Florence Bernays

Charismatic leaders have been depicted as heroic figures who are “endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities” (Weber, 1968; 241) because they leave people mesmerized by signaling charisma (House & Shamir, 1993). While existing research paints an overly positive picture of charisma, we highlight a potential dark side of taking people under the spell. In six randomized experiments with more than 600 participants in which we manipulated charisma, we found evidence that charisma disrupts memory in such a way that people become susceptible to recalling information that was never presented but is consistent with the speaker's message, leading to the creation of memories. In addition, we find that although people exposed to charisma have faulty memories, they are more convinced that their memories are actually true. Finally, we show that the more convinced people were that their false memories were true, the more likely they were to support the speaker's political campaign and the more money they were willing to spend to meet the speaker. Our findings reveal a dark side of charisma that may explain why people choose to follow those leaders blindly.