# Tyrant boss and Stockholm Syndrome **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrant-boss-and-stockholm-syndrome/772257 "2016-11-17T15:10:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrant-boss-and-stockholm-syndrome/772257/1 "2016-11-17T15:10:25Z")
Has anyone suggested that the psychopantic love sometimes displayed in office environments to a tyrant boss could be a manifestation of a type of stockholms syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrant-boss-and-stockholm-syndrome/772257/2 "2016-11-17T15:28:46Z")
Yes, I’ve seen it. One thing I’ve seen that I’ve never understood is how a tyrant boss can royally screw people over and yet the other employees seem to think, “That’ll never happen to me.” or “well so-and-so” deserved it." ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrant-boss-and-stockholm-syndrome/772257/3 "2016-11-17T16:12:23Z")
> [@Carryon](#): > > Yes, I’ve seen it. One thing I’ve seen that I’ve never understood is how a tyrant boss can royally screw people over and yet the other employees seem to think, “That’ll never happen to me.” or “well so-and-so” deserved it." I never really thought of it that way, but I think you’re right - there’s also the thing where people stay in favour with the throne (and remain in a comparatively powerful position) by making others look bad or stealing the credit for their successes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrant-boss-and-stockholm-syndrome/772257/4 "2016-11-17T16:47:46Z")
Before we come up with explanations for this psycopantic (whatever that means) love, can we have some evidence that it actually exists? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrant-boss-and-stockholm-syndrome/772257/5 "2016-11-17T17:21:23Z")
“Sycophantic”? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrant-boss-and-stockholm-syndrome/772257/6 "2016-11-17T17:43:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Before we come up with explanations for this psycopantic (whatever that means) love, can we have some evidence that it actually exists? It’s a perfectly cromulent word. ---
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrant-boss-and-stockholm-syndrome/772257/7 "2016-11-17T18:04:48Z")
Moderator…apologies…it should have read sycophantic… Could you change the title pls…i mean please ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrant-boss-and-stockholm-syndrome/772257/8 "2016-11-17T18:33:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Before we come up with explanations for this psycopantic (whatever that means) love, can we have some evidence that it actually exists? There are some references to studies in the Wikipedia article about [sycophancy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycophancy), but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it’s pretty widely accepted to exist as a phenomenon, and I think there would be people asserting it to be a myth if it was one. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrant-boss-and-stockholm-syndrome/772257/9 "2016-11-17T18:50:30Z")
It may also be as simple as “if I kiss their ass they won’t fire ME”.