expected to voice doubts (e.g. cockpit resource management)
- Check whether the authority is actually expert in this specific question