Psychology 101: The 101 Ideas, Concepts and Theories that Have Shaped Our World 1472983165, 9781472983169

Table of contents :
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Accident Proneness: Just Being Clumsy?
Chapter 2: Alcohol Use and Addiction: Fancy a Quick Drink?
Chapter 3: Alternative Medicine: What is it and Does it Work?
Chapter 4: Altruism and Caring: The Psychology of Kindness…and Selfishness
Chapter 5: Anality and Obsessive-Compulsive ­Disorder: The Need to be Orderly
Chapter 6: Anxiety: Are You a Worrier?
Chapter 7: Art Preferences: What Sort of Pictures do You Like?
Chapter 8: Assessment and Selection
Chapter 9: Astrology and Graphology: Are They ­Accurate and, if not, Why do People Believe in Them?
Chapter 10: Attraction and Beauty: Not Only in the Eye of the Beholder
Chapter 11: Autism, Asperger’s and Schizoid People: On the Spectrum
Chapter 12: Behavioural Economics
Chapter 13: Behaviourism and Behaviour Therapies
Chapter 14: Birth Order: Are You First Born or an Only Child?
Chapter 15: Body Language: Wink, Wink, Nod, Nod
Chapter 16: Brainstorming: Fun but does it Work?
Chapter 17: Brainwashing and Cults: How to Form a Cult!
Chapter 18: Changing Behaviour: Set in Plaster or ­Malleable as Plastic?
Chapter 19: Character Strengths and Virtues: Let’s be Positive
Chapter 20: Coaching: What is it and does it Work?
Chapter 21: Cognitive Dissonance: Changing Attitudes and Behaviour
Chapter 22: Cold Reading: How to Persuade People that you Really Understand Them
Chapter 23: Common Sense
Chapter 24: Communicating Through Different Media
Chapter 25: Conscientiousness and Grit: Pitching up and Pitching in
Chapter 26: Conspiracy and Cover-Up Theories
Chapter 27: Country and Culture Differences
Chapter 28: Creativity
Chapter 29: Culture Shock: The Shock of the New
Chapter 30: Dark Triad
Chapter 31: Defence Mechanisms and Coping: Unconscious Ways of Coping
Chapter 32: Delusions and Hallucinations
Chapter 33: Depression: Malignant Sadness
Chapter 34: Dreams and Dreaming: Fantasy Time
Chapter 35: Eating Disorders
Chapter 36: Emotional Intelligence
Chapter 37: Engagement and Drive at Work
Chapter 38: Extraversion and Introversion
Chapter 39: Eye Contact: See What they Say
Chapter 40: Freud and his Ideas: The Most Famous Psychologist of all Time
Chapter 41: Friendship: Choosing Others
Chapter 42: Group-Think: Bad Decision-Making in Teams
Chapter 43: Happiness, Flow and Joy
Chapter 44: Hawthorne and Placebo Effect: Do Treatments Really Work?
Chapter 45: Honesty and Integrity: The Traits People Most Want in Their Boss
Chapter 46: Humour, Jokes and Laughter: A Funny Thing
Chapter 47: Impression Management and Self-presentation: The Psychology of Faking Good
Chapter 48: Impulsivity and Postponement of Gratification: I Want it Now!
Chapter 49: Inkblots and Projective Techniques: The Psychology of Pretty Pictures
Chapter 50: Intelligence and IQ: How Bright Are You?
Chapter 51: Justice: What is Reasonable and Fair
Chapter 52: Leadership: Why so Many Fail
Chapter 53: Lying and Deceit
Chapter 54: Mental Health Literacy: Would You be a Good Psychiatrist?
Chapter 55: Mental Health Classification
Chapter 56: Mindset: What you Can and Cannot Change
Chapter 57: Money: The Source of All Evil?
Chapter 58: Morality and Ethics
Chapter 59: Music: Preferences, Uses and Distraction
Chapter 60: Myths about Psychology
Chapter 61: Narcissism and Self-love: The Dark Side of Self-Esteem
Chapter 62: Networks and Networking
Chapter 63: Normality and Sanity
Chapter 64: Obedience and Conformity
Chapter 65: Office Politics: The Cynical and the Savvy
Chapter 66: Parenting Style and Attachment
Chapter 67: Passive-Aggressiveness: The Stereotypical Mother-In-Law
Chapter 68: Personality Disorders: ‘Dark-Side Traits’
Chapter 69: Personality Theories and Tests
Chapter 70: Persuasion: The Psychology of Influence
Chapter 71: Phobias: A Fear of Fear
Chapter 72: Psychopaths: Watch Out, there are Many About
Chapter 73: Psychotherapy
Chapter 74: PTSD: Serious Reactions to Traumatic Events
Chapter 75: Queuing: The Waiting Game
Chapter 76: Racism and Prejudice
Chapter 77: Remote Personality Profiling: Scraping Biography Off the Web
Chapter 78: Resilience: The Psychology of Coping Well
Chapter 79: Retirement: Pipe and Slippers
Chapter 80: Schizophrenia: A Seriously Misunderstood Problem
Chapter 81: Self-Actualization: The Ultimate Achievement
Chapter 82: Self-Awareness: Do You Know Who You Are?
Chapter 83: Self-Esteem: Do you Feel Good About Yourself?
Chapter 84: Sex Differences: Nature, Nurture or ­Nothing
Chapter 85: Sex Really Does Sell: Or Does It?
Chapter 86: Shopping: The Psychology of Retail Therapy
Chapter 87: Smiling: When, How and Why We Smile
Chapter 88: Stress: Causes and Consequences
Chapter 89: Subliminal Perception and Hidden ­Messages
Chapter 90: Talent: What is it and Who has it?
Chapter 91: Thinking and Learning Styles
Chapter 92: Time: Larks and Owls and Waiting Forever
Chapter 93: Tipping: Grateful Gratuities
Chapter 94: Tolerance of Ambiguity: Are you Afraid of Uncertainty?
Chapter 95: Unemployment and Worklessness: It is No Fun Being Jobless
Chapter 96: Visual Illusion: Now you see it, Now you don’t
Chapter 97: Vocational Choice and Guidance: What Job are you Best Suited to?
Chapter 98: Work Ethic: The Benefits of Hard Work
Chapter 99: Work Motivation
Chapter 100: Workaholism
Chapter 101: Workplace Deviance
Index

Citation preview

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BLOOMSBURY BUSINESS Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY BUSINESS and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2020 Copyright © Adrian Furnham, 2020 Adrian Furnham has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data has been applied for ISBN: 978-1-4729-8316-9; eBook: 978-1-4729-8317-6 Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters

For Alison and Benedict, as ever

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Contents

Introduction

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1 Accident Proneness 5 2 Alcohol Use and Addiction 9 3 Alternative Medicine 14 4 Altruism and Caring 19 5 Anality and OCD 23 6 Anxiety 27 7 Art Preferences 31 8 Assessment and Selection 35 9 Astrology and Graphology 40 10 Attraction and Beauty 44 11 Autism, Asperger’s and Schizoid People 47 12 Behavioural Economics 51 13 Behaviourism and Behaviour Therapies 56 14 Birth Order 60 15 Body Language 64 16 Brainstorming 69 17 Brainwashing and Cults 74 18 Changing Behaviour 78 19 Character Strengths and Virtues 83 20 Coaching 88 21 Cognitive Dissonance 92 22 Cold Reading 96 23 Common Sense 99

24 Communicating Through Different Media 103 25 Conscientiousness and Grit 108 26 Conspiracy and Cover-Up Theories 111 27 Country and Culture Differences 115 28 Creativity 119 29 Culture Shock 123 30 Dark Triad 127 31 Defence Mechanisms and Coping 132 32 Delusions and Hallucinations 137 33 Depression 142 34 Dreams and Dreaming 146 35 Eating Disorders 150 36 Emotional Intelligence 155 37 Engagement and Drive at Work 159 38 Extraversion and Introversion 163 39 Eye Contact 168 40 Freud and his Ideas 172 41 Friendship 176 42 Group-Think 180 43 Happiness, Flow and Joy 185 44 Hawthorne and Placebo Effect 189 45 Honesty and Integrity 193 46 Humour, Jokes and Laughter 198 47 Impression Management and Self-presentation 203 48 Impulsivity and Postponement of Gratification 207 49 Inkblots and Projective Techniques 210 50 Intelligence and IQ 214 51 Justice 219 52 Leadership 223 53 Lying and Deceit 229 54 Mental Health Literacy 234 55 Mental Health Classification 238 56 Mindset 243 57 Money 247 58 Morality and Ethics 251 59 Music 255

60 Myths about Psychology 259 61 Narcissism and Self-love 265 62 Networks and Networking 269 63 Normality and Sanity 273 64 Obedience and Conformity 277 65 Office Politics 282 66 Parenting Style and Attachment 286 67 Passive-Aggressiveness 290 68 Personality Disorders 295 69 Personality Theories and Tests 300 70 Persuasion 306 71 Phobias 310 72 Psychopaths 314 73 Psychotherapy 319 74 PTSD 323 75 Queuing 327 76 Racism and Prejudice 331 77 Remote Personality Profiling 336 78 Resilience 341 79 Retirement 345 80 Schizophrenia 350 81 Self-Actualization 355 82 Self-Awareness 360 83 Self-Esteem 365 84 Sex Differences 370 85 Sex Really Does Sell 375 86 Shopping 379 87 Smiling 384 88 Stress 388 89 Subliminal Perception and Hidden Messages 394 90 Talent 398 91 Thinking and Learning Styles 403 92 Time 408 93 Tipping 412 94 Tolerance of Ambiguity 416 95 Unemployment and Worklessness 421

96 Visual Illusion 426 97 Vocational Choice and Guidance 432 98 Work Ethic 438 99 Work Motivation 443 100 Workaholism 448 101 Workplace Deviance 452 Index

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Introduction

Most people find psychology the most interesting, intriguing and beguiling of the (social) sciences. At its best it gives valid, evidencebased explanations for everyday experiences. Many theories are surprising, some even counter-intuitive. Often the more surprising the explanation the more popular it becomes. This is certainly true of the Freudian explanations for so much social behaviour, which though they fell out of favour, are now on the rise. Psychology as an academic discipline, as well as a profession, is booming: there are over 100,000 licensed practitioners in America and a similar number of students in Britain, and the American Psychological Association has 55 specialist fields alone. Psychologists have always shone a torchlight, and then a spotlight, into many dark corners of the human mind. They study everything from art preference to altruism; coaching to criminality; jokes and humour to justice and honesty; sexual differences to schizophrenia. Most, but not all, psychological research is serious, often useful, and occasionally profound. Sometimes researchers have been accused of researching trivial questions, but what is trivial in one generation might not be the same in the next. Students of body language and non-verbal communication were thought of as pursuing a pointless quest in the 1960s but today it forms the fundamentals of understanding human communication. Equally, 20 years ago, psychologists were scorned for studying happiness when it was thought they were meant to be focusing entirely on human misery!

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The media loves psychology and psychologists. Newspapers and websites report, often many times a week, on the results of psychological studies. Findings from no other disciplines (consider chemistry, geography and education, for example), with the possible exception of medicine, attract so much journalistic enquiry and debate. This is a double-edged sword for psychologists for two reasons. First, the media often prefers to report more dramatic and sensationalist findings in ways that simplify the research, often with headlines that do not reflect the cautious style of the research psychologist. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it makes psychology often seem like common sense, because people have ‘heard it all before’. In fact, psychologists are very interested in ‘common sense’ itself: What it is and why some people seem to have more of it than others. These are indeed exciting times. With new techniques and ever more researchers in the field we are making lots of progress in the understanding of human behaviour. Neuroscientists, many of whom trained as psychologists, appear to be on the brink of major new discoveries. But this does not mean we should neglect the past. Some of the concepts and theories in this book are far from new but have stood the test of time. They continue to reveal some of the most interesting aspects of our thoughts, feelings and public behaviour. At its best psychology offers clear descriptions and explanations for all sorts of phenomena. Better results can be replicated, theories tested and predictions made. More importantly, psychological research is often aimed at improving lives. Nearly all the applied psychologists – e.g. clinical, educational, counselling and work psychologists – aim, as a result of their research, to make people more happy and be able to realize their full potential. Psychology attracts some of the best university students and some of the largest public funding for research. Psychologists are also found in many institutions like schools, hospitals and prisons but also in big corporations and industries, and today their voices are increasingly heard.

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Psychologists can also puncture the pretentiousness of pompous pundits. They can and do challenge assertions asking for ‘good evidence’. They are fond of asking those ‘does it work’ questions, whether it is alternative medicine or psychotherapy itself. There are many ‘snake oil’ sales people offering advice and magical cures which can be challenged by the cool, research logic of experimental psychology. Of course, they are also far from infallible and also, sometimes, are liable to exaggeration and error. But science and research is selfcorrecting: and the truth will come out! Some will have heard of the ‘replication crisis’, meaning that a lot of important research findings cannot be replicated and may be wrong or exaggerated. Time alone will tell. This book offers bite-size chunks of psychological science. The choice of topics reflect my own expertise, interest and training. I have written about and researched many of these topics. The book is a ‘sort of ’ update on my 2008 book, 50 Ideas You Really Need to Know: Psychology, published by Quercus. It has been by far my most successful book, translated into over 30 languages and selling over 500,000 copies. I still see it with some joy at airport bookshops around the world. There are two differences between this book and the earlier version. First, quite obviously, the book is more than twice as long, with 101 rather than 50 entries. Second, I did not choose those 50 ideas and do not know who did (I seem to recall it was a vice chancellor from Australia). While I thought they represented the full range of psychology, they would not have been my choice. Further, the book was highly structured and formulaic: each chapter had to have exactly 1,350 words, two boxes, three quotes and a time line. This certainly gave the book a nice symmetry and I have tried to retain some aspects of it. In this new book, I have chosen all 101 topics based on three things: my expertise, my experience of the interests of students and general audiences, and my own curiosity. The topics are highly idiosyncratic but I have road-tested them and people agree for the most part they are very interesting.

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So, three reasons for the rather idiosyncratic choice of topics. First, they are topics I know something about. I have done research and written papers, chapters and books on nearly all of these topics. Second, I did some market research. I made some lists of 10 to 20 topics at a time and gave them to all sorts of people asking them to rank in order those they would be most interested in reading about. I gave them to friends, fellow passengers on planes and trains, and a few online acquaintances. I included those that were most often highly rated. Third, I tried to minimize the overlap with the entries in the previous book. I know my choices will frustrate some people for both sins of omission and commission. At least for the former I can start a list for the second edition! I hope you get as much pleasure from reading it as I have writing it. I hope also that you will forgive any errors of omission or commission, or infelicitous judgements. Adrian Furnham London 2020

1

Accident Proneness: Just Being Clumsy?

Accident. Noun. An inevitable occurrence due to the action of immutable natural laws. (Ambrose Bierce, Devil’s Dictionary, 1906) My only solution for the problems of habitual accidents…is to stay in bed all day. Even then there is always the chance that you fall out. (Robert Benchley, Chips off the old Benchley)

There are two principal ways of looking at the accident problem: Theory A: Accidents are caused by unsafe behaviour (and some people are more prone to behaving unsafely than others). Accidents may therefore be prevented by changing the ways in which people behave. This is the concern primarily of personality and social psychology. Theory A focuses on individuals. Theory B: Accidents are caused by unsafe systems of work. Accidents can therefore be prevented by redesigning the working system. This is the approach taken by cognitive psychologists and ergonomists. Theory B focuses on systems.

The concept of the accident-prone person originated when it was discovered that a small percentage of the population had a high percentage of accidents. The theory of accident proneness is based on identifying individuals who have certain characteristics.

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People drive as they live – that is, there are consistencies of behaviour (in response to particular stimuli) which suggest that they may be related to accidents. People who take risks tend to take risks with all aspects of their life: how they drive, the sports they choose, the social rules they break. Studies from First World War munitions factories also showed that a small number of people had a disproportionately large share of accidents. Researchers asked why. Was this due to physical or psychological characteristics; specific to a job or more general; a permanent or transient effect; due to greater risk exposure; because having one accident may increase the likelihood of another; or was it due to biases in reporting? What about people’s characteristics? There is little evidence of the relationship between accidents and intelligence. Accidentfree steelworkers tended to be more extrovert and outgoing than accident repeaters. Those actively involved in accidents have higher absenteeism rates than those passively involved or not involved. Not surprisingly, accident-prone individuals also take more risks and think the work is less dangerous. We know that psychological states (not personality traits) do affect accidents. For instance: ●●

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Influenza can result in a 50 per cent impairment in a reaction-time test; A typical worker feels ‘low and miserable’ for 20 per cent of the time: 50 per cent of accidents occur during these periods of negative mood; Drivers and pilots have more accidents when going through major life events (for example, divorce); Women are more accident prone before and during menstruation, both for active and passive accident involvement.

As may be expected, older people have fewer accidents. Job-related experience seems to be most relevant to accident rate, although

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the effects of the number of years spent in an industry and the number of hours worked on a specific task (where the job involves a number of tasks) can also be demonstrated. Thus, it seems that there is sufficient evidence that personality variables do relate to all sorts of accidents in all sorts of populations. Aggressive, impulsive, neurotic and fatalistic traits seem particularly associated with accidents. They seem to account for about 10 per cent of the variance, which is certainly not to be dismissed. The two independent, unrelated factors that seem to be the best predictors of accidents are extroversion/sensation-seeking/A-type behaviour and neuroticism/anxiety/instability. The personality traits that relate to accidents and make people accident prone are these: 1 Stimulus seeking: The more people like variety and change, prefer people to things, get bored easily and trade speed for accuracy, the more they are likely to do things (drive fast, ignore warnings, try untried new activities) that lead to accidents. 2 Emotional instability: The more moody, pessimistic and unhappy people are, the more likely they are to become self-absorbed or jittery and ‘take their eye off the ball’, which may lead to accidents. 3 If they are young, male and not very well educated, as well as stimulus seeking and emotionally unstable, these people really do seem likely to be accident prone. Robert and Joyce Hogan developed a personality test to detect the accident prone. It has six scales and it is always the high scorers that do best and have the fewest accidents. The six scales of safety-related behaviours are: 1 Defiant–Compliant: This component concerns a person’s willingness to follow rules. Low scorers may ignore rules; high scorers follow them effortlessly.

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psych ology 1 01 2 Panicky–Strong: This component concerns handling stress. Low scorers are stress prone, may panic under pressure and make mistakes; high scorers typically remain steady. 3 Irritable–Cheerful: This component concerns anger management. Low scorers may lose their temper easily and make mistakes; high scorers control their temper. 4 Distractible–Vigilant: This component concerns focus. Low scorers tend to be easily distracted and may make mistakes; high scorers remain focused. 5 Reckless–Cautious: This component concerns risk-taking. Low scorers tend to take unnecessary risks; high scorers avoid risky actions. 6 Arrogant–Trainable: This component concerns trainability. Low scorers tend to ignore training and feedback; high scorers pay attention to training.

references Hogan, J. & Hogan, R. (1999). The Safety Report. Tulsa, OK: Hogan Assessment Systems.

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Alcohol Use and Addiction: Fancy a Quick Drink?

Drunkenness is simply voluntary insanity. (Seneca, Moral Epistles to Lucilius) Man, being reasonable, must get drunk: The best of life is but intoxication. (Lord Byron, Don Juan, 1810)

Alcohol use and abuse is as old as man. It was drunk in Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago. The Bible, in both old and new testaments, has parable stories and warnings about the benefits and dangers of strong drink. The message it seems is that alcohol consumed in moderation is socially highly beneficial. Indeed, wine is at the heart of both Jewish and Christian rituals. ●●

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Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities. I Timothy 5:23. Wine is as good as life to a man, if it be drunk moderately: what is life then to a man that is without wine? For it was made to make men glad. Ecclesiasticus 31:27. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Proverbs 31:6.

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Nearly (but not all) societies discovered alcohol and developed social conventions, morals and laws for regulating and consuming it. Climate, geography, economics, local customs and laws all influence national patterns of drinking. Immigrant groups take their patterns of drinking with them when they move, but tend, over time, to pick up local drinking habits. Further, they usually attempt to instil these behavioural rules in their children by a variety of means. In most European countries, about 90 per cent of the population drink alcohol primarily to socialize, celebrate and relax. Many quote studies that show the health benefits of moderate drinking. The alcohol industry is huge and employs around one million people globally and generates £7bn in taxes per year. The psychological effects of alcohol are well known. Alcohol makes the drinker more self-assured and self-accepting. It has been called a paradoxical stimulant because although it is pharmacologically a depressant it seems to act as a social stimulant making drinkers less inhibited and more sociable. Alcohol has symbolic and ritualistic uses. It is often used to give an enhanced sense of group cohesiveness, especially among the young. There are many theories about the causes of alcoholism and alcohol abuse, including biological, familial, cultural and psychological theories. We know that younger people (18–34 year olds) drink more heavily than older people (over 55-year-olds). Males drink more heavily than females. Younger groups are more likely to drink in bars/pubs but this declines as people get older. Middle-class people drink less but on more occasions than the working class. Certain trades are associated with heavy drinking and alcohol abuse: alcohol producers and retailers, heavy manual workers, business executives, travelling salesmen, journalists, entertainers, seamen and construction workers. Psychologists and psychiatrists have come up with criteria for alcohol and all other substance abuse: 1 Tolerance: a need for markedly increased amounts of the substance to achieve intoxication or desired effect and/or

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markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of the substance. 2 Withdrawal syndrome for the specific substance, or the same substance is taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms. 3 The substance is often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period than was intended. 4 A persistent desire and/or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control use. 5 Much of the person’s time is spent in activities necessary to obtain the substance, or recover from its effects. 6 Important social, family, occupations or leisure activities are ignored or reduced because of substance use. 7 Substance use is continued despite knowledge of persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problems that are likely to have been caused or exacerbated by the substance. Nowadays, we know many things about alcohol abuse. Consider the following passage from the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic Manual. (DSM-IV) (pp.201–3). 1. Specific Culture, Age and Gender Features The cultural traditions surrounding the use of alcohol in family, religious, and social settings, especially during childhood, can affect both alcohol use and patterns and the likelihood that alcohol problems will develop. Marked differences characterize the quantity, frequency, and patterning of alcohol consumption in the countries of the world. In most Asian cultures, the overall prevalence of Alcohol-Related Disorders may be relatively low, and the male-tofemale ratio high… Low educational level, unemployment, and lower socioeconomic status are associated with Alcohol-Related Disorders, although it is often difficult to separate cause from effect. 2. Prevalence Alcohol Dependence and Abuse are among the most prevalent mental disorders in the general population.

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3. Course The first episode of Alcohol Intoxication is likely to occur in the mid-teens, with the age at onset of Alcohol Dependence peaking in the 20s to mid-30s. The large majority of those who develop Alcohol-Related Disorders do so by their late 30s. 4. Familial Pattern Alcohol Dependence often has a familial pattern, and at least some of the transmission can be traced to genetic factors. The risk for Alcohol Dependence is three to four times higher in close relatives of people with Alcohol Dependence. Higher risk is associated with a greater number of affected relatives, closer genetic relationships, and the severity of the alcohol-related problems in the affected relative. Though debatable, researchers have identified different personality patterns associated with alcoholics: 1 The Immature Personality: self-centred, poor at relationships, impulsive. They drink to escape the realities of the grown-up world so different from that of their imagination. 2 The Self-Indulgent Personality: The over-protected child can fail to learn self-confidence and self-reliance. They drink to reduce personal discomforts which arise whenever personal wishes are frustrated. Alcohol is available, dependable and always gratifying. 3 The Sexual Problems Personality: Those who feel sexually inhibited and those who are deviant may drink to achieve courage and disinhibition. 4 The Self-Punitive Personality: People who repress strong emotions like anger and aggression find drink releases their hostile impulses. 5 The Stressed Personality: These people drink to give themselves a quick release, social confidence and (or a release) from social inhibition.

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references DSM III (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition. Washington: American Psychiatric Association.

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Alternative Medicine: What is it and Does it Work?

The great tragedy of science – the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact. (T.H. Huxley, Collected Essays) But besides real diseases we are subject to many that are only imaginary for which physicians have invented imaginary cures. (Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels)

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has gained wide recognition and CAM is now big business. There are common themes in the philosophies of CAM. Aakster (1986) argued that they differ from orthodox medicine in five ways: Health: Whereas conventional medicine sees health as an absence of disease, alternative medicine frequently mentions a balance of opposing forces (both external and internal). Disease: Conventional medical professionals see disease as a specific, locally defined deviation in organ or tissue structure. CAM practitioners stress body-wide signs, such as body language indicating disruptive forces and/or restorative processes.

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Diagnosis: Regular medicine stresses morphological classification based on location and aetiology, while alternative interpretations often consider problems of functionality to be diagnostically useful. Therapy: Conventional medicine often claims to destroy, demolish or suppress the sickening forces, while alternative therapies often aim to strengthen the vitalizing, health-promoting forces. CAM therapists seem particularly hostile to chemical therapies and surgery. The Patient: In much conventional medicine the patient is the passive recipient of external solutions, while in CAM the patient is an active participant in regaining health.

Aakster described three main models of medical thinking: The pharmaceutical model is a demonstrable deviation of function or structure than can be diagnosed by careful observation. The causes of disease are mainly germ-like and the application of therapeutic technology is all-important. The integrational model resulted from technicians attempting to reintegrate the body. This approach is not afraid of allowing for psychological and social causes to be specified in the aetiology of illness. The third model has been labelled holistic and does not distinguish between soma, psyche and social. It stresses total therapy and holds up the idea of a natural way of living. The popular interest in CAM has been matched by a relatively sudden and dramatic increase in research into the two central questions in this area: 1 Does it work? Is there good evidence from doubleblind, placebo-controlled, randomized studies that the therapy ‘cures illness’ as it says it does? That is, is there any indisputable scientific evidence that documented findings of success are due to anything more than a placebo effect? Properly designed and executed studies are complex, very

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expensive and similar to the research effort to determine the efficacy of psychotherapy. The answer to the question is that either very little or no good evidence is available for the efficacy of most CAM, with the possible exception of herbalism. 2 Why choose it? If the evidence is limited, equivocal and indeed often points to lack of efficacy, the central question must be why do patients choose at their own expense to visit a CAM practitioner? What do they get from the treatment? Why do they persist? This is where there have been many psychological studies. They concern the often mixed motives that patients have in shopping for health treatments. There is some evidence that frequent CAM users are more health conscious and believe more strongly that they can influence their own state of health, both by lifestyle and through maintaining a psychological equilibrium. CAM patients appear to have less faith in ‘provider control’, that is in the ability of medicine (specifically orthodox doctors) to resolve problems of ill health. The principal reason for individuals beginning any CAM treatment appears to be that they regard it as more natural and effective, and it allows a more active role for them. The second reason is the failure of orthodox medicine to provide relief for specific (usually chronic) complaints. The adverse effects of orthodox medicine, and a more positive patient–practitioner relationship are also important for many patients. There is little to support the widely held view that CAM-seeking patients are especially gullible or naive, or have unusual (neurotic) personalities or (bizarre) value or belief systems. Results from various studies reported by Furnham and colleagues show: ●● ●●

People shop for health. People want a cure without side effects or pain.

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CAM patients have chronic illnesses or conditions they have difficulty living with. CAM patients are disappointed by the traditional orthodox consultation. CAM patients want to learn more about self-care (fitness, wellness and prevention). CAM patients believe in the ‘holistic’ message.

who seeks cam? It would be foolhardy to talk about ‘typical’ patients as CAM rejoices in differences, individuality and the uniqueness of people’s lives. However, there are patterns and a higher probability that particular types of people are likely to seek out, use and benefit from CAM. Demography: CAM patients are more likely to be: women rather than men; aged 30–40 rather than older or younger; middle rather than working class; well-educated; and urban rather than rural. Medical History: First, patients seeking CAM have chronic problems rather than acute. Secondly, their health problems are often non-specific or have a psychological component. Thirdly, many patients have a ‘thick file’ in the sense that their interest in health issues has led them to seek out various remedies from many different sources. Beliefs, Attitudes and Values: Many patients seem to be sympathetic with green issues, ideas and understanding. These include environmentalism, one-world-ism and anti-materialism. Pro-CAM beliefs may also include issues of inequality, alienation and social exclusion. CAM patients also seem to be interested in general consumer affairs and may even belong to bodies that lobby in favour of a certain position. CAM patients appear to be particularly interested in the ‘life of the mind’. They certainly believe the maxim of ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’. CAM patients are, because of their own medical condition, likely to be very empathic to the plight of others, and hostile to the ‘uncaring’ attitude of certain specialists (e.g. surgeons).

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references Aakster, C. (1986). Concepts in alternative medicine. Social Science and Medicine, 22, 265–73. Eisenberg, D., Davis, R., Ettner, S., Appel, A., Wilkey, A., Van Rompay, M., Kessler, R. (1998). Trends in alternative medicine use in the national survey. Journal of the American Medical Association, 11, 1569–1575. Furnham, A. (2005). Complementary and alternative medicine: Shopping for health in post-modern times. In P. White (Ed). Biopsychosocial Medicine. Oxford: OUP, pp.151– 71.

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Altruism and Caring: The Psychology of Kindness…and Selfishness

The ‘altruist’ expects reciprocation from society for himself or his closest relatives. (E.O. Wilson, On Human Nature) Self-sacrifice enables us to sacrifice other people without blushing. (George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman)

Most societies and religions value altruism, caring and compassion. They stress the virtues of empathy and sympathy; of helping other people. Yet people differ widely in when, where and why they help others. More importantly for some areas of psychology, altruism is a puzzle because it would seem much more beneficial to be selfish and self-absorbed. Psychologists talk about pro-social behaviour, which is any act performed with the goal of helping another person. The motive may or may not be altruistic, which is the drive to help others even if there are costs to oneself. Psychological questions about altruism are divided into two categories. Some ask the big theoretical questions: who, why and when do (or do not) people help? They also ask questions about the factors that are related to helping as well as the encouragement of helping: how to teach pro-social behaviour in communities.

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the good samaritan The search for the ‘altruistic personality’ has proved long and unsuccessful. There is evidence of sex differences but they seem to be related to the type rather than the amount of altruism. Males predominate in chivalrous, bold, heroic pro-social behaviours, while females are more nurturing, volunteering, caring. People tend to help others from their own cultural group. So, we are more likely to help people from noticeably the same ethnic, religious, linguistic and demographic group than an ‘obvious’ member from other groups. We also know about the ‘feel good: do good’ factor: when people are in a good mood they are much more likely to help others. Give a person a small gift, play pleasant upbeat music and compliment them and they voluntarily give more help to others. But people who are sad and distressed will help others to make themselves feel better and reduce their gloom. Equally people who feel guilty have been shown to increase their helpfulness, presumably to reduce their guilt.

speculations Psychoanalysts see the same altruistic behaviour as the manifestation of two very different drives. Some kind, generous, helping acts occur because of identification with the ‘victim’, like helpful figures in their past such as parents or teachers. But Freudians also believe it can be a defence against a negative impulse: a neurotic syndrome to cope with anxiety, guilt or hostility. Thus, a deprived child may become a generous giver. Instead of feeling helpless around those in need, they offer help – therefore being both giver and receiver. Others may only be able to cope with their guilt about their own greed and envy by giving. Some get into debt, due to excessive giving to assuage their guilt. Freudians also talk of hostilitybased, reaction-formation giving: the giver masks an expression of aggression by being helpful.

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Darwinian-inspired psychologists have tried to offer their explanations for the puzzle of altruism, which at first sight contradicted the central tenet of the theory: if a person’s prime motive is to ensure their own survival, why help others at risk and cost? A central tenet of this approach is the concept of kin selection. The more a person (relative) shares your genes, the more likely you are to help. Therefore, you ensure survival of your own genes by helping those with them. The biological importance rule becomes ingrained into human behaviour and is not conscious. This means people do act altruistically because they do not do so with a genetic calculus formulae. However, they do also suggest the reciprocity norm which is simply a tit-for-tat behaviour that supposes helping others will increase the likelihood that they help you in return. It has been suggested that people who learn and practice the norms and social rules of society will survive best because cultures teach survival skills and co-operative behaviours. People become genetically programmed to learn cultural norms of altruism. Thus we seem to be genetically programmed to certain types of altruism because of two processes: Kin selection (helping relatives helps our genes survive) and reciprocal altruism (others help us to survive if we help them).

context and decisions It seems situational factors are more powerful in determining help than personal factors. There is a rural vs urban difference: people in small towns or the countryside are more likely to offer help. Also the longer a person has lived in an area and identifies with that community, the more he or she is likely to help. The higher the residential mobility factor, the less stable the community and the less forthcoming the help. The most famous and counter-intuitive finding in this area is called the bystander effect. The greater the number of bystanders (or witness) to an emergency or situation requiring help, the less likely any one individual is to help. This research leads to the

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development of the famous five-step decision model of bystander intervention. It asserts that people must go through five steps before they offer help: First, they must notice the event. People who are in a hurry, talking on their mobile phone or otherwise distracted might simply not notice ‘an emergency’. Second, they must interpret the scene as an emergency where help is required. Many emergencies are confusing. People look to those around them for clues. If others seem unconcerned, people are unlikely to respond. Third, they must decide that it is their responsibility to help. The bystander effect is all about the diffusion of responsibility. Believing there are others present who can help, individuals may have no strong personal responsibility to act. The problem of course is that if everyone thinks the same way, nobody acts. Fourth, people must feel they know how to help. Perceived ignorance about mechanical issues means people may not help a stranded motorist. The less one knows what to do, the less one does it! Fifth, people have to decide to help. There are various reasons why people decide not to help. They may be embarrassed by memories of volunteering to help and being rebuffed because of a misinterpretation of the situation.

references Darley, J. M. & Latané, B. (1968). ‘Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 8, 377–93.

5

Anality and Obsessive-Compulsive ­Disorder: The Need to be Orderly

Perfection can be a fetish. (Bernard Leach, The Potters’ Challenge) Perfect numbers, like perfect people, are very rare. (Rene Descartes, Mathematical Circles Squared)

In an essay entitled ‘Character and anal eroticism’ Freud argued that character traits originate in the warding off of certain primitive biological impulses. Freud identified three main traits associated with people who had fixated at the anal stage: orderliness, parsimony and obstinacy with associated qualities of cleanliness, conscientiousness, trustworthiness, defiance and vengefulness. Parental behaviour, it is argued, in this phase can cause obsessivecompulsive behaviour. Further, children will parent as they were parented. Hence rigid vs. permissive, premature vs. delayed ‘potty training’ can have long-lasting effects. The anal character retains childhood ambivalence and inhibitions towards issues like money.

toilet-training Studies have found evidence that anal personality characterized by obstinacy, orderliness and parsimony enjoyed toilet humour more than non-anal types, providing modest evidence for the

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theory. According to the theory, all children experience pleasure in the elimination of faeces. At an early age (around two years) parents in the West toilet-train their children, some showing enthusiasm and praise (positive reinforcement) for defecation, others threatening and punishing a child when it refuses to do so (negative reinforcement). Potty- or toilet-training occurs at the same stage that the child is striving to achieve autonomy and a sense of worth. Often toilet-training becomes a source of conflict between parents and children over whether the child is in control of its sphincter or whether the parental rewards and coercion compel submission to their will. Furthermore, the child is fascinated by and fantasizes over its faeces, which are, after all, a creation of its own body. The child’s confusion is made all the worse by the ambiguous reactions of parents who on the one hand treat the faeces as gifts and highly valued, and then behave as if they are dirty, untouchable and in need of immediate disposal. Yet, the children who revel in praise over their successful deposits, come to regard them as gifts to their beloved parents to whom they feel indebted, and may grow up to use gifts and money freely. Conversely, those who refuse to empty their bowels except when they must, later have ‘financial constipation’. Thus, the theory states quite explicitly that if the child is traumatized by the experience of toilet-training, it tends to retain ways of coping and behaving during this phase. The way in which a miser hoards money is seen as symbolic of the child’s refusal to eliminate faeces in the face of parental demands. The spendthrift, on the other hand, recalls the approval and affection that resulted from submission to parental authority to defecate. Some people equate elimination/spending with receiving affection and hence felt more inclined to spend when feeling insecure, unloved or in need of affection. Attitudes to money are then bimodal; they are either extremely positive or extremely negative. Evidence for the psychoanalytic position comes from the usual sources; patients’ free associations and dreams. Freudians have also attempted to find evidence for their theory in idioms, myths,

a n a li t y and ob sessi ve-com pulsive ­d iso rd e r 25 folklore and legends. There is also quite a lot of evidence from language, particularly from idiomatic expressions. Money is often called ‘filthy lucre’, and the wealthy are often called ‘stinking rich’. Gambling for money is also associated with dirt and toilet-training: a poker player puts money in a ‘pot’; dice players shoot ‘craps’.

ocd Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder is well-known. It has a number of well-known characteristics noted by Oldham and Morris (1998): 1 Perfectionism that interferes with task completion, e.g., inability to complete a project because one’s own overly strict standards are not met. 2 Preoccupation with details, rules, lists, order, organization or schedules to the extent that the major point of the activity is lost. 3 Unreasonable insistence that others submit to exactly his or her way of doing things, or unreasonable reluctance to allow others to do things because of the conviction that they will not do them correctly. 4 Excessive devotion to work and productivity to the exclusion of leisure activities and friendships (not accounted for by obvious economic necessity). 5 Indecisiveness: decision-making is either avoided, postponed or protracted, e.g. the person cannot get assignments done on time because of ruminating about priorities (do not include if indecisiveness is due to excessive need for advice or reassurance from others). 6 Over-conscientiousness, scrupulousness and inflexibility about matters of morality, ethics or values (not accounted for by cultural or religious identification). 7 Restricted expression of affection.

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Amazingly, those who suffer with OCD are unable to discard worn-out or worthless objects even when they have no sentimental value. They hoard rubbish at home and in the workplace. They are reluctant to delegate tasks or to work with others unless they submit exactly to his or her way of doing things. They do not let go and pay the price. They are misers towards both self and others; money is viewed as something to be hoarded for future catastrophes. Because they never fully spend their budget they never get it increased. In short they show rigidity and stubbornness and are very unpleasant to work for.

references Freud, S. (1908). Character and Anal Eroticism. London: Hogarth. Furnham, (2015). The New Psychology of Money. London: Routledge. Oldham, J., & Morris, L. (1991). Personality self-portrait. New York: Bantam.

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Anxiety: Are You a Worrier?

Anxiety (or dread) itself needs no description; everyone has personally experienced this sensation or to speak more correctly this affective condition at one time or other. (Sigmund Freud, A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis) Our whole life is taken up with anxiety for personal security, with preparations for living, so that we really never live at all. (Leo Tolstoy, My Religion)

All of us know what it means to be anxious, and lots of things can make us anxious. We also know intuitively the difference between what psychologists call trait and state anxiety. Trait anxiety means that a person is a ‘worrier’: someone who is stress prone, easily made anxious. They often seem negative and cautious because so many things make them anxious. They tend to react more intensely to things that make them anxious, and to experience this reaction for a longer period of time. They have, in short, an anxious personality; sometimes they are called neurotic and they tend to be prone to depression, phobias and other problems. State anxiety is the unpleasant reactions we all have when confronted with a particular object or event. We might witness a crash, or get threatened with violence. We may have to give a speech, sit an exam or receive an injection. These are anxiety-provoking

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situations for most people caused by some sort of threat. State anxiety is a temporary condition that arises when people are threatened or challenged.

reactions Most of us can recognize signs of anxiety in ourselves and others. Usually the heart rate increases, and people might sweat and even shake. They might experience a dry mouth and look shocked. There tends to be three types of reactions to long-term anxiety and the stress it causes. They are: Physiological symptoms: A noticeable decline in physical appearance, chronic fatigue and tiredness, frequent infections (especially respiratory infections), health complaints (such as headaches, backaches, stomach and skin problems), signs of depression, change in weight or eating habits. Emotional symptoms: Boredom or apathy – lack of affect and hopelessness, cynicism and resentfulness, depressed appearance, sad expressions, slumped posture, expressions of anxiety, frustration, tearfulness. Behavioural symptoms: Absenteeism from work, a tendency to have accidents, increase in alcohol or caffeine consumption, increased smoking, obsessive exercising or the avoidance of exercise, irrational behaviour, a hair-trigger temper, reduced productivity – inability to concentrate or complete a task.

the affective disorders (ADs) Psychiatrists have identified various subtly different but identifiable stress disorders (ADs). These include generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (with and without agoraphobia), obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ADs are among the most

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common mental disorders, with prevalence rates ranging from 13.6 per cent and 28.8 per cent. Studies also report that specific phobias and social phobia (or social anxiety disorder) are the most common of anxiety disorders. For adolescents, social phobia and separation anxiety are the most common disorders; and research reports an even higher prevalence rate of 39.1 per cent for anxiety disorders overall. Here are some classic cases which may bring the issue to life. Panic Disorder: Derek is 27 years old and he was driving with his wife to a computer store when he felt dizzy. As soon as he noticed this sensation, he experienced a rapid and intense surge of sweating, accelerated heart rate, hot flashes, trembling and a feeling of detachment from his body. Fearing he was going to crash his car, he pulled off the road. After ten minutes the feelings passed and Derek began to feel better, but now he worries extensively that it will happen again and he is reluctant to drive long distances. Agoraphobia: Celia, 19, suddenly came home from work at McDonald’s and screamed that she was going to die. While standing at her counter, she had experienced the worst sensations in her life. Her heart began to pound like a jackhammer, she was gripped by panic and dread, she felt the ground underneath her was about to give way, and she was convinced she was having a stroke or a heart attack. She spent the next two weeks in bed and, thereafter, she refused to walk beyond the front gate. Social Phobia: John is a 21-year-old living at home with his parents. Since starting college last year, he has become even more shy than usual and has made only one friend. He would really like to make more friends, but he is scared that he will do or say something embarrassing when he’s around others. Although John’s work is OK he rarely says a word in class and becomes incredibly nervous, trembles, blushes and seems like he might vomit if he has to answer a question or speak in front of the class.

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psych ology 1 01 At home, John is quite talkative with his family, but becomes quiet if anyone he doesn’t know well comes over. He never answers the phone and he refuses to attend social gatherings. He knows his fears are unreasonable but he cannot seem to control them and this really upsets him. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Alex saw a good deal of active combat during his time in the military. Some incidents in particular have never left his mind – like the horrifying sight of Gary, a close comrade and friend, being blown-up by a landmine. For months after he returned to civilian life, these images still haunted him. At night Alex had difficulties relaxing and falling asleep. Scenes from battle would run repeatedly through his mind and disrupt his focus on work. This also affected his day-to-day life; for example, when Alex was filling up at the gas station, the smell of diesel immediately rekindled horrific memories. He felt as though his emotions were numbed, and as though he had no real future. At home, he was anxious, tense and easily startled. He found himself avoiding social interactions, and became very fearful of being out in public.

references American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. p. 189.

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Art Preferences: What Sort of Pictures do You Like?

What is essential in a work of art is that it should rise far above the realm of personal life and speak from the spirit and heart of the poet as man to the spirit and heart of mankind. (Carl Jung, Modern Man in Search of Soul) Once I drew like Raphael, but it has taken me a whole lifetime to learn to draw like children. (Pablo Picasso, Le Dessin d’Enfant)

What sort of art do you like? Abstract, Pop-Art or Representational? Does your preference in art relate to your tastes in music or even architecture? What does your taste say about your personality? Aesthetic experience is an integral part of everyday life; however, it does not merely represent a simple, perceptual interaction with the artistic stimuli. Rather, it reflects a continuous pattern of personal choices which embody the critical evaluation of art and signify the appreciation of beauty based on taste. This area of research is called aesthetic preference and has interested psychologists for years. Why, they ask, do some people love and others hate the paintings of Picasso or Dali? Art is part of everyday life: some love it; others are indifferent. Some can’t get enough of galleries, watch art programmes on

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TV and devour artists’ biographies, whereas others are simply not bothered at all.

art preferences Studies into art preferences have looked at individual difference correlates of likes and dislikes and investigated concepts such as conservatism, openness, schizotypy, tolerance for ambiguity and, in particular, sensation seeking. These studies have shown that there are predictable links between personality and specific art preferences, notably the correlation between conservatism or conscientiousness and preferences for traditional/ representational, rather than abstract or cubist, art. Conversely, openness to experience has been linked to preferences for non-traditional styles. Demographic variables influenced preferences, too. Men tended to prefer cubist and renaissance art, whereas women preferred traditional Japanese paintings and impressionism. Younger people preferred the more modern forms of abstract and cubist art, whereas older people preferred impressionism and Japanese art. Overall, preferences seemed more dependent on personality traits than on demographic factors.

art interests A second approach has focused on artistic interests or the extent to which individuals engage in artistic activities, such as visiting museums, watching art programmes, buying and reading art books, etc. We know that individuals who invest in one domain of art (e.g. fine or visual arts) are also more likely to invest time and money in others (e.g. music, performing arts, theatre, etc.) But which personality traits may account for this relationship? The trait that underlies individuals’ art interests seems to be captured mostly by the openness to experience dimension. Thus open individuals are more likely to both enjoy artworks and engage in art-related behaviours.

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art judgement Art judgement is essentially thought of as a measure of ability rather than taste, which requires participants to distinguish between a genuine artwork and a fake or experimentally modified replica. For instance, participants can be presented with a real painting next to a modified version of this painting (in which one of the abstract objects appears in a different colour or place) and are asked to identify the genuine painting. Both their accuracy and reaction time can then be measured. Although there remain doubts about the validity of such measures (i.e. what it actually means to have a higher art judgement score), studies have shown that cognitive ability measures are significantly related to art judgement. The personality trait that was found to be most strongly associated with art judgement ability is conscientiousness – lower conscientiousness is associated with higher art judgement scores.

openness to experience and the artistic personality It seems that curiosity and problem-solving facets of open individuals make them interested in, and willing to explore, widely different forms of art. There is a cluster of traits associated with conservatism and conscientiousness which seems to determine lower interests in arts as well as a preference for traditional, representational styles. Openness, low conscientiousness, etc, may affect both preferences and interests; cognitive ability factors will correlate with both knowledge and judgement because individual differences in the capacity to learn and retain facts will influence these outcomes.

references Chamorro-Premuzic, T., Burke, C., Hsu, A., & Swami, .V. (2010). Personality predictors of artistic preferences as a function of the

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emotional valence and perceived complexity of paintings. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4, 196–204. Chamorro‐Premuzic, T., Reimers, S., Hsu, A., & Ahmetoglu, G. (2009). Who art thou? Personality predictors of artistic preferences in a large UK sample: The importance of openness. British Journal of Psychology, 100, 501–16. Rentfrow, P. J., Goldberg, L. R., & Levitin, D. J. (2011). The structure of musical preferences: A five-factor model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 1139.

8

Assessment and Selection

There is no such thing as great talent without great will power, (Balzac: Le Muse du Department) The psychological interview has developed today into what is known as ordeal by house party. The candidates spend a pleasant weekend under expert observation … There is no need to describe this method in detail, but its results are all about us and are obviously deplorable. (C.N. Parkinson, Parkinson’s Law)

Assessing people at work is important for many reasons. The most important is the cost benefit analysis: the benefits of the right decision over the costs of getting it wrong. The question for assessors is essentially what to assess, who is best suited to do it, when and why. To some extent the ‘what’ can neatly be divided into three areas: What a person can do? This refers to their ability. What a person will do? This refers to a person’s motivation or what they want to do. What a person wants to do? This refers to preferences for certain activities over others.

the essential methods There are, in essence, mainly five different methods to collect data on people – A to E in what follows. Of these, the first three (A to C) are most commonly used.

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A: Self-Report: This is essentially what people say about themselves in: 1 Interviews: both structured and unstructured. 2 Personality and other preference tests. 3 The CV, personal statement or application form. There are however two major problems with self-report. The first appears under various names such as dissimulation, faking or lying. It concerns people giving false information, or embellished information about themselves. This behaviour has been broken down by psychologists into two further types of behaviour. Impression Management: this is where the person attempts to create a good impression by leaving out information, adding untrue information (errors of omission and commission) as well as giving answers that are not strictly correct but, they hope, create a good impression in the interviewer’s mind. This is done consciously and is very common. Self Deception: This occurs when a person, in their own view, answers honestly but what they say is untrue because they lack self-awareness. Thus they might honestly believe that they are a ‘good listener’ whereas all the evidence from reliable sources is that this is not true.

The way personality and other preference tests attempt to deal with this issue is to use Lie Scales in the test. These go under various names and many exist. They are generally known as measures of response bias; e.g. do you always wash your hands before eating? The second is about self-insight. This is primarily concerned with what people can’t say about themselves even if they wanted to. This is best seen with issues around motivation, where people cannot, rather than will not, give honest answers about the extent to which they are motivated by power or security. Indeed, motivation is one

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of the most difficult topics to assess accurately, and yet, for business people, among the most important. B: Observation Data: This is what other people say about an individual in: 1 References and testimonials. 2 360-degree ratings (multi-source feedback). 3 Appraisal and other performance management data. There are also problems with this type of data. The first is the ‘data bank’ of the observer. This essentially means what information the observer has about the candidate. Thus a boss has a different data set than a colleague or a subordinate. A school teacher, or university lecturer, will have a different data set than an employer. The question is what they know: the quality and quantity of data on a person’s ability, motivation, work-style, etc. The second issue is the extent to which they are prepared to tell the truth about an individual. Some organizations refuse to supply references because of litigation. They can be taken to court for what they did say or did not say. They are told all they can say is that ‘X worked here from dates A to dates B.’ Third, people choose their referees because they hope that they will be very positive. There seems to be an etiquette with respect to what people write or rate on references. Many know the power of negative information and therefore try strongly to resist providing any negative information. It is therefore rare to get very useful data on a person’s weaknesses or challenges from references. C: Test Performance: This refers to how well people do on tests: 1 Power, Timed, Ability tests: These are of maximum performance. 2 Preference, Untimed, Personality tests. These are of typical performance. 3 Behavioural tests, often performed in groups.

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Tests differ enormously. ●●

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Group vs. individually administered tests. Some require a one-to-one administration, others can be easily and effectively run in largish groups. ‘Objective’ vs. open-ended tests. The former requires the choice of several responses; the latter means one has to generate the response. Pen-and-paper vs. performance tests. The latter may involve the manual manipulation of apparatus, equipment and tools.

D: Physiological Evidence: This is probably the newest and most disputed of all measures. For some jobs, employees have to go through a ‘medical check-up’, which they may have to do on a regular (i.e. annual) basis simply to keep their job. This would be true of such jobs as being a pilot. In other jobs, for instance working in the alcohol industry, it may be a requirement that people go through a liver function test. Simple blood tests and saliva samples can be used for various diagnoses, including drug taking and stress levels. Every day, it seems, new physical measures are being devised that are claimed to be able to detect such things as whether a person is more likely to get a debilitating mental or physical disease at some later point. E: Personal History/Biography: This refers to a person’s personal history: for instance where they were born and educated; the family from which they came; and their present family and address. Some information is thought to be very important, such as what was the social class of the parents?; does the person come from a minority race or religious group?; how many brothers and sisters do they have and what is their place in the birth order?; what was their schooling like and how successful were they at it? This area is called biodata. It aims to determine, through empirical methods, the biographical markers of success in very particular jobs. It has limitations, however.

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references Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2010). The Psychology of Personnel Selection. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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9

Astrology and Graphology: Are They ­Accurate and, if not, Why do People Believe in Them?

Astrology – an ancient pseudoscience and bar-room conversation starter founded on the premise that everyone born under the same star will meet a dark stranger, receive a propitious business offer or suffer an attack of dyspepsia on the same day. (Rick Bayan)

Most people know what their ‘star sign’ is. Most newspapers around the world contain the advice of an astrologer. Astrology is any of several traditions or systems in which knowledge of the apparent positions of celestial bodies is held to be useful in understanding, interpreting and organizing knowledge about reality and human existence on earth. Most astrologers consider astrology to be a useful intuitive tool by which people may come to better understand themselves, others and the relationships between them. Naturally, psychologists have investigated such claims. There have been many attempts to test these ideas and, with very few exceptions, they have been found wanting. That is to say, where there is good evidence it does not support the ideas of astrologers who, as it happens, often disagree among themselves.

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Although the term ‘graphology’ goes back to 1871, when it was first used by the French cleric Michon, the belief that personality is somehow manifest in handwriting existed even before this date. Graphology books describe both what factors to look at (e.g., size, slant, zone, pressure) and what traits (e.g., temperament, mental, social, work and moral) are ‘revealed’, though there appears no consistency between them, particularly in the description of personality traits. Furthermore, there is rarely an explanation of the process or mechanism linking personality to graphology. There are various schools of graphology, each with a slightly different history, approach and ‘theory’. Graphologists argue that handwriting is brain writing, writing is individualized, and personality is unique so each must reflect each other; writing is a form of expressive movement so it should reflect our personality; the police and courts use graphology so surely it must be valid. Some hard-nosed personnel managers swear by graphologists’ usefulness in selecting employees, and graphologists must have noticed over the centuries that certain kinds of people write in certain ways. Each of these suppositions is refuted by Beyerstein (2003), who has worked extensively in the area. Why do people believe in graphology and astrology? One possibility is that the interpretations they provide are ‘true’. They are true because they consist of vague, positive, generalizations with high base-rate validity, yet are supposedly derived specifically for a named person. For several decades, psychologists have investigated the ‘Barnum effect’ (sometimes known as the Forer effect). This phenomenon occurs when people accept personality feedback about themselves because it is supposedly derived from personality assessment procedures. In other words, people fall victim to the fallacy of personal validation. People accept the generalizations that are true of nearly everybody to be specifically true of themselves.

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Over 60 years ago, a psychologist called Stagner gave a group of personnel managers a personality test, but instead of scoring it and giving them the actual answers, he gave each of them bogus feedback in the form of statements derived from horoscopes, graphological analyses and so on. Each manager was then asked to read over the feedback (supposedly derived from him or herself from the ‘scientific’ test) and decide how accurate the assessment was. Over half felt their profile was an accurate description of them, and almost none believed it to be wrong. The following year a Professor called Forer gave personality tests to his students, ignored their answers, and gave each student an identical evaluation. The first three items on the test were: ‘You have a great need for other people to like and admire you.’ ‘You have a tendency to be critical of yourself.’ ‘You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage.’ They were then asked to evaluate the description from 0 to 5, with 5 meaning the recipient felt the description was an ‘excellent’ evaluation. The class average evaluation was 4.26. Research on the Barnum effect has shown that belief in bogus feedback is influenced by a number of important factors: some to do with the receiver/client and the giver/consultant (for example, their personality, naiveté) and some to do with the nature of the test and feedback situation. The more detailed the questions (for example, a horoscope based on the year, month and day of birth, rather than one based on the year and month of birth alone) the more likely it is a person will think it pertains to just themselves. People tend to accept claims about themselves in proportion to their desire that the claims be true rather than in proportion to the empirical accuracy of the claims as measured by some non-subjective standard. This confirms another principle in personality assessment – the ‘Polyanna principle’ – which suggests that there is a general tendency to use or accept positive words or feedback more frequently than negative words of feedback.

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Studies have shown that students initially sceptical about astrology were more likely to both accept the personality description it offered them and to increase their belief in astrology as a whole, if that description were favourable. In other words, those for whom astrological theory provides a more attractive self-portrait are more likely to express belief in the validity of astrologers. Overall, there is significant support for the general claim that Barnum profiles are perceived to be accurate by participants in the studies. There is an increased acceptance of the profile if it is labelled ‘for you’. Favourable assessments are more readily accepted as accurate descriptions of subjects’ personalities than unfavourable ones. Unfavourable claims are more readily accepted when delivered by people with high perceived status than low perceived status. Hence the popularity of astronomy and graphology: feedback is based on specific information and it is nearly always favourable. In addition, it is often the anxious who visit astrologers and the like: they are particularly sensitive to ‘objective’ information about themselves and the future.

references Beyerstein, B., & Beyerstein, D. (Eds) (1992). The Write Stuff: Evaluation of Graphology – The Study of Handwriting Analysis. New York: Prometheus Books. Forer, B.R., (1949). The fallacy of personal validation: A classroom demonstration of gullibility. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 44, 118–23. Furnham, A. and Schofield, S. (1987). Accepting personality test feedback: A review of the Barnum effect. Current Psychological Reviews and Research, 6, 162–78.

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Attraction and Beauty: Not Only in the Eye of the Beholder

Had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed. (Blaise Pascal, Pensées) I always say beauty is only sin deep. (Saki/H.H. Munro, Reginald’s Choir Treat)

It used to be said of attractiveness that it is difficult to explain but easy to recognize. We have been attempting to define what makes a person physically attractive for generations. The ancient Greeks, for example, believed that beauty was a matter of having the right mathematical proportions. Yet for the philosopher David Hume, beauty was ‘no quality in things themselves; it exists merely in the mind that contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty’. The idea that beauty is in the eye of the beholder – that different people have different ideas about beauty and therefore do not agree about who is, and who is not, beautiful – was for a long while the dominant view in much of philosophy and art. In contrast to the subjective view of beauty, however, psychologists have argued that there may be objectively-defined criteria of attractiveness. A different idea that is currently very popular in both lay and scientific circles is that beauty is a reliable

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index of health and fertility. This is the evolutionary psychological view of human attractiveness. This approach is now dominant and there have been countless studies over the past 30 years that have attempted to document the actual and physical measures of what people think of as attractive. In the evolutionary psychological view of human history, the central mating problem for men was inseminating fertile females, while the central problem for women was obtaining ‘good genes’ from high-quality males and perhaps some parental provisioning and protection. For evolutionary psychologists, these remain the central problems for men and women today. Under the rubric of sexual strategies, they have postulated integrated sets of behaviours that organize and guide an individual’s reproductive effort. Women, it is argued, choose males based on their high status and ability to provide resources for their offspring. As a result, men strive to acquire more resources than other men in order to attract women. Women developed preferences for various cues in men that signal either possession, or the likelihood of acquiring, resources. On the other hand, among the features that men look for are youth and physical appearance. According to this idea, human ancestors needed to assess women for their youth and health, but they could only base this on such cues as clear skin, ‘baby-like’ facial features, a particular body shape or other characteristics that indicated good health. This evolutionary psychological model helps to make sense of many of the empirical findings from experimental social psychology. For example, men from a range of cultures have been shown to favour youthful-looking women. If such preferences are the result of inherited mechanisms, then men would seem to be ‘wired up’ to choose reproductive partners whose youthful fertility offers the best chance of passing on their genes. Thus the evolutionary psychologists have been able to predict, on the basis of the above (and other) variables, the extent to which a person is rated as attractive and why. Though they have explored various individual difference factors such as social class, culture,

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personality and age with respect to the evaluation of beauty, they have shown clear markers of what males and females describe as attractive or beautiful.

references Dion, K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24, 285–90. Judge, T. A., Hurst, C., & Simon, L. S. (2009). Does it Pay to Be Smart, Attractive, or Confident (or All Three)? Relationships Among General Mental Ability, Physical Attractiveness, Core Self-Evaluations, and Income. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94 (3), 742–55. Kanazawa, S., & Reyniers, D. J. (2009). The role of height in the sex difference in intelligence. American Journal of Psychology, 122 (4), 527–36. Swami, V. (2016). Attraction Explained. London: Routledge.

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Autism, Asperger’s and Schizoid People: On the Spectrum

One can only understand people after one has noted the books they read, the pictures they hang on their walls, the diversions they seek and the company they keep. (W.A. Hunt, The American Psychologist, 1951)

Here are two people. What would you say is their problem or diagnosis? John is 20 years old and has exhibited language difficulties since the age of two. He has always been irritable, introverted and does not seek social relationships with his family or peers. He is sensitive to unexpected change and often reacts aggressively by hitting his head or throwing things. This behaviour caused him to be bullied at school. John knows everything about trains, and has pictures of the London tube maps on his wall. Anna is 22 years old and works at her local library where she used to spend every weekend as a child. Anna has a degree in computer science. Anna used to get in trouble at school for not doing her homework, as she was only interested in working on her computer. Anna does not have any friends. She only likes talking about computers and her peers don’t enjoy this, so they

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psych ology 1 01 don’t spend much time with her. Anna does not look people in the eyes when she talks to them, and she often uses a monotone voice. Anna lives at home with her parents.

The answer is that John is severe Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (language problems, doesn’t seek relationships, sensitive to change, single focus) and Anna is high functioning ASD (need for routine, single focus, lack of social skills). Most people have heard about autism and Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) and can describe some of the symptoms of these disorders but cannot clearly differentiate between the two. They may also have heard of the expression of ‘being on the spectrum’, suggesting that the symptoms can go from very severe to relatively mild. Furthermore, there remain a number of contentious issues in this whole area. ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder with symptoms of persistent deficits in communion and social interaction. Sufferers tend to have difficulties with all sorts of interaction and relationships. They may show repetitive patterns of behaviour or interests, and be committed to routines. It has been estimated that around 1 in 100 children has an ASD, with rates five times greater in boys than girls. There are many misconceptions or inadequate training regarding the causes, symptoms and treatments of ASD. There is also the concept of high-functioning autism (HFA), although there is an ongoing debate about whether that is a valid concept. Individuals with HFA and AS have average or above average intelligence but may struggle with friendship formation. Both AS and HFA do present themselves largely the same way, and as a result may be treated in a similar way. A major difference is that those with HFA show delayed language whereas in AS this does not occur. People with Asperger’s Syndrome find it difficult to identify and express their feelings, just like those with HFA. They seem to have very low emotional intelligence. They speak without much emotion and often show a need to follow schedules rigidly and intensely, and become obsessively interested in specific topics. As a

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result, as adults, they may become world experts in highly detailed topics in maths, music or engineering. Compared with classic autism, children with Asperger’s Syndrome/HFA have IQs that fall in the normal or even superior range. They are often not diagnosed until relatively late. There have been many major developments over the last 20 years trying to understand the causes as well as the treatment of ASD. Schizoid Personality Disorder This personality disorder is characterized by a pattern of indifference to social relationships as well as a restricted range of emotional experience and expression. Schizoid people neither desire nor enjoy close relationships, including being part of a family; they may have few close friends or confidants; and display constricted affects. They can often appear to be aloof, cold or rarely reciprocating gestures or facial expressions, such as smiles or nods. Schizoid personality disorder is also characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships. Those with Asperger’s Syndrome have difficulty with empathy and understanding of others, while those with schizoid personality disorder are able to communicate and form relationships but choose not to. People with Asperger’s Syndrome tend to be less withdrawn than people with schizoid personality disorder and the latter will rarely have fixations or a preference for repetitive behaviour. Oldham and Morris (2000) note five traits and behaviours that are clues to the presence of the schizoid person who has a solitary style: ●●

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Solitude. They have little need of companionship and are most comfortable when alone. Independence. They are self-contained and do not require interaction with others in everyday life. Sangfroid. They are even-tempered, calm, dispassionate, unsentimental and unflappable.

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Sexual composure. They are not much driven by any sexual needs. Feet on the ground. They are unswayed by either praise or criticism and can confidently come to terms with their own behaviour.

These are the cold fish of the personality disordered world: distant, aloof and emotionally flat, often preferring the affection of animals to that of people. They are very self-contained: they do not need others to admire, entertain, guide or amuse them, and they report being free of loneliness. They seem completely dispassionate; they are doers and observers, not feelers; they seem stoical in the face of pain and passion. Schizoid people often seem detached from social relationships, and to have a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings. They are thought of as unresponsive, and appear indifferent to the praise or criticism of others – absolutely nothing seems to get them going.

references Baron-Cohen, S., Lombardo, M.V., Auyeung, B., Ashwin, E., Chakrabarti, B., & Knickmeyer, R. (2011). Why are autism spectrum conditions more prevalent in males? PLoS Biol, 9(6), e1001081. Furnham, A., & Buck, C. (2003). A comparison of lay-beliefs about autism and obsessive–compulsive disorder. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 49(4), 287–307.

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Behavioural Economics

Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. (W. Somerset Maugham) Emotions have powerful effects on decisions. Moreover, the outcomes of decisions have powerful effects on emotions. (B. Mellers, A. Schwartz & A. Cooke, Annual Review of Psychology, 1998) For though with judgement we on things reflect, Our will determines, not our intellect. (E. Waller, Divine Love, 1650)

Behavioural economics has its intellectual foundations in both psychology and economics. It seeks to understand how people select, process and decide upon financial (and other) information. It offers profound and parsimonious information as to why so many seemingly educated and informed people make strangely illogical or irrational decisions with respect to all aspects of their money: borrowing, investing, saving and spending. Three psychologists (Simon, Kahneman and Thayler) have won the Nobel Prize for economics that all stress the above. Economists have been challenged by certain economic behaviours which they have not found easy to explain: why do people tip?, why do they spend differently with cash than with a credit card?, why do people have savings accounts which don’t offer interest that even keeps pace with inflation?, why do we happily

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and enthusiastically spend more for a product when using a credit card as opposed to cash? In a popular book entitled Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes, Belsky & Gilovich (1999) discuss seven typical issues: 1 Not all money is seen equally. This is also known as mental accounting or fungibility. It means people define and therefore use money differently. People spend £100 obtained from a roulette win, a salary, or a tax refund differently, even though that money is all the same. Mental accounting can make people at the same time both spenders and savers: reckless with certain ‘types of money’, conservative investors with others. 2 We treat losses and gains quite differently. People’s decisions are powerfully influenced by how they frame and describe situations. The results are very clear: people are much more willing to take risks to avoid losses and much more conservative when it comes to opportunities for gain. The same amount of pain and the same amount of pleasure have very different impacts. This is the psychology of loss aversion. Oversensitivity to loss means that people may respond quickly – even too quickly – to drops in the market. On the other hand the selling of a stock or bond (the pain of making a loss fund) makes some people more willing to take the risk of keeping the investment despite its continual decline. Behavioural economists have shown how loss aversion and our inability to ignore sunk costs mean people often act unwisely. But they have also explained why people don’t act when they should. We sometimes get overwhelmed by choice; paralysed by having to make a decision, so we defer the actual decision. Decision paralysis happens particularly when we have too much choice. The more time we have to do a task, the more we procrastinate.

b eh av i ou r al economics 3 We are prone to inaction. We also opt for the status quo – doing nothing: a resistance to change, or an unwillingness to rock the boat. The endowment effect is particularly interesting. It means people over-value what they value. That is why organizations allow for trial periods and moneyback guarantees. There are various tell-tale signs of this problem: having a hard time choosing between investment options, not having a pension, delaying financial decisions all the time. 4 The money illusion and the bigness bias. This problem classically arises when we confuse nominal changes in money (it goes up or down) as opposed to real changes, for instance as a function of inflation or deflation. The question is the current buying power of money as opposed to its actual amount. Related to this is the idea of base rate: the fact that people buy lottery tickets which, because of the real odds of winning, have been described as ‘a tax on the stupid’. 5 Anchoring and confirmation bias. This is the common and strong tendency to latch onto some idea/fact or number and use it, whether relevant or not, as a reference point for future decisions. We are, of course, particularly susceptible to anchoring when we do not have much information about something (the cost of hotels in foreign countries, typical discounts etc.) 6 Overconfidence is a common ‘ego trap’ that people fall into. Too many people don’t know how little they really know about financial issues. They feel that they can do things like sell their own house and pick great investments without specialist advice. Some people persist in the belief that they are beating the market, but don’t really know or understand their actual return on investments. 7 Getting information through the grapevine and relying too much on the financial moves of others is the final ‘big money mistake’ documented. This is all about investing with the herd and (mindlessly) conforming to the behaviour

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psych ology 1 01 of others. This is seen when people invest in ‘hot stocks and shares’; you buy when stocks are rising and sell when shares are falling. This is about being too reliant on the ideas of colleagues, friends, journalists and financial advisers. The advice is ‘hurry up and wait’; avoid fashions, ‘tune out the noise’ and actually seek out opportunities to be contrarian.

Belsky & Gilovich helpfully end the book with ‘principles to ponder’. Some are: A. Every dollar/pound/Euro spends the same: it does not matter where money comes from, how it is kept or spent (salary, gifts, wins) – it is all the same. B. Losses hurt you more than gains please you: we are all loss and risk averse. C. Money that is spent is money that does not matter: mistakes from the past should not haunt the present. D. It is all about the way you frame/see/look at things: the way we code potential losses and gains profoundly influences all the choices we make. E. All numbers (amounts) of money matter even if you don’t count them: in the old jargon, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves. Don’t underestimate small amounts of money. F. We pay too much attention to money matters that matter too little: we tend to weigh some facts and figures too heavily. G. Your money-related confidence is often misplaced: it is so easy and common to over-estimate our money skills and knowledge. H. It is very hard to admit one’s money mistakes: this is about pride and hubris but also being very uncomfortable about self-criticism.

b eh av i ou r al economics I. The trend may not be your friend: trust your instincts before you follow the herd when thinking about investing. J. You can know too much: you can get overwhelmed by financial information, much of which is irrelevant.

references Belsky, G., & Gilovich, T. (1999). Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes – and how to correct them. New York: Simon and Schuster. Kahneman, D. (2014). Thinking, Fast and Slow. London: Penguin.

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Behaviourism and Behaviour Therapies

Behaviourism is indeed a kind of flat-earth view of the mind…it has substituted for the erstwhile anthropomorphic view of the rat, a ratomorphic view of man. (Arthur Koestler, The Ghost in the Machine, 1967) Behaviourism could be accurately and briefly described as a psychology which leaves out psychology. (W.V. Quine, Psycholinguistics, 1961)

Behaviourism was a dominant force in psychology for most of the twentieth century. It could be described as the science of (only) what you can observe and reliably measure: behaviour. Behaviourism insists that we need (observable) behavioural evidence to demonstrate theories. Thus we cannot know or distinguish between two states of mind, (attitudes, beliefs, values, etc) unless we can observe and measure the specific behaviour associated with each.

philosophy The philosophic origins of behaviourism lie in various philosophic movements like Logical Positivism and British Empiricism. Behaviourists argue we can sufficiently understand psychological processes without any reference to internal mental events like beliefs or memories. All internal-state language (talk of ideas and feelings)

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should be totally eradicated from psychology to be replaced by strictly behavioural concepts. There are slightly different versions. There is classical or physiological behaviourism, which is well known and associated with Pavlov. If dogs or rats are fed only after they perform a task – push a lever or move in a particular way when a sound occurs or a light gets switched on – they are likely to repeat this behaviour. So the sound or light is a discriminative stimuli, the movement or presses are responses, the food is reinforcement and the repeated actions are learning histories. Behaviourists are less interested in physiological or evolutionary explanations of behaviour. The core concept is the operant response: the frequency and strength of a response and reaction to a particular stimuli. Using his methods (reinforcement schedules) Pavlov demonstrated his power to train animals and give a wide number of specific, often unusual, responses. Behaviourists tend to focus on very specific identifiable behaviours which they argue can be shaped by the well-planned reinforcement schedules. But some are prepared to accept that we are more than simply products of our personal reinforcement history. We are also affected by our personal biological factors and in some instances by culture, which are in effect the common behaviours of our clan or group.

social learning theory There are various important concepts in social learning theory. The first is observational learning or modelling: we often learn by observing and then imitating others who act as models. We obtain vicarious reinforcement when we see others rewarded or punished for what they do. It can motivate people, supply them with useful information, general emotional arousal, encourage us to re-examine ourselves and change our views. Hence the power of television and films to encourage behaviour change.

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psych ology 1 01 Central to social learning theory is the idea of self-efficacy, which is an individual’s belief concerning their ability to cope or achieve in a particular situation or with a particular task. The theory asserts that the evaluation of self-efficacy in any situation is a function of four things: their learning history or success and failure in similar situations; salient vicarious experiences (knowledge of how others behave in similar situations); verbal/social persuasion or reinforcement (or the extent to which others have encouraged or persuaded you to act in that situation); and emotional arousal or the feelings of anxiety or distress associated with possible failure.

Self-efficacy judgements play an important role in motivation and goal setting, at school and work and in therapy. The more people believe they know what to do, have had experience of success and want to avoid failure, the more likely they aim to succeed. People can have generalized vs. task specific self-efficacy. The former is a general confidence ability to succeed and be efficacious; the latter is about success or failure in a very specific area of life. A final concept is self-regulation, which means using thoughts/ beliefs to control behaviour. These are personal resources which are a way of self-rewarding and punishing behaviour. It results from people observing their own behaviour and judging how it occurs and how it compares to others. People react with pleasure and pride to success and pain and self-criticism to failure. Self-regulation processes mean that they tend to repeat things that increase their feelings of self-worth or self-esteem, while avoiding those that lead to self-defeat and self-loathing.

cognitive behavioural therapy Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy designed to manage and eventually eradicate many problems by changing the way people think and behave. It is most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression. It is based on the concept that thoughts, feelings and actions are interconnected, and that in particular negative thoughts and

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feelings can lead to a vicious cycle which in turn leads to long-term problems. Unlike psychoanalysis, CBT deals with current rather than past problems and issues. An example: You’ve had a bad day, feel fed up, so go out for a walk. As you walk down the road, someone you know well walks by and, apparently, ignores you. The unhelpful response is to assume they don’t like you (thoughts), feel sad and rejected (emotions), as well as physically sick (physical emotions) and return home feeling even worse. The more helpful response is to perhaps think the other person seemed very wrapped up in themselves (thoughts), and to feel concern for them (emotions), which suggest the best thing to do is phone them up later and see if they are OK.

It is all about re-interpreting and analysing situations which lead to thoughts, feelings and actions which are helpful and positive rather than negative. CBT may be helpful in cases where medication alone hasn’t worked. Many find it attractive because it can be completed in a relatively short period of time compared with many other talking therapies. Moreover, the logical and structured nature of CBT means it can be provided in different formats, including in groups, self-help books and even apps. Advocates argue that it teaches useful and practical strategies that can be used in aspects of life. But like all therapies it takes effort and commitment on the part of the client. Equally it is true that it does not always address some social problems. Nevertheless, its proven ‘cheapness’ and efficacy has meant it is very popular.

references Skinner, B.F. (1969). Contingencies of reinforcement: a theoretical analysis. Appleton-Century-Croft. Staddon, John (2014). The New Behaviorism (2nd edition). Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.

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Birth Order: Are You First Born or an Only Child?

How parents interact with each child as he or she enters the family circle determines in great part that child’s final destiny. (Kevin Leman, 1982, The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are) Lacking older siblings, the oldest or only child identifies primarily with her parents, conforming to their ideals and demands, not the least reason being that she has no one with whom to share those demands. Since firstborns try to live up to the expectations of adults – teachers as well as parents – rather than that of peers, they are likely to learn more and to bring home better report cards than younger siblings. Thus firstborns pave the way for younger siblings, setting the standards against which they are measured and measure themselves. (Victoria Secunda, 1992, Women and their Fathers)

Are you an only child, or perhaps the first born? What is it like being the youngest of many children? In short, does birth order have an effect on your personality and values? People often attribute certain behaviours and relationships to where someone comes in the family – first, second or perhaps last born. What is the theory and is there any evidence for it? In 1874, Francis Galton noted that first-born sons and only sons were over-represented among scientists, making birth order one of

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the first constructs studied in psychology. He thought this was due to both practical circumstances – ‘they are more likely to become possessed of independent means, and therefore able to follow the pursuits that have most attraction to their tastes.’ – and their ‘independence of character’, a result of having been treated more as companions by their parents. Since then, numerous studies have investigated systematic differences in intelligence, achievement and personality between children of different birth orders. A number of theories have been postulated to account for such differences, generally focusing on the fact that each child’s home environment is at least partly a function of their birth order. Alfred Adler, a student of Freud, gave what is likely the first comprehensive account of birth order, focusing on the ‘dethronement’ concept. The eldest child was, at some point, the centre of attention; this is lost with the addition of a sibling. Younger children, in contrast, see their elder siblings as ‘pacesetters’, and race to catch up. The youngest child, in contrast, is never dethroned, and is often pampered and spoiled. A number of effects on personality are predicted on this basis. There have been many papers and reviews in this area. This is what the data suggest about the characteristics of birth order such as their personality, intelligence, motivation and sexual orientation. Characteristics of First-Born Children: highest academic/ intellectual performance, high achievers, highly motivated, most likely a leader/dominant, most affiliative, over-represented among learned people, most influenced by authority, conformist to parental values, least conventional sexually, most fearful in new situations, earliest sexuality experiences, most likely to be politician, responsible and conscientious, shows mature behaviour, highest self-esteem, dependent on others’ approval, most vulnerable to stress, self-disciplined and least emotionality.

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psych ology 1 01 Characteristics of Only Children: most need for achievement, most likely to go to college, most behavioural problems, lowest need for affiliation, selfish, need for affiliation under stress, highest percentage of psychiatric disorders, most likable (exclude youngest), most cooperative and most trusting. Characteristics of Middle Children: feelings of not belonging, sociable, fewest ‘acting out’ problems, success in team sports, relates well to older and younger people, competes in different areas than oldest and more faithful in monogamous relationships. Characteristics of Youngest Children: highest social interest, general agreeableness, most rebellious, most empathic, most likely to be an alcoholic, over-representation of psychiatric disorder, more artistic, less scientific, most popular and chooses activities involving social interplay.

This area of research has been dominated by Frank Sulloway who, in his book Born to Rebel (1996) presented 26 years of statistical evidence to demonstrate how first-born children behave differently from their younger siblings. His thesis is that children compete for parental attention by creating distinctive niches. First-born children tend to be responsible, competitive and conventional. Children born later are more playful, cooperative and rebellious. Sulloway provides thousands of birth order examples, historic and contemporary, to prove his point. His research and arguments are impressive. It is not surprising, therefore, to find many followers of his theory. Among them, Leman (1998) states that the first male or those born more than five years after their older sibling have an excellent chance of developing first-born traits or being ‘functional first borns’. Sulloway and Leman provide an extensive list of famous people who fit into the categories they identify. Intriguing and fascinating as these studies are, subsequent analyses challenge Sulloway’s main theories. Some researchers reported studies that found no significant correlations between personality and birth order. Peer ratings suggested partial support for Sulloway’s

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hypotheses. According to Jefferson et al. (1998) later-borns are perceived by ‘their friends and neighbours as being more sociable, innovative and trusting than first-borns’. Interestingly, the spouses of the individuals concerned did not replicate these peer-rated results. The debate continues. There are some tempting conclusions to be drawn from the analysis of the impact of birth order on personality and behaviour, but the precise impact is not yet sufficiently defined. One problem is that birth order is related to other factors like social class: poorer families have more children. It is still probably true that most scientists are deeply sceptical, believing that many of the claims of the birth-order theorists are simply wrong.

references Eckstein, D., Aycock, K. J., Sperber, M. A., McDonald, J., Van Wiesner, V., Watts, R. E., & Ginsburg, P. (2010). A review of 200 birth-order studies: Lifestyle characteristics. Journal of Individual Psychology, 66, 408–34. Eckstein, D., & Kaufman, J. A. (2012). The role of birth order in personality: An enduring intellectual legacy of Alfred Adler. Journal of Individual Psychology, 68(1). Sulloway, F. J. (1996). Born to Rebel: Birth order, family dynamics, and creative lives. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.

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Body Language: Wink, Wink, Nod, Nod

Words are so futile, so feeble. (Charlie Chaplin, Academy Awards speech, 1972) Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much. (Robert Greenleaf, Servant Leadership, 1977)

Body language may be coded in verbal language. Consider the following examples taken from the different areas of non-verbal communication: Body state expression: Emotions are often expressed in terms of body language. We ‘shoulder a burden’, ‘face up to issues’, try to ‘keep our chin up’, ‘grit our teeth’, in the face of pain we have a ‘stiff upper lip’, ‘bare our teeth’, on occasion ‘catch the eye’ of another, and ‘shrug off’ misfortune. Eye contact: ‘I see what you mean.’ ‘Seeing is believing.’ ‘I can’t see any other solution.’ ‘He has an eye for colour.’ Gesture: ‘He gave me the cold shoulder.’ Posture: We like to be ‘well balanced’, ‘take a firm stand’, ‘know where you stand on this’. When uncomfortable people shift their weight from one foot to the other they can be seen to be ‘shifty characters’.

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Odour: ‘I like the sweet smell of success.’ ‘He has a nose for where the money is.’ ‘Yet she still came up smelling of roses.’ ‘He is always sticking his nose in other people’s business.’ ‘She always sticks her nose in the air.’ ‘I will ensure that I rub his nose in it.’ Orientation: ‘I dislike people who are always taking sides.’ ‘I feel diametrically opposed to everything he does.’ Territory/distance: ‘I feel close to him.’ ‘She is very stand-offish.’ ‘Back off from me, buster!’ ‘I prefer to keep her at arm’s length.’ Touch: ‘I felt touched by his concern.’ ‘Her plight touched me.’

Verbal and non-verbal communication are pretty intertwined. There are a few extremely important points to bear in mind with respect to body language. First, it is not random but follows certain rules. In short, it is law-like behaviour. Take eye contact – or mutual gaze – for example. This is in part determined by physical distance (stand too close in lifts and mutual eye gaze drops); topic of conversation (shame and embarrassment are signalled by reduced eye contact); interpersonal relationships (we look more at those we like); co-operative tasks (we look more at co-operators than competitors); and personality (extroverts look more than introverts).

claims and nonsense Despite the excellent and careful research in the area, much nonsense is still written about the topic, often by journalists and other self-appointed ‘experts’ whose aim is to entertain (and sell) rather than to enlighten and educate. Misleading and sometimes completely incorrect statements about body language communication seem to fall into various areas: Symbolism: all body communication is symbolic expression People with a fondness for psychoanalytic (Freudian) ideas love to interpret explicit behaviours as manifestations of (often

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unconscious) desires and behaviours. The temptation of too many body language experts is that they favour an ‘unconscious’, Freudian, psychological interpretation over a more obvious explanation. It is too easy to over-interpret incorrectly. For instance, look at the table below and consider two types of explanation for the same behaviour (one innocent, the other not). Body Language: alternative interpretations Behaviours

Psychological Explanation Alternative Explanation

Hands in pockets

The person is secretive, withdrawn, possibly depressed.

It is cold. The person is searching for a small object.

Folded arms

Defensive act for physical reassurance.Indicator of uncertainty and lack of confidence.

It is cold; the arm rests are occupied; it is comfortable.

Crossed legs

Defensive, repressed, even feeling hostile.

Women are taught to cross legs to look more feminine; men do so because it is comfortable.

Nose touching

The person is lying or covering up his or her emotions.

He or she has a cold or itchy nose.

Some non-verbal cues are symbolic of unconscious desires, hopes and urges but many, probably most, are not. Power (Bodily communication is always more powerful) It is not uncommon to read statements like: ‘Seventy per cent of the communicative power of a message is sent non-verbally’ or ‘It is not what you say but it is the way that you say it.’ Body communication pundits have a natural inclination to ‘talk up’ their area of expertise, to over-emphasize its importance. Non-verbal communication can, indeed, at times be extremely powerful – sheer rage or terror are often much more efficiently communicated

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through facial and body expression than through words. Pain or love can also be signalled by changes in facial expressions and by children who articulate their feelings through a limited vocabulary. Ability to communicate a message non-verbally is the whole point of the parlour game charades. The power of bodily communication lies primarily in the fact that it often tells one about the physiological state of the individual because of changes in the central nervous system. Certainly, extreme emotions like anger ‘leak out’ however carefully a person tries to hide them. Sexual excitement is difficult to hide, as often is guilt. These physiological states are nearly always an expression of emotional extremes not that common in everyday life. Body language can shout and it can be subtle. But those who claim it is so powerful should try to send to a stranger the following, relatively simple messages non-verbally: ‘Thank you very much’; ‘I totally disagree’; ‘I feel very happy for you.’ Controllability (We can control all the messages we send) Some non-verbal behaviour, such as gestures and touch, are naturally controllable; while others, such as sweating and pupil dilation, are not. Often people want to cover up evidence of their anxiety or specific motives (sexual pleasure) but are unable to do so. Most people in conversation are not particularly aware of others, or of their own legs and feet, which if they wanted they could control. They are not aware of small changes in posture and micro-facial expressions as certain things are said. You can read people like a book (Decoding non-verbal language is easy) The curious claim of many popular books is that it is possible simultaneously to read techniques of others but hide your own – to disguise one’s secret intentions, while putting on a believable, poker face. True experts in the area of non-verbal communication are surprisingly diffident on this point. Experts on lying point out how tricky it is to detect lying in skilful dissimulators. They all highlight

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how much information one needs to confirm a hypothesis that ‘he is lying’, ‘she is an extrovert’ or ‘they are not competent in this area’.

references Collett, P. (2003). The Book of Tells. London: Doubleday. Furnham, A., & Petrova, E. (2011). Body Language in Business. London: Palgrave.

16

Brainstorming: Fun but does it Work?

Society is creative when it is ruled by creative spirits. (C. Collins, 1960, The Vision of a Fool)

Can creativity be taught? How do we come up with a really innovative idea? What is the best method for generating ideas? For many, the answer to these problems is brainstorming. But does it work to solve problems or come up with new ideas? Now we have to call it ‘thought-showering’. Brainstorming is used most frequently to generate as many solutions to a particular problem as possible because quantity is favoured over quality. The basic assumption is that ‘two heads are better than one’ and that together, in groups, innovative solutions can be found. There are guidelines: ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●●

Group size should be about five to seven people. No criticism allowed. Freewheeling is encouraged. Quantity and variety is also favoured. Encourage combinations and improvements. Notes must be taken. The alternatives generated.

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The session should not be rigidly over-structured by following any of the preceding seven rules too rigidly.

Imagine working on a problem that requires several very specific steps and has a definite right or wrong answer, such as an arithmetic problem or a crossword puzzle. How can one expect to perform on such a well-structured task when working alone compared to when working with a group of people? Research findings indicate that groups performing wellstructured tasks tend to make better, more accurate decisions, but take more time to reach them than individuals. In one study, people worked either alone or in groups of five on several well-structured problems. Comparisons between groups and individuals were made with respect to accuracy (the number of problems solved correctly) and speed (the time it took to solve the problems). It was found that the average accuracy of groups of five persons working together was greater than the average accuracy of five individuals working alone. However, it was also found that groups were substantially slower (as much as 40 per cent) than individuals in reaching solutions. Groups are accurate but slow. But the potential advantage that groups might enjoy is being able to pool their resources and combine their knowledge to generate a wide variety of approaches to problems. For these benefits to be realized, however, it is essential that the group members have the necessary knowledge and skills to contribute to the group’s task. In short, for there to be a beneficial effect of pooling of resources, there has to be something to pool. Two heads may be better than one only when neither is a blockhead – the ‘pooling of ignorance’ does not help at all. Most of the problems faced by organizations are not well structured. They do not have any obvious steps or parts, and there is no obviously right or wrong answer. Such problems are referred to as poorly structured. Creative thinking is required to make decisions on poorly structured tasks. For example, a company deciding how

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to use a newly developed chemical in its consumer products is facing a poorly structured task. Other poorly structured tasks include: coming up with a new product name, image or logo; or finding new or original uses for familiar objects like a coat-hanger, paper clip or brick. Although you may expect that the complexity of such creative problems would give groups a natural advantage, this is not the case. In fact, research has shown that on poorly structured, creative tasks, individuals perform better than groups. Specifically, in one study people were given 35 minutes to consider the consequences of everybody suddenly going blind. Comparisons were made of the number of ideas/issues/outcomes generated by groups of four or seven people and a like number of individuals working on the same problem alone. Individuals were far more productive than groups and arrived at their answers much faster. Most brainstorming is used by creative organizations which care little about the skill composition of the problem solving groups who are then confronted with poorly structured tasks such as thinking of the name for a new product. In other words, brainstorming is used when it is least effective, and rarely when it is most effective. How does brainstorming translate into other languages? For a non-native speaker thinking literally, it may be associated linguistically with an epileptic fit or a splitting headache. Certainly, for some people the experience of taking part in this activity to solve a creative, open-ended task leads to a migraine. The paradox of brainstorming is that this technique is most frequently used when research suggests it is least effective. Even though brainstorming is a very popular technique among managers and business consultants for stimulating creativity in groups at work, the research literature has shown that group interaction seems to inhibit the sharing of novel ideas. Groups using the brainstorming rules generate substantially fewer ideas than the same number of individuals producing new ideas in isolation. Researchers have suggested that this productivity loss might be attributable to:

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On these grounds, it has been argued that idea generation may be best left to individuals, whereas the selection and implementation of high-quality ideas may be a task better performed in groups. However, individuals brainstorming in groups often report that they have lots of fun trying to find new ways to improve their jobs. People generating ideas in group settings seem to experience a condition of cognitive stimulation, which actually facilitates the generation of a higher quantity and quality of novel ideas. Other procedural techniques that have been developed to overcome the limitations of group brainstorming have focused on exchanging ideas by writing instead of talking. These techniques are usually referred to as ‘brainwriting’ and aim at limiting the production blocking that occurs in brainstorming groups. Writing instead of speaking facilitates the generation of novel ideas because group members have the opportunity to choose when to attend to the ideas of others. Therefore, group members are not required to perform the rather demanding task of attending to the ideas of others, building on these ideas and simultaneously generating their own ideas. Finally, brainstorming is also performed in ‘electronic brainstorming groups’, in which case the interaction among group members is taking place through computers eliminating any oral communication among the interacting parties. All the procedural techniques presented above do also deal to some extent with the

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problem of ‘evaluation apprehension’ people most likely experience in brainstorming groups since ideas generated by group members are kept anonymous.

references Osborn, A.F. (1963) Applied Imagination: Principles and procedures of creative problem solving. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Furnham, A., & Yazdanpanahi, T. (1995). Personality differences and group versus individual brainstorming. Personality and Individual Differences, 19, 73–80.

17

Brainwashing and Cults: How to Form a Cult!

There is no dogma so queer, no behaviour so eccentric or even outrageous, but a group of people can be found who think it divinely inspired. (Aldous Huxley, 1940, The Olive Tree) Love, friendship, respect, do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something. (Anton Chekhov: Notebooks, 1982–1904) A Closed Group…is an intolerant entity. (I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1971, Love and Hate)

Why do people join and stay in cults? How are supposedly healthy, intelligent adults brainwashed so easily? How are acceptable social groups and organizations different from (dangerous) cults? Do they use similar techniques of ‘brainwashing’? It has been argued that cults have eight recognizable characteristics: ●●

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Powerful and exclusive dedication/devotion to an explicit person or creed. Use of ‘thought-reform’ programmes to integrate, socialize, persuade and therefore control members. A well thought-out and thorough recruitment, selection and socialization process. Attempts to maintain psychological and physical dependency among cult members.

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An insistence on reprogramming the way people see the world. Consistent exploitation of group members specifically to advance the leaders’ goals. Use of milieu control signals: a different, unfamiliar setting with different rules, terms and behaviour patterns. Ultimately using psychological and physical harm to cult members, their friends and relatives and possibly the community as a whole.

Most cults start their induction by stopping critical thinking. This involves the introduction of a ‘sacred creed’ that members may have to live by. Through open confession and subordination of the individual to the doctrine, the cult tries to ensure control and ‘purity’. Usually, cults deliberately induce powerful emotions like fear and guilt but also pride. They tend to develop their own language, dress and signals which shows their specialness. The mind-controlling techniques of extremist groups are little different from those of the army, religious organizations and prisons. These techniques are in fact well known; demanding total, consistent compliance and conformity, using heavily persuasive techniques, creating dissonance and emotional manipulation. They differ only in intensity and duration... and in effectiveness. All too often, we explain strange, unexpected behaviour (like joining a cult) in terms of the personality of the victims: sad people brainwashed into joining a bizarre group. Are they poor, gullible, naive indoctrinated members with defective personalities? Rather than immediately trying to blame extremists for being different, it is equally important to try to understand the psychological appeal of cults, extremist groups and political cells, as well as some business organizations. An analysis of people in cult groups shows surprisingly large diversity in terms of age, career, education, ideology and talents. They can attract the post-graduate and the illiterate; the teenager and the ‘senior citizen’; the solidly middle class and those on the fringes of society; the religious and non-religious; the political and apolitical. It is not so much their demography that is important as their psychological needs and motives.

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What do all groups (cult and non-cult) offer a potential recruit? Simple but important psychological benefits: friendship, identity, respect and security. They also offer a world-view: a way of discerning right from wrong, good from bad. They offer a structured lifestyle and the ability to acquire new skills. They also offer moral explanations into how the world works. They provide clear answers to difficult and big questions: the secret of happiness, life after death, the difference between right and wrong, who is with us and who is against us, the saved and the damned. Many have strong beliefs in conspiracy theories. Five things make extreme groups dangerous to their members. First they demand that they sever all ties with people (family, friends) and organizations (schools, churches). This naturally makes the members more dependent on the cult itself and helps create the person’s new identity. They start again, wipe the slate clean. Second, the members are required to show immediate and unquestioning obedience to rules and regulations which may be arbitrary, petty or pointless. The idea is to ensure allegiance and obedience. This strategy is used to ‘break-in’ all army recruits. Third, group members often have to do long hours of tedious work like drilling, begging for money, cooking, followed by compulsory reading, chanting or mediating. Recruits become physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted. Sleep deprivation is a good start. Fourth, all groups need money to exist. This may, therefore, quickly involve recruits getting involved in illegal, or semi-legal activities. Members need to understand how, when and why money is required and to set about getting it quickly. Fifth, groups make exit costs very high, almost impossible. Leaving is associated with failure, persecution and isolation. They make you feel as if nothing will ever be the same as you will be an outcast.

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Are certain individuals more receptive to the message of cults than others? Recruiters know that what they appear to have in common is they are at some transitional phase in their life: something has gone and not been replaced. Physical movement, divorce, unemployment, dropping their religion. They often feel alienated and experience all the meaningless, powerlessness and helplessness that goes with the state. They can feel increasingly isolated from the commercial, political and technical world that offers little for them. Disaffected, often angry and resentful they can seek each other out. Enter the group recruiter with simple (but ‘sensible’) answers. They offer simple rules and a simple lifestyle and social support. The group (cult) appears to offer all they need and want. Extreme groups offer simple, clear messages in an increasingly complex world. The world is corrupt, evil, unfair and very complex. So a group or leader who offers a ‘sensible, sane’ explanation for the complex world, a secure group and personal salvation is very attractive. They come in many forms: politicians of the extreme left or right, religious leaders, romantic revolutionaries, persuasive writers, powerhungry individuals, brilliant orators and movie-star saviours. People who join extreme groups are not strange, disturbed, sheep-like idiots. No one sees themselves as a cult member. Cult is pejorative. Indeed even members of fairly extreme groups like Trappist monks or Amish farmers would never think of themselves as cult members. But they owe their survival to many of the principles outlined above.

references McCauley, C.R., & Segal, M.E. (1987). Social psychology of terrorist groups. In C. Hendrick (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology, Vol. 9. Group processes and intergroup relations (pp. 231–56). Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc. Singer, M.T., & Lalich, J. (1995). Cults in our midst. San Francisco, CA, US: Jossey-Bass.

18

Changing Behaviour: Set in Plaster or ­Malleable as Plastic?

If there is something that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could be better changed in ourselves. (Carl Jung, 1956, Collected Works) Even God cannot change the past. (Agathon, quoting Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics)

The issue of what beliefs and behaviours we can and can’t (easily) change is fundamental to psychology. There are many self-help books that promise to provide the answer of how to change behaviour, from the ‘curing’ of addictions to general health and happiness. Many offer simple solutions to complex psychological phenomena and processes and often make claims that are not supported by science, namely disinterested, peer-reviewed, empirical research. We know that all diets fail because people stop dieting. Permanent weight loss requires a lifestyle change. The question is how easily this is done. Most people know how difficult it is just to give up non-addictive habits. Equally there is a huge ‘change industry’ driven by individuals’ and organizations’ desire to change. In an attempt to ‘review with unflinching candour the effectiveness of most different kinds of treatment for the major

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psychological disorders’, Seligman (2007: p.xi) provided some facts about psychological change. In his book he reviewed the changeability of 16 disorders including sexual preferences, identities, orientations and dysfunctions. He also provided ten ‘facts about change’: 1 Panic can be easily unlearned, but cannot be cured by medication. 2 Dieting, in the long run, almost never works. 3 The sexual ‘dysfunctions’ – frigidity, impotence, premature ejaculation – are easily unlearned. 4 Kids do not become androgynous easily. 5 Our moods, which can wreak havoc with our physical health, are readily controlled. 6 No treatment is known to improve on the natural course of recovery from alcoholism. 7 Depression can be cured by straightforward changes in conscious thinking or helped by medication, but it cannot be cured by insight into childhood. 8 Homosexuals cannot become heterosexual. 9 Optimism is a learned skill. Once learned, it increases achievement at work and improves physical health. 10 Reliving childhood trauma does not undo adult personality problems. There are debates in various areas of psychology about how to change individuals, as well as groups and organizations as a whole. In personality theory there are debates between those who argue that people do change (considerably and significantly over time) and those who suggest they do not. This is sometimes called the plaster vs. plastic hypotheses with the former advocates suggesting that personality traits change very little over time, while the latter argue that significant, systematic and explicable changes can and do occur. Over the years the ‘plaster’ hypothesis of little or no change had been replaced with the ‘plasticity’ hypothesis of possible change. It

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seems now that many trait theorists recognize that traits can and do change over time, though there remains debate about which traits change least and most, why and by how much. Equally there were studies in clinical psychology that examined theories of, and evidence for, change and ‘cure’ as a function of therapy. In a study comparing laypeople and clinical psychologists, researchers found clinicians much less optimistic and more sceptical about the efficacy of therapy and the prognosis of personal problems compared to laypeople. Thus therapists believed that while phobias, anxiety attacks and sleep disorders had a good prognosis and autism, dementia and drug dependence a poor prognosis, laypeople were much more optimistic overall about all 36 problems presented. There is also a debate about whether intelligence can change; that is whether people can become more intelligent. This is a topic of considerable academic debate with some arguing that people can, and others that people cannot, sustainably increase their intelligence. Thus Kuszewski (2011) concluded: ‘Fluid intelligence is trainable. The training and subsequent gains are dose-dependent, meaning, the more you train, the more you gain. Anyone can increase their cognitive ability, no matter what your starting point is. The effect can be gained by training on tasks that don’t resemble the test questions.’

personal change All coaches, counsellors and therapists know that people change only if they want to. They cannot be forced or even bribed. They must really want change. So why would employers want seriously to change their lifestyle, philosophy and management style? There are half a dozen common causes: 1. Loss: Loss of a significant person (parent, spouse, and/or child). That can, for them, change the purpose of life. All plans, hopes and dreams go with them. The situation requires re-appraisal. 2. Illness: This is most often caused by stress and habit disorders.

ch angi ng b eh av i our 3. Insoluble Conflict: This as much outside as inside the workplace. Relationships are both the major source of support and stress. 4. Unfulfilled Dreams: Most of us have career dreams, expectations and fantasies. As time ticks by it becomes apparent that the hope will probably never be fulfilled. 5. Inauthenticity: Most people have to be ‘someone else’ at work. Work requires serious sacrifice of time commitment etc. 6. Trauma: This may be of a life-threatening kind or not. Being involved in an accident; being robbed of precious possessions; a brush with the law. There are certain criteria or markers of what one might call change-readiness. First, their psychological insight and curiosity, mainly about themselves but also about others. This is not an invitation to a narcissistic, self-indulgent fest of self-justification. It is about trying to see connections between thoughts, emotions and behaviour in one’s past and current life. Second, emotional awareness and management: this is being affectively literate; able, courageous and willing to talk about true emotions. More than that, it is about how to deal with them once the mud at the bottom of the pool is disturbed. Third, the capacity for self-disclosure: that is to open up to others, talk more openly and in a less guarded way about fears, beliefs and guilty secrets. Fourth, receptivity and adaptability to the observations of others. This is about really listening to what has been said (usually many times).

references Ardelt, M. (2000). Still stable after all these years. Social Psychology Quarterly, 63, 392–405. Furnham, A., Wardley, Z. & Lillie, F. (1992). Lay theories of psychotherapy III. Human Relations, 45, 839–58.

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Kuszewski, A. (2011). You can increase your intelligence. Scientific American, March 7, 1–8. Seligman, M. (2007). What you can change…and what you can’t. London: Nicholas Brealey.

19

Character Strengths and Virtues: Let’s be Positive

A man’s character is his fate. (Heraclitus, On the Universe)

Positive psychology is the study of factors and processes that lead to positive emotions, virtuous behaviours and optimal performance in individuals and groups. Although a few psychologists were always interested in health, adjustment and peak performance, the study of happiness and positive emotions was thought to be unimportant, even trivial until the beginning of the millennium. One of the major turning points in the field of positive psychology was the development of a classification of character strengths and virtues. This early classification work allowed researchers to organize what was known about these constructs in an empirical, rigorously scientific manner. Science begins with taxonomic work. It was argued that character strengths could be defined as the ‘psychological processes or mechanisms that define virtues’ (Park & Peterson 2006) and as satisfying various criteria: they are valuable, fulfilling and do not contradict each other. Strengths are seen to be trait-like in that they are habitual patterns that are relatively stable over time. Some strengths are absent in some individuals. They tend to be nurtured by societal norms and institutions.

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According to Peterson and Seligman (2004), two pioneers in the topic, there are 24 character strengths that are clustered into six ‘core’ virtues developed on a theoretical basis. Personal Strengths 1 Curiosity: interest in, intrigued by many things 2 Love of learning: knowing more, reading, understanding 3 Good judgement: critical thinking, rationality, openmindedness 4 Ingenuity: originality, practical intelligence, street smartness 5 Social intelligence: emotional/personal intelligence, good with feelings 6 Wisdom: seeing the big picture, having perspective 7 Bravery: courage, valour, fearlessness 8 Persistence: perseverance, diligence, industriousness 9 Integrity: honesty, genuineness, truthfulness 10 Kindness: generosity, empathic, helpful 11 Loving: able to love and be loved; deep sustained feelings 12 Citizenship: team worker, loyalty, duty to others 13 Fairness: moral valuing, equality and equity 14 Leadership: able to motivate groups, inclusive, focused 15 Self-control: able to regulate emotions, non-impulsive 16 Prudence: cautious, far-sighted, deliberative, discreet 17 Humility: modest, unpretentious, humble 18 Appreciative of beauty: seeking excellence, experience of awe/wonder 19 Gratitude: thankful, grateful 20 Optimism: hopefulness, future-mindedness, positive 21 Spirituality: faith, philosophy, sense of purpose/calling 22 Forgiveness: merciful, benevolent, kind 23 Playfulness: humorous, funny, childlike 24 Enthusiasm: passionate, zestful, infectious, engaged It is suggested that different strengths are employed to exhibit a particular virtue, although generally only one or two strengths

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would be exhibited from a particular virtue group. These virtues include: 1 Wisdom and knowledge (including creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning and perspective). 2 Courage (including bravery, persistence, honesty, and zest). 3 Humanity (including love, kindness and social intelligence). 4 Justice (including teamwork, fairness and leadership). 5 Temperance (including forgiveness, modesty, prudence and self-regulation). 6 Transcendence (including appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humour and spirituality). Together, it is argued the strengths and virtues are the foundation of psychological health, which in modern day contexts is significantly reduced. People experience greater levels of stress and pressure that uses up their resources to cope. Numerous studies have shown that the strengths of character are positively related to subjective and psychological wellbeing. Many consultants interested in positive psychology spend a lot of time trying to help people discover, and then ‘speak to’ their strengths. They aim to help people discover what they are naturally good at so that they can exploit and explore their ‘natural talents’. The aim is not to try to ‘correct weaknesses’ but rather speak to natural endowments. Furthermore, strengths such as gratitude, hope, zest, curiosity and most importantly, love have been demonstrated to be related to life satisfaction. For example, one study highlighted the importance of hope in maintaining workers’ motivation in an environment increasingly threatened by mergers, bankruptcies, new technologies and an uncertain global economy. Hope is a strength that allows people to overcome uncertainty. These findings have important implications for people involved in the promotion of positive development among society.

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Strengths at Work Pendleton and Furnham (2012) argued that, at work, we can distinguish between various kinds of strengths. A natural strength where a person has a competency which is helped by their personal makeup: the idea is to WORK WITH this ability. A potential strength where they do not have a competency but their personality would help them acquire and express it if they had it. They are therefore encouraged to WORK ON it. A fragile strength where a potential leader has relevant competency but their personality hinders the expression of it. Again, the advice is to WORK ON this topic. A resistant limitation where a person does not have a competency nor the personality profile to support it. They are advised to WORK AROUND the issue.

The overuse of strengths has now been identified as one of the causes of leadership derailment, as well as of diminished effectiveness. The basic premise of positive psychology is the focus on what makes life good and not what makes it unbearable, such as mental illness, which is the basic focus of mainstream psychology. It is ‘strengthbased’ and it aims to make leaders aware of their strengths in order to take advantage of them and effectively apply them in their workplace. Recently, however, it has become notable that doing too much of what is considered a strength, can result in harmful effects on the team and its efficiency and therefore on the overall productivity.

references Biswas-Diener, R. (2006). From the equator to the north pole: A study of character strengths. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 293–310.

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Furnham, A., & Lester, D. (2012). The development of a short measure of character strength. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 28, 95–101. Pendleton, D., & Furnham, A. (2012). Leadership: All You Need to Know. London: Palgrave. Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook of classification. Washington, DC: APA Press. Seligman, M. (2002). Authentic Happiness. New York: Free Press.

20

Coaching: What is it and does it Work?

Nobody so far has discovered how by training to produce wisdom. (F.C. Bartlett, The Mind at Work and Play, 1951) Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak nor walk nor eat, and in short he can do nothing at the prompting of nature only, but weep. (Pliny the Elder, The Natural History)

Business coaching is big business. A business coach might charge a client anything up to £10,000 for six to eight meetings of a few hours. But what do they do and how are they different from various other professionals? Are coaches like counsellors or therapists? There have been many attempts to make distinctions, consider the ‘C’ and ‘T’ words and their definitions: Coach: A Private Tutor who instructs or trains a performer or sport player. They train intensively by instructions, demonstration and practise. Confessor: A person who gives heroic evidence of religious faith. Confidant: One to whom secrets are entrusted. Consultant: Usually a business expert who gives professional advice or services.

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Counsellor: A person who gives professional advice. Teacher: One who teaches or instructs. Therapist: A person trained in methods of treatment and rehabilitation other than the use of drugs or surgery. Trainer: Someone who trains – preparing for a test or contest and bringing a desired degree of proficiency in a specified activity.

It has been argued that essentially coaching consists of one-to-one developmental discussions. It aims to provide people with feedback on both their strengths and weaknesses. It is a relatively short-term activity, except executive coaching, which has a longer timeframe. It is a non-directive form of development. It focuses on improving performance and developing/enhancing an individual’s skills. Coaching activities have both organizational and individual goals. It assumes the individual is psychologically healthy and does not require a clinical intervention. It works on the premise that clients are self-aware, or can achieve self-awareness. Personal issues may be discussed but the emphasis is on performance in the workplace.

choosing the business coach/ implications for mentoring What criteria should one use to choose a coach? The following list is a good start: Training: Has the coach had formal, independent, accredited training in coaching? Experience: What is their total experience of coaching and of business in particular? Style & Chemistry: Do they inspire trust; seem similar in energy, politics and humour? Intellectual Framework: What is their theoretical approach/ process? Can they explain it? Measuring success: How outcomes will be measured; when, why and how?

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Supervision: Is the coach supervised and supported by others? Self-Awareness: How aware is the coach of his/her strengths and weaknesses? What is their motivation for doing it?

does it work? It has been suggested that coaching works in the same way as counselling and therapy because of four reasons. I. The therapeutic alliance: Through therapy, patients and clients get acceptance, attention, care, respect and support. It is this sense of being understood and assisted that is essential to cure and development. II. Self-examination: The whole therapeutic process encourages greater self-monitoring and self-analyses which often, in-and-of itself, suggests solutions. III. Morale: Clients often report being happier and more optimistic because they believe their coping mechanisms and strategies have improved and that the overcoming of their personal difficulties is possible. IV. Commitment to change: Agree to, and indeed attending, therapy voluntarily and paying for that therapy is a reaffirmation of commitment to change, which is the best predictor of change. One important study isolated four important factors that account for coaching success: First, client factors. It is, in short, more important to know who (what kind of person) has the problem than what the problem is. This accounts for a whopping 40 per cent of the effect. It’s called readiness for coaching. It is a mixture of willingness and ability to learn, to change, and to embrace challenge. Second it’s the relationship between client and coach. The coach can explore and exploit the therapeutic alliance. It’s about collaboration, consensus and support. It’s the effective and

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affective bond. Again, this has to be tailored to the client. It is about building and maintaining a positive, open, productive and hopefully transformative alliance. The distracted, fatigued or unprepared coach is a poor coach. The alliance is usually based on set and agreed goals and tasks. The third is client expectations and an ingredient that buys you 15 per cent of the result is that old-fashioned quality sometimes called hope, now called expectations. It is about expectation of improvement, finding new paths to goals and ‘agency thinking’: the belief one can if one tries. Coaches speak and leak the message that successful change or progress is possible. They actuate hope by credibility building at the beginning of the relationship. Fourth the theory and therapy. It accounts for 15 per cent of the power of coaching. The use of healing rites and rituals. The coach’s backgrounds influence their focus. While some look at organizational competition, conflict, dominance and power, others may look at self-awareness and encourage personal SWOTS: the standard old strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. Theories organize observation. Some coaches share them with their clients, others don’t. Clearly the good coach needs to know what works for whom. But coaches also need to know about the business world and the dilemma of conflict of interests between the client and the organization. Coaches really have to be business savvy. Coaching only works if the client is able, ready and willing. It works well if the bond is good: and if the coach instils hope for change. Would an internal mentor do as well? Perhaps. But the external, unbiased, objectivity of an outside coach is often very preferable.

references Grover, S., & Furnham, A. (2016). Coaching as a Developmental Intervention in Organizations: A systematic review of its effectiveness and the mechanisms underlying it. Plos One 11(7) o01559137. Kauffman, C., & Coutu, D. (2009). The Realities of Executive Coaching (pp. 1–25). Harvard Business Review: HBR Research Report.

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Cognitive Dissonance: Changing Attitudes and Behaviour

We have a group who believed the world was going to end on a specific date…They would be picked up at a specific time by flying saucers. They were all sitting around waiting and, of course, nobody came. And, after four to six hours of turmoil and desperation, they reached the conclusion that God had saved the world because they had sat up all night praying. And then…they went out proselytizing very hard. (Leon Festinger, Psychologists on Psychology)

Most of us feel the need to justify our actions however odd and bizarre they may be. People who smoke know that nicotine addiction is seriously harmful to health. The same is true of people who drink more than two to three times what is recommended. We are powerfully motivated to achieve consonance. There is some debate about whether this is equally true in all cultures. Why can even skilled interviewers seem never to be able to get politicians to answer simple questions? One answer is that politicians are terrified about appearing inconsistent: if you don’t make promises or predictions you do not have to honour them. Dissonance theory is interestingly provocative. It suggests behaviour can lead to attitude change more easily than the other way around. Change the behaviour and the attitudes follow.

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The theory speaks of the ‘insufficient justification effect’. When our actions are not obviously explained by external rewards (like money) or coercion (like orders) we will experience dissonance. Cognitive dissonance celebrates the attitudes-follow-behaviour effect, not the other way around. The more you coerce people the less they change. Imagine you have three groups of people who write long critical well-referenced essays about some important issue that they personally do not believe in (capital punishment, apartheid, research on animals). One group is forced to do it (with severe punishment if they do not), one group is paid handsomely (£100) while the third group is paid a paltry sum (£1) for their efforts. The theory states, and the data shows, that it is the third group whose attitudes should change most toward that of the topic of the essay because they can’t easily justify doing it because of being forced to, or the reward of much money. Dissonance is aroused and has to be reduced under very specific situations, according to the theory. First, people must feel that their attitude-discrepant behaviour is freely chosen, completely volitional and that they are personally responsible for it. If they act under coercion from some external force or threat (or lack of choice) dissonance is not necessarily aroused. Second, they must feel that this attitude-discrepant behaviour is firmly committed and irrevocable. If the behaviour is easily modifiable this reduces dissonance. Third, they must believe that their behaviour has important consequences for themselves and others. If the consequences are minor or trivial they are unlikely to experience any dissonance. Fourth, people experience most dramatic dissonance pressure when the particular attitudes or behaviour concerned is that which is central to their self-concept, self-worth and value.

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the paradoxes of dissonance The theory states the following: 1 If a person is forced to behave in ways contrary to his/her belief they will experience dissonance. 2 The greater the force compelling the behaviour the less the dissonance and vice versa. 3 Dissonance can be reduced by changing attitudes. 4 Attitude change is greatest when forces to act are paradoxically minimal not maximal. Dissonance also predicts that we have a tendency to derogate our victims. When we behave badly towards another individual or group without any obvious justification we shift our beliefs to justify this behaviour by thinking of the victim more negatively. We like to think of ourselves as decent, kind, moral individuals who are just and unlikely to cause innocent people harm or distress. So if we do something hurtful like shout, ignore or even hit another person our dissonance is aroused. If we can’t ‘take back’ this behaviour by apology or compensation the easiest way to resolve our dilemmas is to derogate the victim further by pointing out how bad they were and fully deserving of our ill-treatment of them. Dissonance after Decisions Many of the important decisions we make involve making difficult choices. Many people draw up lists of plusses and minuses to help them make a well-informed choice. They consult others. Studies show that we justify our decisions after having made them by upgrading the decision we have made and downgrading the decision we turned down. It has been called ‘buyers’ nostalgia’, or post-decision rationalization. People notice that they read advertisements for the products they have bought more often, enthusiastically and closely after (not before) they made the purchase. Gamblers say they feel more confident about winning after they have placed their bet than beforehand.

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dissonance, selling and persuasion Social psychologists have studied, in detail, the science and practice of persuasion; that is, the tricks and techniques salespeople and others use to try to persuade us to buy. Thus ‘compliance professionals’ try to induce people to make a verbal commitment that is consistent with the behaviour they will at a later stage request from people. These commitments work best when they are done publicly, take some effort and appear completely voluntary and not coerced. That is why so many organizations encourage people to make free, open pledges about their values and behavioural intentions. Often people add new justifications to support the wisdom of their early justifications.

references Cooper, J. (2007). Cognitive Dissonance: 50 Years of a Classic Theory. London: Sage Publications. Festinger, L. (1962). ‘Cognitive dissonance’. Scientific American. 207 (4): 93–107.

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Cold Reading: How to Persuade People that you Really Understand Them

No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else. (P.T. Barnum, The Art of Money Making) Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public. (P.T. Barnum, The Art of Money Making)

Many salespeople and tricksters develop a series of techniques to persuade people that they have special insight into their customers or victims. Nearly 50 years ago Hyman (1977) wrote a paper that tried to explain the tricks conmen of one sort or another use to persuade the naive client they know all about them. The article which listed 13 points (pp. 26–9) was aimed at palmists, graphologists and the like but is equally applicable to certain rather unscrupulous consultants. The 13 points are: 1 Remember that the key ingredient of a successful character reader is confidence. If you look and act as if you believe in what you are doing, you will be able to sell even a bad reading to most of your clients. 2 Make creative use of the latest statistical abstracts, polls and surveys. This can provide you with a wealth of material

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about what various subclasses of our society believe, want, worry about, and so on. Set the stage for your reading. Profess a modesty about your talents. Make no excessive claims. This catches your subject off guard. You are not challenging him to a battle of wits. You can read his character, whether he cares to believe you or not is his concern. Gain his cooperation in advance. Emphasize that the success of the reading depends as much upon his sincere cooperation as upon your efforts…. State that due to difficulties of language and communication, you may not always convey the exact meaning you intend. In these cases he is to strive to reinterpret the message in terms of his own vocabulary and life. Use a gimmick, such as a crystal ball, tarot cards or palm reading. The use of palmistry, say, serves two important purposes. It lends an air of novelty to the reading; but more importantly, it serves as a cover for you to stall and to formulate your next statement. Have a list of stock phrases at the tip of your tongue. Even if all you are doing is a cold reading, the liberal sprinkling of stock phrases among your regular reading will add body to the reading and will fill in time as you try to formulate more precise characterizations. You can use the statements in the preceding ‘stock spiels’ as a start. Keep your eyes open. Also use your other senses. We have seen how to size up a client on the basis of clothing, jewellery, mannerisms and speech. Even a crude classification on such a basis can provide sufficient information for a good reading. Watch the impact of your statement upon the subject. Use the technique of ‘fishing’. This is simply a device for getting the subject to tell you about himself. Then you rephrase what he has told you in a coherent sketch and feed it back to him. One version of fishing is to phrase each statement in the form of a question. Then wait for the

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psych ology 1 01 subject to reply (or react). If the reaction is positive then the reader turns the statement into a positive assertion. 9 Learn to be a good listener. During the course of a reading your client will be bursting to talk about incidents that are brought up. The good reader allows the client to talk at will. 10 Dramatize your reading. Give back what little information you do have or pick up a little bit at a time. Make it seem more than it is. Build word pictures around each divulgence. Don’t be afraid of hamming it up. 11 Always give the impression that you know more than you are saying. The successful reader, like the family doctor, always acts as if he knows much more. Once you persuade the client that you know one item of information about him that you could not possibly have obtained through normal channels, the client will automatically assume you know all. 12 Don’t be afraid to flatter your subject every chance you get. An occasional subject will protest against such flatter, but will still cherish it. In such cases you can further flatter them by saying how insightful, caring or intelligent they are. 13 Finally, remember the golden rule. Tell the client what he wants to hear.

references Hyman, R. (1977) Cold Reading: How to convince strangers that you know all about them. The Zetetic 1, 18–37.

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Common Sense

Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it. (Rene Descartes, Le Discours de la method (1637), pt.1) Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. (Albert Einstein, Scientific American, February 1976)

Most of us like to believe both that we are blessed with a good deal of common sense (whatever that may be) and that as regards to many areas of life, we are able to consistently and clearly differentiate sense and nonsense. Do we all have common sense and if so how did we acquire it? And where do we find it? Perhaps in idioms and ‘wise sayings’. ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’ but ‘out of sight, out of mind’. And what of ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’, but ‘you are never too old to learn’. Which is common sense? Psychological theory has been criticized in many ways: 1 Psychological science is little more than common sense. All findings and theories are unsurprising, uninformative and even tautological. Nothing is new: it has always been known. 2 Psychological science debases common sense. It takes every simple, common sense idea and through jargon renders it

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obscure. This suggests psychologists take common sense ideas and dress them up in pseudo-scientific terms. 3 Psychological science is often wrong. Its description of people and processes are simply not true. 4 Psychological scientists are dangerous. Their ideas and practices make them cynical manipulators of people. Psychologists have political agendas. Much of what we ‘know’ about the world is based on intuition. We have opinions, biases, hunches and misinformation that we use both in making statements about others and in deciding what we do. The following 20 statements are designed to provide you with some feedback regarding what you ‘know’ about human behaviour. Read each statement and mark T (true) or F (false). True or False?

1 People who graduate in the upper third of their university class tend to make more money during their careers than do average students. 2 Exceptionally intelligent people tend to be physically weak and frail. 3 Most great athletes are of below average intelligence. 4 All people in Europe are born equal in capacity for achievement. 5 On the average, women are slightly more intelligent than men. 6 People are definitely either introverted or extraverted. 7 After you learn something, you forget more of it in the next few hours than in the next several days. 8 In small doses, alcohol facilitates learning. 9 Women are more intuitive than men. 10 Smokers take more sick days per year than do non-smokers. 11 40-year-old people are more intelligent than 20-year-olds. 12 If you have to reprimand someone for a misdeed, it is best to do so immediately after the mistake occurs.

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13 People who do poorly in academic work are superior in mechanical ability. 14 High-achieving people are high risk-takers. 15 Highly cohesive groups are also highly productive. 16 When people are frustrated, they frequently become aggressive. 17 Experiences as an infant tend to determine behaviour in later life. 18 Successful top managers have a greater need for money than for power. 19 Most people who work for the government are low risk-takers. 20 Most managers are highly democratic in the way that they supervise their people. Questions 1, 7, 10, 12, 16 and 17 are true: the rest are false. Source: Robbins (1991)

Cynics and sceptics tend to argue psychology is common sense dressed up as social science. ‘Common sense objection’ may take three forms. The first is that the findings and theories are well known, intuitive, unsurprising and uninformative and therefore are known to all. The second is partly the obverse – that is, topics that are amenable to common sense should have explanations in terms of lay language and not jargon, which excludes rather than facilitates everyday understanding. A third, related objection occurs when experimental findings of social science, in this instance work psychology, appear to contradict widely held views of human nature. Many psychological studies, which have demonstrated that people are cruel, un-insightful, selfcentred, compliant or antisocial, have been criticized more than those who have painted the opposite picture. A major problem in the social, as opposed to the natural, sciences is that the theories and concepts invented by social scientists

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circulate in and out of the social worlds they are required to analyse. But while lay concepts obstinately intrude into the technical discourse of social science, the opposite is also true. Hence, the most interesting and innovative ideas in the social science risk becoming banal. In other words, the very popularity of psychology may in some sense be its undoing. The more magazine and newspaper articles describe, discuss and deliberate on psychology problems, theories and research, the more they become commonplace, obvious and commonsensical.

references Furnham, A. (1983). Social Psychology as Common Sense. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 36, 105–109. Furnham, A. (1989). Lay Theories. Oxford: Pergamon, UK. Kelley, H.K. (1992). Common Sense Psychology and Scientific Psychology. Annual Review Psychology, 43, 1–23. Robbins, S. (1991). Organizational Behaviour. (5th Edition) New York: Prentice Hall.

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Communicating Through Different Media

The medium is the message. (Marshal McLuhan) How can I know what I think till I see what I say? (G. Wallas)

On a daily basis we choose to communicate with others through different media: we write text (email, notes, letters); we speak on the phone a great deal, and we see people face-to-face or via programs like Skype or Zoom. They present us with different media: verbal (words), vocal (words and sounds) and visual (words, sounds, pictures). Why do we choose these different media? Are some more efficient or memorable than others? Do people remember more of what they have heard, seen or read? Ask the lay person about the ‘relative power’ of audio-visual (AV) (television), audio-only (A) (radio), and print (P) (newspaper) medium, most (around 75 per cent) argue the relative influence and power of television. But what do the studies show? Consider the following test: A homogenous group of 60 people are divided randomly into three groups of 20 people. One group watches a 10-minute television news programme (that they have not seen before); one group listens to audio of the same programme; the third group is given 10 minutes to read a transcript of the programme. They are all getting the same information but through quite different media.

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After this, they are given a memory test. The question is, who remembers the most and why? Asked to explain their choice, those who believe in the particular memorability of television talk about the ‘impact’ of pictures, the ‘power of images’, etc. With few exceptions the results of over 20 serious studies have been exactly the same: the print group remembers the most, the audio-visual least, with the audio-only group in between. If you ask very detailed and specific questions you find the television group remember about a fifth of the details, the radio group about a quarter and the print group about a third. People are often shocked about how little they can remember. But the question remains: why do the audio-visual group do so badly? There are various reasons for this. First, there is the issue of what psychologists call ‘cognitive processing’. What they mean is intellectual effort. It’s easier to watch something on the television or computer than to read a newspaper: it takes less effort. It is this effort in reading that leads to better retention and understanding. Second, a reason for poorer recall of audio-visual material is the synchronization between the words and the pictures. News journalists write a script and camera operators try to get the best shot they can. The two are not very well aligned. The word/picture discrepancy can be very off-putting: a dramatic event may be memorable in itself, but the facts around it are forgotten. This does not help concentration. Third, there is the issue of speed: people read at different speeds because of all sorts of things including education, mother tongue, practice. Television comes at a pace one might or might not comprehend. Reading is self-paced; practice is also usually self-paced. This helps comprehension. You learn best at your own pace. Fourth, the way material is broken down and laid out is important. Magazine and newspaper editors are careful about where on a page they place a picture. The chunking of the literature is important. We know that, under different circumstances, there

co m mu n i cati ng th rou gh di ffe re n t me d ia 105 are both primary and recency effects, meaning that either the information that comes first or last has most impact. We also know that (nearly) always the information in the middle is the most forgotten. For the print medium we have two-dimensional space; colour, word size, photographs and cartoons can be used to break up text or to emphasize things. All you have on the radio is loud/soft, accents, speed and the order the information is presented in. Television can change colour but does so rarely.

are there any caveats to the rule: print>radio>television? Does it depend on the content: do people have a better memory for news, advertisements, science programmes? A little, but print is always best. However, the simpler the message is and the more dramatically it is portrayed, particularly where the picture reinforces the message, the more television can be seen to do better than radio. Does it depend on the audience: for example, adults versus children? Again, print is best, but children tend to remember visual images well. Does it depend on how memory is measured: short versus long term, free versus cued recall? No, not really. So, the moral of the story: if you want to communicate a message that will be fully processed by your audience, you should in theory send a well written and carefully constructed email. But, the problem is that we are now overwhelmed by written messages. The problems of email can be neatly divided into two categories: Volume and Interpretation. Faced, paradoxically, by reduced efficiency because staff spend all their day sending and receiving written communications, businesses have tried to devise new rules. Rules that are offensive and defensive, perhaps, but rules that are aimed at achieving a bit of filtering and helping with prioritizing.

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No-one is allowed to email people on their floor or building; they should speak to them in person. Chevrons indicating urgency are to be used regularly but sparingly. Not more than one ‘triple-very-urgent’ in one day. No-one is allowed to send more than 20 emails per day. CC-ing is allowed only five times per day and never to more than seven people. No email may contain fewer than 20 words or more than 150 words and whilst bullet points are encouraged, seven is the maximum number. If an email is not responded to within 48 hours it should be deleted. While on holiday or out-of-office, auto-responses should be applied so that senders are aware of your absence.

The second problem is tone. Without face-to-face voice tone it is often easy to misinterpret emails. Capitals are seen as shouting; spelling or typing errors as carelessness or ignorance. Emojis are considered unprofessional in many business contexts and carry their own dangers. Pity the sender who mistakes ‘crying with laughter face’ for ‘crying face’ when responding in a sad context. It is often those with low emotional intelligence and social skills who choose to communicate via email. They think it is easier. It isn’t. It’s harder to read the hidden agenda in emails. Some of the advice given to people when receiving traditional letters may apply: ●●

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Never reply immediately if the email causes strong (negative) emotions. You don’t have to sleep on it, but give it a few hours. Beware forwarding emails that contain jokes, memes or personal comments which can be very contextual. Re-read your responses, particularly to emotionally charged emails, at least once. Realize that not all emails get delivered.

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references Furnham, A., Gunter, B., & Green, A. (1990) Remembering Science: the recall of factual information as a function of presentation mode. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 4, 203–12. Furnham, A., Gunter & Walsh (1998). Effects of programme context on memory of humorous television commercials. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 12, 555–67. Furnham, A, (2001). Remembering stories as a function of the medium of presentation. Psychological Reports, 89, 483–6 Furnham, A., Gunter, B., & Richardson, F. (2002). Effects of productprogramme congruity and viewer involvement on memory for televised advertisements. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 124–41.

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Conscientiousness and Grit: Pitching up and Pitching in

Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty. (Voltaire, Candide) When work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When work is a duty, life is slavery. (Maxim Gorky, The Lower Depths)

Conscientiousness is a personality variable. After intelligence, the best predictor of school, university and work success is conscientiousness. It accounts for why girls do better at school than boys. It predicts when and why people pitch up and pitch in. Conscientious people have very low incidences of absence and disciplinary problems. So two relevant questions: Precisely what is it/what are the components or facets? And equally importantly, how do you measure it? The taxonomists of conscientiousness argue that there are eight distinguishable but related parts: 1 Industriousness: This is about working hard, always putting in an effort and frequently exceeding expectations. Industrious people push themselves (and others) very hard to succeed.

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2 Perfectionism: This is aiming for high quality, no mistakes, no reject work. It is about being detail-orientated and striving always to be the best. 3 Tidiness: This is a strong preference for order, regularity and the ‘everything-in-its-place’ philosophy. Conscientious people have a strong aversion to disorder and mess. They like things correctly filed and tasks completed. 4 Procrastination Refrainment: The really conscientious are not types easily distracted or those who have difficulty getting started. They don’t put off all unpleasant tasks, starting only the easy ones. They go to work at once: they prioritize and spend their time and effort wisely. 5 Control Preference: This should not be confused with being domineering. It’s about being planful, thoughtful and decisive. It is also about understanding the role of authority. The opposite is rushed, rash, impulsive behaviour. 6 Caution: Because of the above the conscientious person is careful to avoid mistakes, get their facts right and think ahead. They think before they speak; they choose their words carefully. 7 Task Planning: The conscientious person is planful. They carefully devise a plan, a schedule and a considered path. They stick to it and require others to do likewise. They like to work out efficient routines and stick to them. 8 Perseverance: The conscientious deal well with frustrations and setbacks. They don’t give up easily, they don’t avoid responsibility, and they don’t lose interest. They are calm under pressure. Trait conscientiousness is associated with being efficient, organized, reliable and responsible. People high in conscientiousness have been shown to be achievement-oriented, competent, dependable and productive. It is not surprising therefore that parents, teachers and employers value the trait and attempt to shape and encourage it in their children, students and employees. Students who are

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more conscientious earned university grades higher than their intelligence scores would predict. There are consistent findings from correlational studies that show the very small, but significantly positive, association between conscientiousness and educational achievement and occupational prestige. There is also some evidence to suggest sex differences in conscientiousness which has been used to explain why females outperform males in school grades despite the evidence of very small differences in intelligence between the genders (Furnham, 2008). They also tend to be emotionally stable and agreeable; it’s better to work for a conscientious boss. But there are other interesting issues that come out of the research. We know that intelligence is related to success at work (promotions, pay etc.). We also know that conscientiousness is related to success at work. But, and here’s the paradox, intelligence and conscientiousness are negatively correlated in many elite universities. The researchers have proposed the compensation hypothesis which suggests that less bright people have to work harder to catch up and stay ahead. Plodders have to be conscientious. So make sure you don’t have someone who has to work so hard because they can’t keep up with their peers.

references Roberts, B., Chernyshenko, O., Stark, S., & Goldberg, L. (2005). The Structure of Conscientiousness. Personnel Psychology, 58, 103–39. Stairs, A., Smith, G., Zapolski, T., Combs, J., & Settles, R. (2012). Clarifying the Construct of Perfectionism. Assessment, 19, 146–66. Stoeber, J., Otto, K., & Dalbert, C. (2009). Perfectionism and the Big Five. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 363–8.

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Conspiracy and Cover-Up Theories

If a man says (for instance) that men have a conspiracy against him, you cannot dispute it except by saying that all the men deny that they are conspirators; which is exactly what conspirators would do. His explanation covers the facts as much as yours. (G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1908) The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes. (Benjamin Disraeli, Coningsby, or the New Generation, 1844)

What secrets are the government keeping from us? What backroom deals go on between large corporations that we never hear about? A relatively new area of research for psychology is conspiracy theories, defined as ‘a false belief that major events are caused by multiple actors working together in secret as part of a possibly evil, cruel, omnipresent group’. Big events, it seems must have big causes, and there are many who challenge the official story. Conspiracy theorists, on the other hand, from many backgrounds argue that: ●● ●● ●●

It is naive to believe the official version of events. Governments are Machiavellian manipulators of the media. The government narrative aims to keep people ignorant and in fear.

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psych ology 1 01 Those who are anti-conspiracy theory demonize them and won’t take the time to look at the evidence (close-mindedness). The conspiracy theory popularizers aim to hold those in power to account and reclaim history. It is the mockers and scoffers who are the stupid ones.

Conspiracy theorists argue that there are many groups who, in effect, censor the information that we receive; the government (the FBI, CIA, etc.), the military (Nato, etc.) and corporations (banks, oil companies, big pharma). Rather than being the product of irrationality or mental illness, it could be argued conspiracy theories are a rational and logical manner of responding to public information. When there seems little reliable information about an event or when details are ambiguous, conspiracy theories may gain acceptance precisely because they offer a coherent and comprehensive worldview. Conspiracy theories are beliefs that attribute the ultimate cause of an event, or the concealment of an event from public knowledge, usually to a secret, unlawful and malevolent plot by multiple actors working together. There are lots of potential ‘bad guys’, home grown and foreign: governments; banks; the security services; the military. In addition, it has been suggested that there are four key characteristics that distinguish conspiracy theorists from real conspiratorial politics. These are that: 1 Conspiracy theorists ‘consider the alleged conspirators to be Evil Incarnate’. 2 Conspiracy theorists ‘perceive the conspiratorial group as both monolithic and unerring in the pursuit of its goals’. 3 Conspiracy theorists ‘believe that the conspiratorial group is omnipresent’. 4 Conspiracy theorists believe that the conspiratorial group is ‘virtually omnipotent’.

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Conspiracy theories form part of a ‘monological belief system’. That is, once an individual has adopted any one (major) conspiracist worldview, new conspiracy theories are assimilated more easily because they support that particular worldview. Beliefs in conspiracy theories are widespread across the globe, although they appear to be particularly prominent in the West. In America, opinion polls regularly show that up to 90 per cent of Americans believe Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone in killing John F. Kennedy. The question psychologists are interested in is who, when and why people believe in conspiracy theories, both well-known and obscure. Psychological researchers have posed the question: ‘Are people who believe in conspiracy theories irrational, naive, insane, paranoid, or wise sceptics?’ Most are sceptical about conspiracy theories, though they do recognize that there are sometimes real cover-ups by governments and other bodies. Conspiracy theories can be psychologically functional: for many they make sense of a confusing and uncertain world. They make clear who the ‘Forces of Darkness’ are and also the ‘Forces of Light’. They can provide people with the feeling that they are privy to secret knowledge. Psychological studies have reported associations between stronger conspiracist ideation and higher anomie, distrust in authority, political cynicism and powerlessness, as well as lower self-esteem. These findings are consistent with the proposal that conspiracist ideation is more common among disenfranchised, disadvantaged or powerless groups and that conspiracy theories play a role in selfesteem maintenance. Some have suggested fighting conspiracy theorists by: 1 Banning conspiracy theories outright. 2 Imposing a tax (financial or otherwise) on those who disseminate conspiracy theories. 3 Engaging in ‘counter-speech’, where justified and sound arguments are used to discredit conspiracy theories.

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4 Formally hiring private parties to engage in counter-speech. 5 Engaging in informal communication with conspiracy theorists, encouraging them to get help. But are we in danger of pathologizing those who believe in coverups? Are some conspiracy theorists better informed and wiser than those who swallow the ‘government/corporation’ line? How do you tell the difference?

references Bale, J. M. (2007). Political paranoia vs. political realism: On distinguishing between bogus conspiracy theories and genuine conspiratorial politics. Patterns of Prejudice, 41, 45–60. Sunstein, S. R., & Vermeule, A. (2009). Conspiracy theories: causes and cures. The Journal of Political Philosophy, 17, 202–27. Swami, V., Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2010). Unanswered questions: A preliminary investigation of personality and individual difference predictors of 9/11 conspiracist beliefs. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24, 749–61.

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Country and Culture Differences

Man’s culture, his passions, and anxieties are a cultural product. (Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom, 1941) Culture has the power to impose itself on culture from within. (S. Touli, NY Review of Books, 1977)

With the increase in travel, people are now used to comparing countries and cultures. They differ in history and geography; in wealth and religion; in language and food. Some believe it is impossible to categorize or dimensionalize countries, in much the same way as they argued it can’t be done with people. But over the past 30 years two Dutch psychologists have revolutionalized cross-cultural psychology and management with their overlapping theories. Hofstede (1981), in a study of 116,000 people from 70 different countries argued that there were four basic cultural dimensions that inevitably affected the way people behaved at work. In a later book (1984) he suggested there were six. The argument goes that we can adequately describe and compare all national and corporate cultures on these dimensions. 1 High power–low power distance refers to the fact that people accept that power (and influence) are not equally distributed. Decentralized, flatter cultures and organizations with less supervisory personnel tend to have lower distance scores.

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2 Uncertainty avoidance refers to tolerance of ambiguity and the extent to which people and organizations attempt to avoid or reduce uncertainty. People and cultures with strong uncertainty avoidance needs tend to like experts and be risk averse. High uncertainty avoidance cultures are more rule-oriented. 3 Individualism–collectivism is in many ways a West–East difference. Individualism and collectivism are deeply ground in the cultural values and consciousness. Individualists find teamwork difficult and are less team and group oriented. 4 Masculinity–femininity reflects different values associated with the two genders. Masculinity refers to maleness of dominant values like money, possessions and status while femininity refers to female values of caring, fairness and quality of life. 5 Long-term orientation–short-term orientation. This associates the connection of the past with the current and future actions/challenges. A short-term orientation indicates that traditions are honoured and kept, while steadfastness is valued. Societies with long-term orientation views adaptation and circumstantial, pragmatic problem-solving as a survival necessity. 6 Indulgence–restraint. This is a measure of happiness; whether or not simple joys are fulfilled. Indulgence is defined as enjoying life and having fun. Restraint is defined as a society that controls gratification of needs and regulates it by means of strict social norms. Indulgent societies believe themselves to be in control of their own life and emotions; restrained societies believe other factors dictate their life and emotions. Trompenaars (1997) has a similar way of classifying cultures. The aim of his work is mainly to help people in managing others from different cultures. Further, it is his avowed aim to help people in international management.

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1 Universalism: A universalistic corporate culture occurs when the organization shares a predominate belief that the rights of the organization prevail over the rights of a specific individual. Rules apply equally to everybody. Particularism: The rights of individuals are seen to be more important than the rights of the larger community. Rules and laws are likely to be broken for the sake of friendship or family members, even at the cost of order within the large society. 2 Individualism: People are expected to make their own decisions and to take care of themselves. Success is seen in the personal freedom and individual development of its members. Communitarianism: Members of these cultures are integrated into groups which provide help and protection in exchange for a sense of loyalty. 3 Specific orientation: An employee with this orientation makes close contact with others and knows what to share with others and what not to. Successes and failures are seen in terms of personal competencies or weaknesses. Diffuse orientation: An employee with this orientation is less explicit in what he or she expects from relationships. They are thus less likely to become socially aware or skilled. Success is seen as resulting from being authentic. 4 Neutral orientation: People with this orientation are reluctant to show what they feel, even if it involves a considerable amount of self-control. They tend to be stoical. Affective orientation: People with this orientation prefer to show spontaneously how they feel and to act accordingly. They may be known for their high emotional intelligence. 5 Achievement orientation: Social status results from the individual’s success in building up a personal portfolio of success through individual effort and ability. Ascription orientation: Social status depends on the descent, sex, age or affluence that one somehow finds oneself with.

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6a Past orientation: A past-oriented organization bases its future on past events.   Present and future orientation: An organization oriented towards the future cares less about past events and views the present only as the first step towards the future. 6b Sequential orientation: Employees structuring time sequentially tend to do one thing at a time. Time is linear, tangible and divisible. Time commitments are taken very seriously and keeping to a schedule is crucial.   Synchronic orientation: Employees who structure time synchronically do several things at the same time. Time is flexible and intangible. Promptness depends on the type of relationship in question. 7 Internal orientation: Internals believe we are each captain of our ship and master of our fate. What happens to us is primarily a function of personal effort and ability.   External orientation: Externals believe their working lives are controlled by chance, luck, fate and other powerful forces.

references Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture’s consequences. Beverly Hills, California: Sage. Triandis, H.C. (2004). The many dimensions of culture. Academy of Management Executive, 18, 88–93. Trompenaars, F. (1997). Riding the waves of culture: understanding cultural diversity in business. London: Nicholas Brealey.

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Creativity

True creativity often starts where language ends. (A. Koesler, The Act of Creation, 1964) Society is creative when it is ruled by creative spirits. (C. Collins, The Vision of Proof, 1970) Man unites himself with the world in the process of creation. (E. Fromm, The Art of Loving, 1957)

Creativity has been, and no doubt will continue to be, variously defined. At the heart of most definitions is the concept of creativity leading to, or being manifest in, the production of ideas and/or products which are both novel and useful. That is, an idea might be new, but not at all useful, or practical. The essence of the idea is that real, genuine creativity is marked by new thinking that has real applications. Yet, creativity remains an academic backwater mainly because of how to decide whether a person, invention, work of art or science is truly creative. The question is who makes the judgement and the extent to which they have to agree before one can say ‘it’ is a real manifestation of creativity. Criteria could be based on patent awards, judgements made by professionals, social recognition or even sales. Different groups have different criteria and different levels of reliability. For the scientist, the whole enterprise hardly

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gets off the starting blocks. If one cannot adequately, robustly and reliably describe the criteria or label the product it remains particularly difficult to understand the process. Most people seem happy with the concept of a creative person. Many of the creative people one can mention like Van Gogh or Mozart died young, ignored, penniless and mentally ill. Later generations thought them creative but they were not recognized as such in their lifetimes. But if, for the sake of argument, one believes at very minimum there must be something inside people to make them creative the question, at least for the psychologists, is this: is creativity an ability, stable personality trait or a (mood) state and or a thinking style? If creativity is an ability, we would expect it, like intelligence, to be normally distributed. Some people are naturally talented and an equally small number are talentless. If creativity is a (cognitive) ability it can certainly be improved, but the ability level (from very bad to very good) dictates the range of improvement. Is creativity more a personality trait, like extraversion or neuroticism? Is it a temperamental thing, possibly related to pathology? Certainly there do seem to be high incidences of similar behaviours and backgrounds in successful writers, artists etc. But personality is like ability: normally distributed and difficult to change partly because it is ‘hard-wired’ and biologically based. Is creativity like a mood state? Can it be induced by music, watching a film, even detecting a powerfully evocative smell? True trait creatives work better when in various specific emotional states but all the drug does is get you in the mood. So what about creativity as a thinking style? The message you hear at creativity workshops is (a) everyone is creative and (b) we can teach you to find your creativity by using techniques that alter your approach to issues. You can be taught (easily but expensively) to alter your thinking style so your ‘natural creativity’ can break through. And so you do a bit of brainstorming, a bit of ‘de-Bono-ing’ etc. And get to feel you can become a lateral thinker.

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personal accounts Interestingly when creative people, be they artists, business people or scientists write about their experience they all report four similar phases. The first is preparation which involves deep familiarization with the problem. This is reported as conscious, effortful, systematic, purposeful but often fruitless work and frustration. The second phase is called Incubation when the creative person does no conscious work on the problem. It is left in the background. The third phase is called Illumination: the ‘Aha’ experience. Suddenly in the shower or on the beach a part solution comes. It is not complete but points in the right direction. It is often the result of a chance configuration which is then worked on. The final stage is called Verification where the idea is developed and tested. One issue that does seem important is to decide on whether the determinants of, and the process involved in, creativity are different in different areas like arts, business, commerce or science. Another is whether creativity as an ability or trait is normally distributed in the population as a whole, or highly skewed such that only a very few are highly creative. It seems that researchers have adopted essentially one of four approaches to the problem: 1 The creative person: differential psychologists have attempted to delineate the particular and peculiar set of abilities, motives and traits that together describe the creative individual. 2 The creative process: this is an attempt to understand the thought (cognitive) processes that go on in the process of creativity. It is not so much an attempt at the who, but the how question. 3 The creative situation: social and business psychologists are particularly interested in cultural, environmental and organizational factors that inhibit or facilitate creativity.

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The idea is that one can therefore construct situations that induce creativity even in the not particularly creative. 4 The creative product: this approach attempts to study all aspects of creativity by looking at those products that are clearly defined as creative.

mental illness and creativity Since ancient times, people have held the belief that creativity and madness are intrinsically linked. Reviews have tended to show that when studies are chosen by strict criteria there remains clear evidence of the relationship between creativity and mental disorders of many sorts. One study of over 300,000 people showed that bipolar and schizophrenic people were over-represented in creative professions.

references Batey, M., & Furnham, A. (2006). Creativity, intelligence and personality. Genetic, General and Social Psychology, 132, 355–429. Furnham, A. (2017). Personality Traits, Personality Disorders and Creativity. In G. Feist, R. Reiter-Palmon & Kaufman, J, (Eds). The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity and Personality Research. New York: Cambridge, pp. 275–93. Jamison, K.R. (1993). Touched with fire: Manic depressive illness and the artistic temperament. New York: Free Press. Simonton, D.K. (2019). Creativity and psychopathology: the tenuous mad-genius controversy updated. Current Opinion in Behavioural Sciences, 27, 17–21.

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Culture Shock: The Shock of the New

…in most human interaction, ‘realities’ are the results of prolonged intricate processes of construction and negotiation deeply embedded in the culture. (J. Bruner, Acts of Meaning, 1990) ….rules are developed gradually, as cultural products, as ways of handling certain situations, they can be changed, but changes are slow. (Michael Argyle, The Structure of Social Action, 1985)

There is some dispute and debate as to who conceived the concept of culture shock and precisely when this occurred. There also remains no clear definition of culture shock, usually attributed to the anthropologist, Oberg (1960) over 40 years ago. He wrote: Culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. These signs or cues include the thousand and one ways in which we orient ourselves to the situations of daily life: when to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to give orders to servants, how to make purchases, when to accept and when to refuse invitations, when to take statements seriously and when not. Now these cues which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, customs, or norms are acquired by all of us in the course of growing

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up and are as much a part of our culture as the language we speak or the beliefs we accept. All of us depend for our peace of mind and our efficiency on hundreds of these cues, most of which we are not consciously aware of. . . . Some of the symptoms of culture shock are: excessive washing of the hands; excessive concern over drinking water, food, dishes, and bedding; fear of physical contact with attendants or servants; the absent-minded, far-away stare (sometimes called ‘the tropical stare’); a feeling of helplessness and a desire for dependence on longterm residents of one’s own nationality; fits of anger over delays and other minor frustrations; delay and outright refusal to learn the language of the host country; excessive fear of being cheated, robbed, or injured; great concern over minor pains and irruptions of the skin; and finally, that terrible longing to be back home, to be able to have a good cup of coffee and a piece of apple pie, to walk into that corner drugstore, to visit one’s relatives, and, in general, to talk to people who really make sense. (Oberg, 1960, p. 176)

Various attempts have been made to ‘unpack’ the definition (Ward et al. 2001) 1 Strain due to the effort required to make necessary psychological adaptations. 2 A sense of loss and feelings of deprivation in regard to friends, status, profession and possessions. 3 Being rejected by/and or rejecting members of the new culture. 4 Confusion in role, role expectations, values. 5 Surprise, anxiety, even disgust and indignation after becoming aware of cultural differences. 6 Feelings of impotence due to not being able to cope with the new environment. While the term culture shock may have originated in the academic literature, it soon became part of popular imagination and everyday

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language. Guides on how to mitigate the effects of culture shock are offered to all sorts of travellers. People recognize it immediately, though they are surprised by it. Yet it is also agreed that it is a ubiquitous and normal stage in any acculturative adaptive process that all ‘travellers’ experience. Going to ‘strange places’ and losing the power of easy communication can disrupt self-identity, worldviews and indeed all systems of acting, feeling and thinking. It is a common, everyday occurrence experienced by many travellers. There are long lists of the symptoms of culture shock which include cognitive, emotional, physiological and other reactions. There are many rich personal accounts and helpful advice procedures for people to develop better ‘emotional resilience’ to move between cultures. This includes what people in educational and work environments can and should do to lessen the experience of culture shock. Zhou, Jindal-Snape, Topping and Todman (2008) suggested that there are essentially three contemporary theories in the area: Stress and Coping (cross-culturally travellers need to develop coping strategies to deal with stress because life changes are inherently stressful). Culture Learning (cross-cultural travellers need to learn culturally relevant social skills to survive and thrive in their new settings). Social Identification (Cross-cultural transition may involve changes in cultural identity and inter-group relations). They propose that there are both individual level (person and situation factors) and societal level variables (society of origin and society of settlement) that jointly determine stress and skills deficit which in turn determines stress coping and skills acquisition.

Culture shock is conceived as a serious, acute and sometimes chronic affective reaction to a new (social) environment.

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However, there are other closely related ‘shocking’ experiences. These include: ●●

●●

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Invasion shock: this occurs in places where tourists or other visitors suddenly appear in large numbers in a particular setting and overwhelm the locals who become a minority in their own living space. Reverse culture shock: this occurs when returning to one’s home culture to find it different from that which was recalled. In this sense, you can never go home again because it does not exist. It is about re-adjusting; re-acculturating and re-assimilating in the home culture. Re-professionalization and re-licensing shock: this occurs when trained professionals do not have their qualifications accepted by a host country and have to be retrained and accepted. Business shock: this is the realization that so many of the subtle business practices vary considerably from one culture to the next. Race culture shock: this concerns being a racial minority in an institution within one’s country. Class and race specific styles of dress, speech etc., can seriously shock people who do not expect them.

references Furnham, A. & Bochner, S. (1998) Culture Shock. London: Methuen. Oberg, K. (1966) Culture shock: Adjustment to new cultural environments. Practical Anthropology, 7, 177–82. Zhou, Y, Jindal-Snape, D., Topping, K., & Todman, J. (2008). Theoretical models of culture shock and adaptation in international students in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 33 (1), 63–75.

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Dark Triad

Narcissism: walking down Lover’s Lane and holding your own hand. (Colin Bowles, The Wit’s Dictionary, 1984) One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important. (Bertrand Russell)

There is a relatively new area of research into a concept called the ‘Dark Triad’ which is an individual differences construct proposed by Paulhus and Williams (2002). The use of the term ‘dark’ reflects the idea that these traits, independently and together have interpersonally aversive qualities. There are three factors. They are Narcissism, Machiavellianism and Psychopathy. Narcissism is characterized by vanity, arrogance, egotism and a lack of empathy. People who score highly on this trait want others to admire them and pay attention to them. They expect special favours from others and they are very hungry for prestige and people status.

Oldham and Morris (1991) note nine characteristics of these types they call ‘Self-confident’: 1 Self-confident individuals believe in themselves and in their abilities.

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2 They have no doubt that they are unique and special. 3 They expect others to treat them well at all times. 4 They are surprisingly open about their ambitions and achievements. 5 They energetically and effectively sell themselves on all occasions. 6 They are shrewd in their dealings with others. 7 They are eager and constant competitors, they love getting to the top and they enjoy staying there. 8 They always accept compliments, praise and admiration gracefully and with self-possession. 9 However, they are deeply sensitive. Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulative exploitation of others, a cynical disregard for laws and morals and a focus on self-interest and deception. Such people use flattery and lies to get what they want and almost revel in their skill at duping others.

They are characterized by four things: 1 A relative lack of affect in interpersonal relationships, low in empathy, little concern for morals, but task-oriented. 2 A lack of concern with conventional morality. They are often amoral as well as immoral with a utilitarian perspective. 3 A lack of gross psychopathology. They have good reality checks and do not fit into any other established category. 4 Low ideological commitment: short term, tactical, goal achievement is their major task. Psychopathy is characterized by antisocial behaviour, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness and remorselessness. Psychopaths seem totally insensitive to the feelings of others and deeply cynical about human nature.

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These types are also called ‘Adventurous’ and ‘Mischievous’ and they live by their own internal code of values. They are not strongly influenced by other people or by the norms of society. They love the thrill of risk and routinely engage in high-risk activities. They never worry too much about others, for they expect each human being to be responsible for him- or herself. They are often very persuasive, gifted in the art of winning friends and influencing people. They live well by their talents, skills, ingenuity and wits. They can be easy and generous with money, believing that money should be spent and that more will turn up somewhere. They are courageous, physically bold and tough. They will stand up to anyone who dares to take advantage of them. Most of all they do not feel guilty about the past or anxious about the future.

research findings Dark Side researchers noticed an overlap between the features: specifically all three entail a socially malevolent character with behavioural tendencies towards self-promotion, emotional coldness, duplicity and aggressiveness. They did not give a specific theoretical reason for why the three should or would be related or studied together. Their reasoning was based on the observed similarities between the triad. There are two areas of research which do give some substance to the dark triad. To not feel emotion or show or feel sympathy for someone else may be because their characteristic disagreeable nature, shown by cold egocentrism and realism, makes it logical to not have or show emotion or be moved by pleas of pity so that they can more easily manipulate those around them and their environments. The Dark Triad may refer to these traits at only a subclinical level. All three traits have been associated with a callous–manipulative interpersonal style in personal and work life. Until the triad was proposed these three concepts were considered in isolation. Indeed, lots of work in the area has shown that the three concepts when measured independently are related and that it is possible to create a single measure of the triad.

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Jonason, Koenig and Tost (2010) gave three explanations for how those dark beliefs would be functionally adaptive and related to the triad, each corresponding to a particular triad construct. They first proposed that because those who score higher on the Dark Triad are conceptualized as more agentic, meaning proactive in the manipulation of their environments; they are more successful in the control of outcomes, and therefore more accurate in their perceptions. Machiavellianism may be the contributor to this situation with their characteristic manipulative nature. The second proposition is that narcissism facilitates social exploitation through high degrees of self-confidence because of previous findings that communicating confidently increases persuasiveness. This may be true when conceptualizing the Dark Triad as a ‘frequency-dependent, “cheater” strategy’. The third alternative is related to those who score higher on the Dark Triad and their exploitation of high-risk, high-payoff niches like ‘gambling for high stakes’.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest people with elevated Dark Triad scores will have problems at work. They tend to be impulsive, sensation-seeking, risk takers. They tend to revel in schadenfreude: the experience of pleasure at another’s misfortune. Because ‘People of the Dark Triad’ are selfish and self-serving their valuation of reward and costs, willingness to overlook obligations and reciprocity, and lack of emotional commitment to others likely undermines work relationships. Machiavellians are cynical and distrustful, and less likely to assume that they will be paid reciprocally for any extra effort they put in on the job. Narcissists feel they always outperform their fellow co-workers so the rules about reciprocity and obligation do not apply to them. Psychopaths’ celebrated insensitivity to others means they are less likely to act in ways that will please or help others.

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references Furnham, A., Richards, S., & Paulhus, D. (2013). The Dark Triad: A 10 year review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7, 199–215. Jonason, P. K. & Koenig, B.L., Tost, J. (2010). Living a Fast Life: The Dark Triad and Life History Theory. Human Nature. 21, 428–42. Oldham, J., & Morris, L. (1991). The New Personality Self-Portrait. New York: Bantam Books. Paulhus, D. & Williams, K.M. (2002). The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36, 556–63.

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Defence Mechanisms and Coping: Unconscious Ways of Coping

The current narcissism engendered by the idea of just ‘being oneself ’ involves the belief that psychological characteristics and sexual proclivities are entirely conscious choices made by the individual, and not the functions of the unconscious or instinctual life as well. (R. Rosen, Psychobabble) Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through ( R.D. Liang, The Politics of Experience)

According to Freudian psychoanalytic theory, defence mechanisms (DMs) are psychological strategies that are unconsciously used to cope with anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings. These DMs are used by healthy persons throughout life and only become pathological when they are constantly overused – leading to abnormal behaviour wherein the physical or psychological health of the individual is severely affected. DMs have six definitional characteristics: 1 They usually operate unconsciously (outside of awareness). 2 They operate to protect self-esteem by keeping unacceptable thoughts, impulses and wishes out of awareness. 3 They function to protect the person from experiencing excessive anxiety.

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4 They are part of normal personality functioning. 5 They can lead to pathology if one or more is used excessively. 6 They are distinguishable from one another. The list of DMs is extensive and no theoretical consensus on the exact number or their classification has ever been agreed upon. Vaillant’s (1977) taxonomy of defence styles was a welcomed breakthrough in the area. He proposed a developmental hierarchy of four defence levels ranging from pathological mechanisms, which allow the individual to alter current external experiences to remove any need to deal with reality; to mature mechanisms, which have been adapted throughout an individual’s life in order to cope with current circumstances, helping the individual to effectively eliminate conflicting emotions and thoughts. Within these extremes, on reaching adulthood, individuals are also expected to display immature defences, which reduce distress and anxiety that are caused by uncomfortable surroundings or unpleasant company; and neurotic defences. These can provide short-term benefits in coping and individuals often have problems with relationships, work and life satisfaction. Defence Level

Defence Mechanism

Definition

Pathological

Denial

Refusal to accept unpleasant aspects of an external situation because one finds it too threatening.

Distortion

Changing and reshaping reality as one sees fit.

Projection

Lessens anxiety by expressing undesirable desires without being consciously aware; shifting these unacceptable thoughts, feelings and impulses to someone else.

Acting out

Unconscious expressions/impulses without being aware of the emotion behind it.

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Neurotic

Mature

Defence Mechanism

Definition

Fantasy

Tendency to escape reality to resolve internal and external conflicts, e.g. excessive day-dreaming.

Idealization

Perceiving individuals to possess more positive qualities than they actually have.

Passive-aggression

Expressing anger or frustration through indirect methods onto other people.

Identification

Role modelling; taking on behavioural patterns of another person.

Displacement

Shifting emotions onto another target considered more acceptable or less threatening.

Hypochondria

Perceptions of an unknown illness as a reaction to negative feelings toward others.

Intellectualization

Using logic and intellectual components of a situation to distance oneself.

Isolation

Separating emotions from events i.e. talking about a situation without displaying any feelings.

Rationalization

Convincing oneself that things are fine through false rationale, e.g. ‘making excuses’.

Reaction formation

Behaving in a manner that is opposite of how one truly feels to avoid anxiety.

Regression

Reverting to an earlier stage of development rather than handling the unpleasant situation in a way concurrent with one’s current development stage.

Repression

Preventing uncomfortable thoughts streaming into the conscious.

Altruism

Behaviour that brings pleasure to others and internal satisfaction.

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Defence Mechanism

Definition

Anticipation

Knowing and accepting that future discomfort may occur.

Humour

Expressing unpleasant thoughts in a humorous way, i.e. making fun of uncomfortable situations.

Introjection

Identifying with a person or object so much that it becomes part of the individual.

Sublimation

Turning negative emotions into more positive actions, behaviour or emotions.

Thought suppression Consciously pushing thoughts into the unconscious, i.e. not paying attention to an emotion in order to cope with the present situation.

There are various self-report defence mechanism measures that exist, most notably the Defense Mechanism Inventory, the Defence Style Questionnaire and the New Defence Style Questionnaire. So you can get some feedback on your personal DMs. Classic psychoanalytic theory posits gender differences in personality, indicating that women tend to have a passive orientation and men an active one (Freud, 1936). In line with Freud’s original theory, research findings have been categorized along an internal– external taxonomy with results generally converging to suggest that women use more internalizing defence mechanisms and men more externalizing defences. While the underlying processes of differential gender defence strategies is beyond the scope of the present entry, previous research has implied the role of socialization patterns, which favour the development of certain defences over others in men and women. It has been speculated that as a consequence of their greater passivity, women find it more difficult to express aggression outwardly and so are more likely to turn it on themselves and rely on defences that modify inner thoughts and feelings (e.g. denial).

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In contrast, men depend more on defences that locate conflict in the external world (e.g. projection). However, despite this broad classification, results are far from systematic and vary with sample and methodology employed. For example, while men have been found to score higher on projection, displacement and aggressive forms of acting out, results for reaction formation (internalizing defence mechanism) have been less consistent.

references Cramer, P. (2006). Protecting the self: Defense mechanisms in action. New York: Guilford Press. Freud, A. (1936). The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense. New York: International Universities Press. Vaillant, G.E. (1977). Adaptation to life. Boston: Little, Brown.

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Delusions and Hallucinations

Voices in my head. Chanting. Kisses. Bread. Prove Yourself. Fight. Shove. Learn. Earn. Look for love. (Vikram Seth, Voices, 1990) Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? (Shakespeare, Macbeth)

delusions It is important to make various distinctions between hallucinations, illusions and delusions. An illusion is a real reaction to a real sensation with a misattributed cause. A delusion is a belief held by an individual or a group that is demonstrably false, completely fanciful or more likely simply self-deceptive. Most importantly a delusion is impossible or patently untrue. The most written about of all delusions, namely paranoia, has been shown to follow various stages: general suspiciousness, selective perception of others, hostility, paranoid ‘illumination’ where all things fall into place and finally paradoxical delusions of influence and persecution. Delusions often totally preoccupy people and cause them considerable distress. It should be noted that delusions are different from illusions. We have visionary and auditory illusions – for instance that the sun goes round the earth or

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that ventriloquists’ dummies actually speak. We have selective memories/illusions of happy childhoods. These are things that seem true to the senses or memory but are known to be false or have no basis in reality.

psychiatry and delusional disorder Psychiatrists may diagnose someone as having a delusion disorder under a number of very specific situations. First, a person must manifest one or more non-bizarre delusions for at least a month. Second, the person has not met other behavioural criteria for being classified as a person with schizophrenia. Third, audio and visual hallucinations are not prominent though tactile and olfactory hallucinations may be. Fourth, despite the delusions of their behavioural consequences a person’s psychosocial functioning is not essentially impaired such that they are not thought of as particularly odd or bizarre. Fifth, if the specific delusions have an impact on a person’s mood these mood changes do not last very long. Sixth, the disturbance is not the result of physiological or medical conditions (like the medication a person is on). Psychiatrists have noticed five clear types of delusions: Erotomanic: The main theme that they believe another person is seriously in love with them, more in the Hollywood romantic, even spiritual, way rather than in the sexual sense. It is often a famous person (film star, sporting hero) but also powerful superiors at work. Grandiose: These are sometimes called delusions of grandeur and are manifest when a person believes (with no evidence) that they are special: they have amazing abilities or perspicacity or have really made a vitally important discovery. Jealous: This is clearly manifest in the strong, but quite unfounded belief that a partner is unfaithful and cheating on them. Odd

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bits of ‘evidence’ are put forward for these claims. They may hire a private detective, attempt to imprison their partner as well as physically and verbally attack them. Persecutory: This is the belief that someone or some group are conspiring against them. They are cheating, spying on, harassing, gossiping about and even attempting to poison or drug you. They are often angry and resentful with deep feelings of injustice. Somatic: This is the delusion that one’s own body is somehow strange or not functioning properly. It maybe the belief one smells odd or that particular parts (nose, breasts and feet) are particularly odd, misshapen or ugly.

In essence the causes are not known.

hallucinations A hallucination is quite simply the perception of something – a noise, smell, sight – that is not there. Hallucinations involve sensing something while awake and conscious that is not actually physically present. It is sensation without stimulus. A sensory hallucination may include hearing voices of long dead or mythical people, or it may be of insects crawling on, or under, the skin. It may be of angels or fairies dancing in bright lights. Some are highly idiosyncratic, many transient, unreal and bewildering. Hallucinations are known to be associated with many things including sleep (particularly deprivation), certain drug use (the obviously termed hallucinogens), mental illness (particularly psychosis) and very specific neurological illnesses. Hallucinations occur often in schizophrenic episodes and are described in psychiatric manuals as ‘a running commentary on the person and two or more voices conversing with each other’. ‘Hearing voices’ is perhaps one of the most well-known ‘signs of madness’. It is particularly associated with the psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. People hear voices of specific or unidentifiable people when others present cannot hear them.

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People have been reported seeing animals, innate objects and people not present. They may be ‘ghosts’ or ‘angels’ and some involve quite complicated scenes or bizarre situations. Some visual hallucinations are silent but in some people speak, often directly to the individual experiencing the hallucination giving them specific commands. Causes There are six causes of hallucinations. The first is drugs, including alcohol and marijuana but also cocaine, heroin or LSD. The second is high fever, especially in young or old people. Third, they may occur in those with very specific sensory problems like blindness or deafness. People who go deaf often say they hear voices. Similarly these who have limbs amputated experience phantom limbs with all the movement, even pain, experienced. Fourth, they occur in people with severe physical illnesses like brain cancer, kidney or liver failure. Fifth, they can and do occur if suffering from alcohol-related delirium tremors or later life dementia. Sixth, they are often closely associated with specific, severe, psychotic disorder like post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia. Those who have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder often experience flashbacks. Thus when they hear certain sounds or detect certain smells they are instantly transformed back to times of trauma like war or accidents and have powerful flashback hallucinations of particular events. Also in times of great stress and mourning some people hear reassuring voices that calm the senses. Explanations There are traditionally, sorts of psychological explanations for the occurrence of hallucinations. Freudians saw the hallucinations as projections of unconscious wishes or wants. The idea was that the person experiences as ‘real’, something they felt, but could not express because it was below consciousness.

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Cognitive psychologists point to problems in cognition processing, particularly metacognition which is concerned with your understanding of others’ understanding of events. That is hallucinations are misinterpreted of others’ behaviour. However, it is the biological psychologists who are most clear about the causes. They see them primarily as deficits in brain states as a result of damage or chemical imbalances. Certainly they have been able to locate brain regions and identify pharmaceutical processes that lead to hallucinations.

references American Psychiatric Association. (2015). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) Washington, DC. Oldham, J. & Morris, L. (1991). Personality Self-Portrait. New York: Bantam Books.

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Depression: Malignant Sadness

A suicidal depression is a kind of spiritual winter, frozen, sterile, unmoving. (A. Alvarez, The Savage God) Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. (Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter) Depression is evidence of growth, and health in the emotional development of the individual. (Donald Winnicott, The Family and Individual Development)

Depression is a very common, growing and serious mood disorder. It is characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, helplessness and hopelessness. Those with depression ‘turn inwards’ and lose interest in activities they once enjoyed. They also show many physical symptoms associated with eating and sleeping. Many things can make us depressed but in order to be diagnosed with depression, symptoms must be present for at least two weeks. The latest American Psychiatric Manual, the DSM-5, outlines the criterion to make a diagnosis of depression. The individual must be experiencing five or more symptoms (of the eight symptoms given below) during the same two-week period and at least one of the symptoms should be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure. 1 Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day.

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2 Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day. 3 Significant weight loss when not dieting, or weight gain, or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day. 4 A slowing down of thought and a reduction of physical movement (observable by others, not merely subjective feelings of restlessness or being slowed down). 5 Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day. 6 Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt nearly every day. 7 Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day. 8 Recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide.

types of depression Major Depressive Episode and Major Depressive Disorder: This requires two or more major depressive episodes. Dysthymic Disorder: This is manifest by depressed mood most of the day for more days than not, for at least two years. Bipolar Episode and Bipolar Disorder: Bipolar disorder is characterized by more than one bipolar episode. It has manic episodes which are distinct periods of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive or irritable mood, lasting at least one week. Signs include increased self-esteem or grandiosity, a decreased need for sleep, more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking, distractibility and increase in goal-directed activity. Substance-Induced Mood Disorder: This is a common depressive illness of clients in substance abuse treatment. This occurs during intoxication from the substance or on withdrawal from the substance. Mood Disorder Due to a General Medical Condition: This can be a result of a medical condition, such as hypothyroidism or Parkinson’s disease.

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Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood: This is a psychological reaction to overwhelming emotional or psychological stress, resulting in depression or other symptoms. There are other candidates for inclusion such as seasonal affective disorder and postpartum depression.

treatment There are many treatments available. They include healthy diets and exercise as well as other self-help techniques. There are a range of drugs available, namely the major anti-depressants. Most people opt for a ‘talking cure’ like CBT, Interpersonal therapy, Psychodynamic therapy and counselling. The general public (as potential clients) is increasingly faced with a bewildering array of psychotherapy interventions available, although some are clearly similar in theory and practice. These include seeing a therapist, attending training courses or focus groups, observation and/or taking medication, or getting hypnosis. Deciding whether or not to seek help is associated with a range of factors including the availability of services, financial costs and individual socio-demographic and psychological variables. Public perceptions of psychotherapists and the process of psychotherapy have been speculated to have important implications in terms of the number and type of individuals who choose to seek psychological treatment. In addition to these influences on potential clients and on their actual experience of treatment, popular perceptions of psychotherapy are likely to have significant implications for public policy and mental health reform. The groups least likely to utilize mental health services are men, older people and people from ethnic minorities, who are all more likely to display avoidance behaviour, resistance to treatment and denial of mental illness. Aside from these influential factors, two major criteria that laypeople factor into their choice or recommendation of a therapy presumably are the perceived

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efficacy of the treatment and the associated side effects for specific psychological issues. For example, counselling is frequently considered most helpful and expectations of counselling involve talking to an experienced expert who can be trusted.

references American Psychiatric Association. (2015). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) Washington, DC. Furnham, A., Ritchie, W., & Lay, A. (2016). Beliefs about the causes and cures of depression. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 62, 415–24.

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Dreams and Dreaming: Fantasy Time

A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read. (The Talmud) Dreams are meaningful only in the context of a dreamer’s life. (D. Broadribb, The Dreamer’s Story, 1987) The dream is the reflection of the waves of the unconscious life in the floor of the imagination. (H. Amiel, journal, 1869)

Why do we enter a fantasy world several times a night when we sleep? Why do we perceive imaginary events and perform imaginary behaviours and what do they mean? Why do some people claim they never dream or cannot remember their dreams? Why do we have recurrent dreams? What do dreams mean: being able to fly, losing all your teeth?

types of dreams Acknowledging the existence of, and trying to interpret the meaning of, dreams goes back to ancient times. The word is derived from the words ‘joy’ and ‘music’. There are many different kinds of dreams that people can have: highly lucid but also vague dreams; of nightmares and of lovely dreams. Children from three to eight years old often report having nightmares but they seem not to appear in their own dreams much

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before the ages of three or four years old. Many report recurrent dreams sometimes which they fear, others which they long for. Nearly two-thirds of people claim that they have had déjà vu dreams. Dreams are common to all people at all times. Themes include being trapped or being followed; hiding from someone and being in prison. Long dead people appear in dreams. People often report a dream about being paralysed and unable to escape; or indeed the opposite, being able to fly. Water appears a lot: drowning, surfing or being chased by sharks. Animals and cars appear a lot in dreams. Special clothes as well as being naked is frequently reported. Many people also confess very erotic dreams.

interpretations There are various proposed interpretations of these dreams. Consider the teeth falling out dream: does this signal that we are very concerned with our physical attractiveness? Or perhaps it represents a loss of power and aging or the concern that you are never heard or being overlooked. Perhaps your teeth represent oral weapons and they are falling out because you have been saying untruths about others. The ancient Chinese did believe it occurred because you were worried about telling lies, while the Greeks thought it symbolized worry about death. It has even been proposed that it is about money: hoping a magical tooth fairy will appear and give you lots of money. There are multiple and unproven interpretations of the same event which makes this whole area both fascinating and frustrating. Freudian Ideas Freud, who wrote a book on the topic, proposed that dreams arise out of our inner conflicts between unconscious desires and prohibitions against acting out these desires, which we learn from society. Thus all dreams represent unfulfilled wishes, the content of which are symbolically disguised. The latent content (hidden) of the dream is transformed into the manifest content (plot) which

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needs to be explained to supposedly unveil the person’s unconscious desires. They are a ‘royal road’ to the unconscious. Dream interpretation was a favourite way of Freud to get to understand this conflict and so he would encourage people to talk without restraint about their dreams. The manifest content seen by the dreamer masks the hidden meaning or significance behind the latent content which is what can cause anxiety and psychological discomfort. The dreams themselves aren’t direct representations of our unconscious but need to be analysed as they are symbolic or metaphors for our true underlying feelings. Some symbols are widely shared because of physical or functional similarities for example, but there is no simple cipher that can be generally applied. First, critics point out that if dreams are merely wish fulfilment why are so many negative. Next, Freud based his theory on those few (less than 10 per cent) of dreams that are remembered and articulated by patients. Third, there is a serious problem of reliability in the interpretation of dreams as different therapists offer very different interpretations. Fourth, as Jung pointed out, dreams seem to have similar content across time and culture whether they are deeply repressive or surprisingly liberal. It is clear that Freud would argue strongly that dreams provide an insight into our unconscious, however his work was done over one hundred years ago and many present-day psychologists have a lot more to add to the topic.

rapid eye movement In the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) phase of sleep a circuit of acetylcholine-secreting neurons in the pons become active, stimulating rapid eye movements, activation of the cerebral cortex and muscular paralysis. All of which causes us to see images. Moreover, multiple experiments have found that the eye movements a person makes during a dream corresponds reasonably well with the content of the dream; the eye movements are what one would expect if the events in the dream were really occurring. The images evoked often incorporate memories of episodes that have recently occurred or what the person has been thinking about lately.

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Such findings do not dispute Freud’s belief that dreams involve complex cognitive processes, many of which are hidden from view. But they argue against the central tenet of his theory: that they are disguised representations of forbidden urges that are held deep in the unconscious. We do not know whether the particular topics we dream about are related to the functions that dreams serve or if the purpose of REM sleep is fulfilled by the physiological changes in the brain, regardless of the plot. Given that we still do not know why we dream, this uncertainty is not surprising. But the rapid progress we are making in most areas of brain research give us hope that we will have some answers in the not-too-distant future.

references Domhoff, W. (2002). The scientific study of dreams. New York: APA Press. Freud, S. (1900). The Interpretation of Dreams. London: Hogarth Press.

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Eating Disorders

We each day dig our graves with our teeth. (Samuel Smiles, Duty, 1880) Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are. (Anthelme BrillatSavarin, Physiologie du Gout, 1810)

There are various types of eating disorders of which two are most well-known. Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a condition that exhibits persistent restriction of energy intake which leads to significantly low body weight. Individuals experience a consistent and irrational fear of gaining weight and becoming fat. Their view of their body weight and shape is distorted, which leads to an undue influence of body shape and weight on their self-evaluation. Bulimia Nervosa (BN) is recurrent episodes of binge eating. Binge eating can be characterized by the following: eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g. within any two-hour period), an amount of food that is significantly larger than what most people would eat during a similar period of time and under similar circumstances. A sense of a lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g. feeling as if you cannot stop eating or control what or how much you eat).

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BN is also characterized by recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviour to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications, fasting or excessive exercise. This behaviour is displayed on average, at least once a week for three months. Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight. However, BN does not occur exclusively during episodes of Anorexia Nervosa. The psychiatric manual DSM-IV’s criteria for anorexia nervosa has highlighted four main factors in diagnosing the eating disorder: First, is the refusal to maintain a minimal normal body weight for age and weight causing weight loss of at least 15 per cent below minimum healthy body weight. Second, despite being underweight, to have an intense fear of weight gain. Third, having a distortion in the perception of one’s own body in shape and weight, as well as denying the seriousness of current low body weight. Fourth, applying only to females, is an absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles also known as amenorrhea. Despite having a death rate of 5–8 per cent, people with anorexia feel their behaviour brings with it the appearance and feeling of total control. It stimulates pride, a sense of achievement, perfectionism and being different or even being better than others. Among the 1 per cent of people who develop the disorder, 90 to 95 per cent of people diagnosed are female. However, the disorder has begun to affect people of a younger demographic in comparison to the initial ages of 15 and 19. It seems more common in richer countries where slim body shapes are valued.

Various major academic theories can be found in academic literature to try to explain the eating disorders. 1 Family systems theory: The ‘anorectic family’ is one in which the mother is the strong-willed, dominant parent, while the father is either meek and inoffensive or distant and aloof. The family is apparently close and

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tight-knit, with few outside friends. Often the mother and father demonstrate some form of psychological disturbance like addiction or depression. The mother often is described as controlling, overprotective and the major family disciplinarian; she occupies the central, dominant position in the family. The anorexic challenges her mother. The mother may try to compensate for any feelings of inadequacy in her role by feeding her child excessively as assurance of her love and affection. It can also be a substitute, particularly if she is prone to unrecognized feelings of hostility or rejection towards her child. This child may grow up prising food more than human relationships and be very unsure of herself in a social context. 2 Biological theory: At puberty, young girls (and indeed their families) become aware of their developing bodies. The potential anorexic responds with embarrassment, while the well-adjusted adolescent may experience pride or satisfaction. The anorexic’s embarrassment at such growth is linked with fear that this growth will necessitate moving out of comfortable family relationships and into more mature, possibly insecure, peer relationships. This fear may often be the realization that it is time to develop relationships with those of the opposite sex. Coupled with this is a dislike or disgust of what the adolescent sees as ‘fatness’ and an inability to accept the new developing body as his or her own. 3 Socio-cultural theory: this tends to apply mainly to female anorexics because it is dependent on the promotion of a standard of thinness. A woman is faced with a widening discrepancy between her actual weight and the weight that she has been persuaded to believe is attractive. Anorexia nervosa is particularly prevalent among those women who are in professions that place an emphasis on physical beauty and thin appearance. However, the media select thin models to portray sophistication and glamour to the general female

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population as well, to the extent that ordinary women are so bombarded with an unrealistic standard of thinness that they are indoctrinated into believing it is desirable as an end in itself. 4 Feminist theory suggests females are encouraged to seek equal status with men and try to compete more with men than with other women. There is heightened competitiveness and the over-evaluation of achievement are also personality characteristics found among anorexics. However, women are still expected to spend time on their personal appearance, and so these two conflicting values will generate increasing uncertainty as to their roles and self-expectations. The result is that the woman experiences social uncertainty that conflicts with her attempts at embracing her autonomy and she refuses to submit responsibility for her actions or her appearance to any other party. In the case of the anorexic, this attempt at autonomy is thought to be further conflict with her symbiotic relationship to her mother. 5 The fifth theory is one based on the physiology of the adolescent, particularly the role of puberty. The latency period precedes adolescence and one feature of the latency period is that of physical similarity between the two sexes. In pre-adolescence, boys and girls resemble each other in physical appearance and size (same percentage of muscle and fat) and are similar in their fat distribution and skeletal shape. During the dramatic adolescent growth, girls begin to notice an increase in fat distribution around their hips; the development of their bust; and rapid changes in their height, weight and general body shape. They find themselves bigger than their male classmates, at a time when they are preoccupied and self-conscious about their body image as well as growing in self-awareness and awareness of the opposite sex. Thus the adolescent girl, aware of her ‘fatter’ figure, seeks to minimize her shape by dieting, at a time in her development when her nutritional needs are increased markedly.

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There are different versions of these theories and very mixed evidence for them.

references Crisp, A.H. (1980) Anorexia nervosa: let me be. London: academic process. Furnham, A. & Hume-Wright, A. (1992) Lay theories of anorexia nervosa. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 48, 20–36. Polivy, J. & Herman, C.P. (2002) Causes of eating disorders. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 187–203

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Emotional Intelligence

Your face, my Thane, is a book where men may read strange matters. (Shakespeare, Macbeth) Nature has given man one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear twice as much as we speak. (Epictetus)

Despite its popularity, and the fact that most people claim to have heard of it, very few can accurately define emotional intelligence (EI). Sceptics claim that ‘charm and influence’ became ‘social and interpersonal skills’ which then became ‘emotional intelligence’. Social skills used to be defined in terms of sensitivity and flexibility: how sensitive a person is to social cues and how flexible they are in their responses to those accurately observed aspects of behaviour. Socially skilled individuals were seen as happier and healthier and generally more successful at work and in relationships. However, the new term and concept EI ‘chimed with the zeitgeist’ and became very popular. It has spawned a huge industry, particularly with those interested in success at work. Many books make dramatic claims: for instance that cognitive ability or traditional academic intelligence contributes only about 20 per cent to general life success (academic, personal and work) while the remaining 80 per cent is directly attributable to EI. By and large, there is little good empirical evidence to support these more wild claims.

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EI can be discussed in terms of four parts: self and other emotional awareness and management. Thus it is partly defined as whether people are emotionally self-aware. First, can you recognize and understand your emotional reaction to persons and places particularly where the emotions are powerful and unusual? Do you know why you have such strong emotions about certain friends or events? (Emotional Self-Awareness) Second, are you able to accurately ‘read’ the emotions of other people? Do you ‘pick up’ on what others are saying non-verbally, ensuring you are highly perceptive? Are you psychologically minded? (Emotional Perceptiveness) Third, can you manage your emotions? This is particularly important in social contexts where you need to be able to appropriately regulate your emotional responses to others. These include giving talks in public, receiving negative feedback and dealing with anger. (Personal Emotional Management) Fourth, there is the issue of the management of the emotions of others. Are you able, when and where appropriate, to change the emotional state of others? Can you calm down frightened or angry people? Are you able to give people confidence in situations which acquire this? (Managing the emotions of others)

The emotionally intelligent person is aware of, sensitive to, and perceptive with regard to their own and others’ emotions. They are, in short, both emotionally literate and behaviourally flexible. They know how to manage – change, moderate, control – their own and others’ emotion. They know what to do when they or others are ‘down’, frightened or aggressive. Being aware without being able to manage emotions is insufficient. It is obvious why this is so important in the performing arts. Goleman’s popular book (1998) told a simple and interesting story about EI that helped explain its appeal. Technical training in

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any career is easy compared to teaching IQ skills. As an adult, it is comparatively more straightforward to teach a person the technical aspects of the job than the soft skills. The idea is that there is a critical period to acquire the basis of EI which is probably during early to late adolescence. Hence the person may over time find solace in computers and other activities with a high skills/low contact basis. Thus, in early adulthood, they appear to be technically competent in certain areas (IT, engineering) but still rather undeveloped in people skills and more specifically emotional awareness and regulation. They may even be ‘phobic’ about emotional issues and resistant to (social skills) training. It is also assumed that people are less able to pick up EI ‘skills’ as well as less willing to try. To acquire technical skills often requires considerable dedication, so opportunities to acquire social skills (EQ) are, therefore, reduced. Then the low EQ person chooses technology rather than people for fun, comfort and a source of ideas because they do not understand emotions.

measurement Psychometricians make a basic distinction between measures of maximum performance (e.g. IQ tests – right or wrong answers) and measures of typical response (e.g. personality questionnaires’ preference answers) with far-reaching implications. Self-report measurement leads to the idea of EI essentially as a personality trait (‘trait EI’ or ‘emotional self-efficacy’), whereas potential maximumperformance measurement would lead to ideas of EI as a cognitive ability (‘ability EI’ or ‘cognitive-emotional ability’). Thus trait EI and ability EI are two different constructs. There exist currently well over a dozen trait EI type tests which look essentially like personality tests. On the other hand there are those who see EI as a ‘real’ intelligence or ability that needs to be measured as such. The ‘objective’ scoring is based on two types of scoring systems. The first is called consensus scoring, which is based on popular agreement. So, show a large group a photo and/ or play music and ask them to identify the emotion of the person

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in the photo and the emotion engendered by the music. If 82 per cent think the photo shows the person is angry then that becomes the correct answer for the question. Equally, if 73 per cent say the music makes one maudlin then that is the correct answer. The second way in which it is hoped to achieve objective scoring is through expert scoring. Here, various researchers whose specialty is the emotions are asked to make judgements: i.e. do the test. Their scores are thought of as best. Both methods are used in conjunction to determine test scores.

references Bar-On, R. (2004). The Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i): Rationale, description and psychometric properties. In G. Geher (Ed.), Measuring Emotional Intelligence: Common ground and controversy. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science. Goleman, D. (1998). Working With Emotional Intelligence. New York, NY: Bantam Books. Petrides, K.V., & Furnham, A. (2000). On the dimensional structure of emotional intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences, 29(2), 313–20. Petrides, K.V., Pérez-González, J-C., and Furnham, A. (2007). On the criterion and incremental validity of trait Emotional Intelligence. Cognition and Emotion. 21, 26–55.

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Engagement and Drive at Work

In general, a drive has direction as well as intensity: it is selective as well as motivating. (R. Woodworth, Dynamics of Behaviour) Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome. (Samuel Johnson, Rasselas)

What is the difference between job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment and job engagement? Job Satisfaction was seen as important as it was assumed that satisfied workers were more productive. Therefore, one of the management’s key tasks was to make people happy. Unfortunately, three pieces of research led to the discrediting of this idea. First, happiness was found to be very clearly related to personality, particularly emotional adjustment. Less adjusted (more neurotic) people are more dissatisfied with every job they have, however supportive their bosses, good their pay, pleasant their working conditions. They are carriers of gloom, dissatisfaction and general antipathy. Second, there is as much evidence that productivity caused satisfaction as the reverse. This suggests that if you help people to be more productive, they become more happy rather than the other way around. The direction of causality is wrong.

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Third, job satisfaction is an idea and a feeling and has little to do with motivation. It does not have motivational force: it is only very loosely related to any form of productivity. Moreover, some studies suggested that it was heritable: thus, some people were satisfied in nearly all jobs, others were satisfied in none. The researchers then talked about being job involved. People who were involved seemed very focused on their particular task and little interested and concerned with others or the general productivity of the organization. In that sense it could even be said to be an index of egocentricity. For this reason the words changed to organizational (not just personal) commitment. This is a concept of the head, not the heart and does not necessarily explain what the person is committed to. Workers may be so committed they want to see no change or development in the organization. Commitment can also mean entrapment.

engagement How do we describe the individuals who are clearly physically, cognitively and emotionally active at work: the employees who give and get; who are motivated and derive meaning from their job? Engaged…the opposite of which is the worker who is alienated or who ‘decouples’ the self from the work role. Engagement is marked by: ●● ●● ●● ●● ●●

High levels of energy and persistence at work. Positive affect and involvement in work. Enthusiasm and pride in the work. A sense of empowerment at work. Finding the work meaningful – it provides a sense of purpose.

There are many measures of engagement but one of the best is clear and short and has three factors.

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A Vigour and Energy: At work, I feel bursting with energy. At my job, I feel strong and driven. When I get up in the morning, I look forward to going to work. I can continue working for very long periods of time. At my job, I am very tough mentally. At my work, I can push on, even when things do not go well. B Dedication: I find the work that I do full of meaning and purpose. I am enthusiastic about my job. My job inspires me. I am proud of the work that I do. My job is challenging. C Absorption: Time flies when I am working. When I am working, I forget everything else around me. I am happy when I am working hard. I feel deeply involved in my work. I become completely absorbed in my work. When not at work, I often think about my job. Engageability is linked to the personality traits of adjustment (low neuroticism) and conscientiousness (prudence). It is also linked to agreeableness and altruism. Some people are thus easy to engage by head and heart and others not. This applies to bosses and workers alike. Engagement comes partly from employee–manager relationships. Gallup researchers have established four facts: a) managerial behaviour directly affects employee engagement; b) when engagement is high, positive business results follow; c) when engagement is low, negative business results follow; d) the link between managerial behaviour and business results is mediated by staff engagement.

drive In 2010 Daniel Pink wrote a book entitled Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Pink proposes that businesses should adopt a revised approach to motivation which fits more closely with modern jobs and businesses, one based on selfdetermination theory.

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The three components of the theory with appropriate recommendations are: 1 Autonomy & Empowerment – provide employees with autonomy over some (or all) of the four main aspects of work: When they do it (time), How they do it (technique), Whom they do it with (team), What they do (task). 2 Mastery & Competence – allow employees to become better at something that matters to them: Provide tasks which are neither overly difficult nor overly simple; create an environment where mastery is possible.  3 Purpose – Communicate the purpose; place equal emphasis on purpose maximization as you do on profit maximization; use purpose-oriented words – talk about the organization as a united team by using words such as ‘us’. There is a vast literature of self-determination theory which, as noted by Pink, suggests there are three basic psychological needs that must be satisfied to foster wellbeing and health. These needs are universal, yet some may be more salient than others at certain times and will be expressed differently based on time, culture or experience.

references Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and selfdetermination in human behavior. New York, NY: Plenum Publishing. Pink, D. (2010). Drive. New York: Riverhead Books. Schaufeli, W.B. (2017). General engagement: Its conceptualization and measurement. Journal of Wellbeing Assessment, 1, 9–24.

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Extraversion and Introversion

Extraverts of equal intelligence as introverts will tend to give more answers to suggestions because they are less afraid of making fools of themselves. The introverts tend to censor themselves. (Hans Eysenck, Psychologist on Psychology, 1977)

Extraversion is perhaps the best known of many theories of personality and is well understood by laypeople. There are two major theories of the origins of extraversion: the Jungian and the Eysenckian models, which are not mutually contradictory. The Jungian theory is that extraverts ‘get their energy from outside’ while introverts get it from inside. The MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Inventory) experts say extraverts like participating actively in a variety of tasks and are often impatient with long, slow jobs. They are interested in the activities of their work and in how other people do them. They tend to act quickly, sometimes without thinking. Many find phone calls a welcome diversion when working on a task. They develop ideas by discussing them with others and like having people around and working on teams. On the other hand, introverts like a quiet and private space for concentration. They tend to be comfortable working on one project for a long time without interruption. Most are interested in the

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facts and/or ideas behind their work. Introverts like to think before they act, sometimes to the point of not acting. They find phone calls intrusive when concentrating on a task. They tend to develop ideas alone through reflection. Most like working by themselves or occasionally in small groups. Eysenck argued that extraversion was substantially biologically inherited; it is explained in terms of cortical arousal and reward sensitivity and that extraverts thrive in high-pressure jobs that involve considerable interaction with strangers. They handle overload and stress, have task-focused coping methods, feelings of self-efficacy and a good sense of wellbeing. A review of the dimension presents an impressive array of findings. Introverts are more sensitive to pain than extraverts; they become fatigued and bored more easily than extraverts; excitement interferes with their performance, whereas it enhances performance for extraverts; and they tend to be more careful but slower than extraverts. ●●

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Introverts do better in school than extraverts, particularly in more advanced subjects. Also, students withdrawing from college for academic reasons tend to be extraverts, whereas those who withdraw for psychiatric reasons tend to be introverts. Extraverts prefer vocations involving interactions with other people, whereas introverts tend to prefer more solitary vocations. Extraverts seek diversion from job routine; introverts have less need for novelty. Extraverts enjoy explicit sexual and aggressive humour, whereas introverts prefer more intellectual forms of humour, such as puns and subtle jokes. Extraverts are more active sexually, in terms of frequency and different partners, than introverts are. Extraverts are more suggestible than introverts.

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Introverts are more easily aroused by events and more easily learn social prohibitions than extraverts. As a result, introverts are more restrained and inhibited. There is also some evidence that introverts are more influenced by punishments in learning, whereas extraverts are more influenced by rewards. It is hypothesized that individual differences along this dimension have both hereditary and environmental origins. Indeed, several studies of identical and fraternal twins suggest that heredity plays a major part in accounting for differences between individuals in their scores on this dimension. Extraverts are more likely than introverts to prefer occupations that involve social contact. There is, therefore, a danger that introverted workers may become over-aroused if their jobs involve considerable extra organizational contact and a relative absence of routine. Extraverts are less distracted than introverts. Their world is more busy, noisy and distracting. The open-plan office, the mobile phone, the relentless meetings all favour extraverts who like stimulation, whereas introverts are distracted by people, noise or stimulants of any kind. They are less comfortable, less efficient and less helpful in the noisy world of work. Introverts take longer to retrieve information; longer to marshal their ideas and thoughts and longer to respond to the demands of the world around them. From a motivational point of view we know extraverts respond better to carrots and care less about sticks, while introverts are less motivated by rewards and more sensitive to, and inhibited by, threats of punishments. Perhaps therefore extraverts are easier to manage. They are certainly easier to read. People like extraverts because they tend to be more socially confident and comfortable. Children move towards, away from or against people. The stimulus-seeking extravert learns early on that people can be lots of fun. So most learn social and emotional intelligence earlier. There have always been serious known disadvantages of being a (strong) extravert.

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Accidents: Extraverts are risk takers. They drive fast and choose risky recreational activities. They trade off accuracy for speed. They are prone to all sorts of gaffes, preferring to speak before they think. Crime: Extraverts are social and impulsive. They are excitementseekers interested in novel experiences, which often leads them to be poorer learners than introverts at many tasks, including the acquisition of general social rules. They are difficult to train, naughty and rebellious. They are more likely than introverts to become delinquents or criminals, though it does depend on the nature of the criminal activity. Learning: Extraverts do well at primary school but less well at university. The idea of sitting in a quiet room for hours learning complicated abstract ideas just does not suit the extravert.

Most people are able to accurately rate themselves and others on introversion and extraversion.

sensation seeking There are also related concepts like sensation seeking. Sensation seeking scale was a concept developed by Zuckerman in 1979 as a way to measure individual differences in response to sensory deprivation; the extent to which an individual will deliberately reduce or remove certain stimulation from their senses. 1 Thrill- and adventure-seeking (TAS): This is the desire for outdoor activities involving unusual sensations and risks, such as skydiving, scuba diving and flying. 2 Experience-seeking (ES): This subcategory refers to new sensory or mental experiences through unconventional choices, also including psychedelic experience, social nonconformity and desire to associate with unconventional people.

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3 Disinhibition (Dis): This is a preference for ‘out of control’ activities such as wild parties, drinking and sexual variety. 4 Boredom susceptibility (BS): This depicts an intolerance of repetition or boring people, and an experienced restlessness in such conditions.

references Argyle, M., & Lu, L. (1990). The happiness of extraverts. Personality and Individual Differences. 11 (10): 1011–7. Cain, S. (2015). Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Crown Publishing. Eysenck, H. J. (1971). Readings in Extraversion-Introversion. New York: Wiley. Jung, C. G. (1921). Psychologische Typen. Rascher Verlag, Zurich.

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Eye Contact: See What they Say

Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses. (Dorothy Parker, New Items, 1960) …the mind is the real instrument of sight and observation, the eyes act as a sort of vessel receiving and transmitting the visible portion of the consciousness. (Pliny the Elder, The Natural History)

The eyes are the ‘messengers of the soul’. We ‘keep our eye in’, ‘have an eye to the main chance’, ‘keep our eyes open/peeled/skinned’, ‘see eye-to-eye with others’ but ‘turn a blind eye to certain events’. Some people are ‘more than meets the eye’. Some individuals are the ‘apple of one’s eye’, and others a ‘sight for sore eyes’. You may prefer ‘not to bat an eye’ or to ‘pull the wool over others’ eyes’. And you can be ‘up to your eyes in trouble’. We can accurately label emotions just from eye slits, which is why talking to people wearing dark glasses can be so problematic. Where, when and how we look at others are all part of the phenomenon of eye gaze. Gaze plays a crucial role in daily conversation. People tend to look up at the end of utterances: this gives them feedback and hands over the ‘conversational baton’. People also look up more at the end of grammatical breaks, but look away when hesitating, talking non-fluently or thinking. There is often mutual eye contact during attempted interruptions, laughing and when answering short questions.

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There is more mutual eye contact between friends than others, and a looker’s frank gaze is widely interpreted as positive regard. Lovers really do gaze more into each other’s eyes. People who seek eye contact while speaking are regarded not only as exceptionally well-disposed by their targets, but also as more believable and earnest. Politicians ‘sweep’ the room with their eye gaze. Salesmen know how to look at each member of their audience. If the usual short, intermittent gazes during conversation are replaced by gazes of longer duration, the target interprets this as meaning that the communication is less important than the personal relation between two people. The amount and type of eye gaze imparts a great deal of information. Pupil dilation, blink rates, direction of gaze and widening of the eyes all send very clear messages. Pupils dilate for various reasons. In bright light they contract, in dim light expand. But they also dilate with strong emotions like sexual excitement or rage. The latter visibly manifest in cats or dogs that are about to fight. What is more, people respond to others who appear to be sexually attracted to them. Women used to put belladonna plant extract (which literally translates as ‘beautiful woman’) in their eyes to cause pupil dilation (and, consequently, eyesight problems). This could be a painful and dangerous process but was considered worth it to attract men. Thus the man, unaware of why he was attracted to the woman, responded to the dilated pupils. This is an example of the power of visible signals. Not one that may be the most relevant or applicable in the workplace, however. Consider the factors that determine the amount of eye gaze: 1 Distance: In lifts (elevators) we turn to face the door because we stand too close and reducing eye gaze helps to reduce the discomfort of having our body zones invaded. Note how conversation before, during and after the ride changes. As soon as the distance between people drops below 6 feet their eye contact patterns decrease.

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2 Topic of conversation: It is no accident that Catholic confessionals and psychiatric couches are so arranged as to attempt to reduce the amount of contact between priest or therapist and the individual in the confessional or the patient in the room. When people are talking about shameful and embarrassing things or looking inward, it is better that they sense but do not see others and that those listening do not (cannot) stare at them. People often find that they can have ‘good conversations’ walking or doing a co-operative activity, such as washing up, because they are close to, but not looking at, their companions. 3 Conversation task: Doctors look more at patients when talking about emotional rather than physical symptoms or conditions. People look more at co-operators than competitors. Persuaders look more when trying to influence. 4 Attention: Hitch-hikers, charity-tin shakers and others all maximize eye contact to increase attention. People look at each other about 75 per cent of the time when talking but only 40 per cent of the time when listening. One looks to get, and keep, the attention of others. 5 Interpersonal relationships: People look at those they like more than those they do not like. Your pupils dilate more when you are looking at someone you like. Gaze also signals dominance: more powerful people are looked at more (partly because they tend to look more and speak less). Threat is also indicated by gaze. Direct gaze signals threat, while cutting off or averting your gaze is likely to signal appeasement. 6 Co-operation: The extent to which people are willing to co-operate rather than compete is often communicated by gaze patterns. The amount and type of gaze is important. The common meaning of a high level of gaze is that the gazer is interested and attentive. However, combined with certain expressions it could as easily indicate threat. 7 Personality: Extroverts look more often, and for longer, at their interlocutors than introverts. The confident, the

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bright and the socially dominant look more while it is the opposite for the socially anxious. Females look more at those they are talking to compared to males. 8 Physical appearance: People look less at the disabled, less attractive individuals and vice versa. 9 Mental illness: Many psychopathologies are associated with reduced and/or ‘odd’ gaze patterns, especially autism and paranoia. Schizophrenics and depressed people tend to avert eye gaze. 10 Ethnicity: Contact cultures like those in the near East look more than non-contact cultures like those in Europe. People also disguise eye contact by wearing dark glasses or sunshades. Blind people do so to indicate their blindness but also because they cannot always ‘face’ a person. To avoid the embarrassment of not being able to ‘look a person in the eye’ when appropriate, blind people wear tinted glasses. Security people also wear dark glasses so that possible suspects cannot see the direction in which they are looking. Traffic police wear reflecting, mirrored glasses to reduce the possibility of an argument. Irate or nervous drivers can be put off a confrontation if they not only cannot see the eyes of the policeman but are also forced to see the reflection of their own face.

references Argyle, M. (1993). Bodily Communication. 2nd ed. London: Routledge. Beattie, G. (2003). Visible Thought: The New Psychology of Body Language. Routledge: London. Furnham, A., & Petrova, E. (2010). Body Language in Business. London: Palgrave.

40

Freud and his Ideas: The Most Famous Psychologist of all Time

In science, the universe did not change when Einstein thought of relativity, but man did change a little after Freud. (Marie Jahoda, Models of Man, 1980) The demise of Freudianism can be summed up in a single word: lithium. (Tom Wolfe, Sunday Independent, 1997) Freud’s concept of sexuality is thoroughly elastic, and so vague that it can be made to include anything. (Carl Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, 1950)

Freud, the father of psychoanalysis and one of the most famous psychologists of all time, was born in 1856 in Austria. While he was still very young, his family moved to Vienna where he continued to live for most of the remaining 78 years of his life. Initially, he specialized in neurology and neurobiology. However, the fact that he was a Jew in an anti-Semitic environment limited his job opportunities until he ended up in psychiatry. One of his teachers was Josef Breuer, who strongly believed in hypnosis and its ability to bring out suppressed thoughts and emotions. Based on that, Freud formed his psychological theory of personality and personality disorders. His main goal was to unlock the unconscious. Using psychotherapy, he aimed to

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help his clients reach the deepest areas of their brain and bring out repressed memories and feelings. Below are some of the key ideas and concepts associated with Freud’s work.

basic assumptions of freudian psychology ●●

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Behaviour is a result of fights and compromises among powerful, often unconscious, motives, drives and needs. Behaviour can reflect a motive in a subtle or disguised way. The same behaviour can reflect different motives at different times or in different people. People may be more or less aware of the forces guiding their behaviour and the conflicts driving them. Behaviour is governed by an energy system, with a relatively fixed amount of energy available at any one time. The goal of behaviour is pleasure (reduction of tension, release of energy, the pleasure principle). People are driven primarily by sexual and aggressive instincts. The expression of these drives can conflict with the demands of society – so the energy that would be released in the fulfilment of these drives must find other channels of release. There is a life (eros) and death (thanatos) instinct.

five of his most famous ideas Free association: A procedure during psychoanalysis in which Freud made his clients talk about their dreams in a completely relaxed way without making any effort to concentrate. In other words, their trail of thought was not manipulated at all and clients could talk about whatever they felt like. Freud believed that the way in which each thought followed the other showed what lay in their unconscious and could be the cure of some symptoms caused by repressed thoughts.

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Ego, superego and id: Around 1920 Freud came up with a model of personality which stated that personality is formulated from three parts of the mind. The first part he called the id and he identified it as the place where innate, ‘animal’ instincts lie. These include, but are not limited to, our sexual and survival instincts. This part of the brain is driven by the pleasure that these instincts bring. It is demotivated by feelings such as pain and un-pleasure. A good example of who is primarily driven by their id is a newborn child. An infant’s only needs are food and affection, both of which are provided by its parents. Later on in its life the child will need to find out how to satisfy its needs realistically. The infant understands that it can no longer cry in the middle of the night in order to be fed or be held in its mother’s arms. It therefore has to find practical ways to achieve pleasure and this is called the person’s ego. The ego is the rational part of one’s mind that strives to find realistic solutions to gratification. The superego can be viewed as the internalization of the parental agency. In other words, as the person grows up they start acquiring inhibitions against indulging in their impulses. Societal rules as well as ethics and morals provide some constraints to the person’s actions towards fulfilling their instincts. Therefore, the superego is the result of the ego measuring itself, and functions as our conscience and self-observation. Freudian slips: According to the Freudian school of psychoanalysis, a Freudian slip is an effort of the unconscious to make its appearance in the conscious world. Freud believed that our unconscious is full of thoughts and emotions, usually associated with lust and fear that would be too provocative if expressed. Therefore, our mind causes some slips of the tongue that represent those unconscious feelings. Stages of psychosexual development: In 1905, Freud developed his theory of psychological development in childhood, which was based on the concentration of libido (sexual drives and instincts) on a specific part of the body each time. He proposed that children go through the following five stages: Oral (nought to one years), Anal (one to three years), Phallic (three to six years), Latency (six to puberty) and Genital (puberty to adulthood). He suggested

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that some people get stuck in one of these stages and never fully develop, which can lead to personality and other disorders. Penis envy: Freud believed that around the age of three to six, which he called the Phallic phase (Oedipal phase) of development, children understand the differences between each sex’s genitalia. He supported that girls will be jealous of the boys’ penis which, according to Freud’s system, was the superior and only organ. Boys at that stage will think that girls have been punished with castration for some reason and will therefore develop castration anxiety. On the other hand, girls will believe that they have already been castrated and will blame their mothers who have suffered the same fate for it. In return they will develop strong feelings of longing for a penis and develop a preference for their father (Electra’s syndrome) and for males in general in whom they will seek a penis substitute in the form of a child. Despite the fact that Freud will probably remain the most famous figure in psychology forever, his theories have been much criticized and many rejected, especially after the 1960s. Yet his fame and his followers endure.

references Kline, P. (1995). Fact and Fantasy in Freudian Theory. Second Edition. London: Routledge. Storr, A. (1996). Freud. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

41

Friendship: Choosing Others

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. (William Blake, Jerusalem, 1800) Our feelings towards our friends reflect our feelings towards ourselves. (Aristotle, Nicomacheon Ethics, 350) Acquaintance. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. (Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary, 1906)

There is no agreed definition of friendship, though it is relatively simple for people to recognize when a person is a friend. Friends have shared interests; they show admiration, loyalty, commitment to one another. They exhibit mutual acceptance, and their relationship is characterized by genuineness and intimacy. They see each other frequently and call upon each other for help and advice. They like and trust each other. Some have suggested that we can define ‘friends’ as acquaintances, casual friends, close friends and intimate friends. It takes time to establish bonds and trust, and test one another. Researchers have documented various factors that predict friendship formation. They have shown that propinquity/proximity is a strong predictor. That is, we get to like those who we ‘bump into’ a lot. We have always known that we tend to marry the girl or boy next door. Another obvious and well-established factor is familiarity which is related to the above.

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There is some debate in this literature between the similarity, opposite and the complementarity hypothesis. It concerns whether we choose and like those who are like us, quite the opposite to us or similar to some degree. They can be more complicated to test than expected because it is possible that people with opposite personalities (e.g. introverts and extraverts) are attracted but that they have similar values (economic, religious and political beliefs). The data suggest there is relatively little evidence for the attraction of opposites theory but a lot for the similarity theory. Many factors have also been implicated along with personality and values: these include social intelligence and rewardingness. Given this long list of factors it is clear why people of similar racial and religious groups tend to like each other: they are similar in many important ways and live, work, play and pray in a similar area. They speak the same language, worship the same God, eat the same food and share many similar experiences. There are indeed ‘mini’ theories for attraction and the start of relationships like balance theory, reinforcement theory, social exchange theory and equity theory. Some are based on economic models with ideas such as people are attempting to minimize their costs and maximize their rewards in dealing with others. When friends become lovers, the psychological literature also attempts to differentiate loving and liking as well as various types of love. These are: 1 ‘Eros’ or Erotic Love: Eros is associated with sexual passion and desire. Eros is a passionate, erotic and intense form of love that arouses romantic and sexual feelings: a fire that burns out quickly. 2 ‘Philia’ or Affectionate Love: This a sort of platonic love often between equals and is a type of love that is felt among friends who have endured difficult times together. It is associated with loyalty, camaraderie and sacrifice. 3 ‘Storge’ or Familial Love: This is mainly to do with kinship and familiarity, a natural form of affection that flows between parents and children.

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4 ‘Ludus’ or Playful Love: It is seen best as the affection between young lovers often associated with flirting, teasing and feelings of euphoria. 5 ‘Mania’ or Obsessive Love: Mania love occurs when there is an imbalance between eros and ludus. This can lead to becoming possessive and jealous, and can often lead to issues such as co-dependency. 6 ‘Pragma’ or Enduring Love: Pragma is a love that has matured over time. It is the result of effort from both parties. It is the love between people who’ve learned to make compromises to make the relationship work. 7 ‘Philautia’ or Self-love: This is not the unhealthy vanity and self-obsession that is focused on personal fame, gain and fortune. It is about self-compassion and feeling comfortable in your own skin. 8 ‘Agape’ or Selfless Love: The highest and most radical type of love according to the Greeks is agape, or selfless love. Agape is spiritual, unconditional love, which is free from desires and expectations.

opposite sex friends and mate selection Studies on mate criteria of heterosexual individuals have been particularly concerned with two areas, namely sex differences and similarity preferences. Two major findings with regards to sex differences in mate selection criteria are important. Universally, women are more concerned with a prospective partner’s potential earning ability, while men pay relatively more attention to physical factors, such as attractiveness and health. Although both women and men are concerned with partners’ attractiveness and resourcefulness, the differences lie in the weight given to these two groups of characteristics. There are two hypotheses to explain this phenomenon: evolutionary theory hypothesis and the sex-role socialization hypothesis. The evolutionary theory explains mate strategies by referring to reproductive success. Female mate criteria should

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include signs indicating potential control over necessary resources, and related personality traits such as ambition. As for men, their primary constraint on a male’s reproductive success is access to fecund and reproductively valuable females. Therefore, males are hypothesized to value youth, physical appearance and health since they provide strong cues to reproductive value in females. Females are hypothesized to value male appearance less because male appearance is not strongly correlated with resource potential. The sex-role socialization hypothesis, on the other hand, states that women are typically excluded from power and are viewed as ‘objects of exchange’. Due to their restricted paths for individual advancement, they seek mates with characteristics that are associated with power such as earning capacity and higher education. Hypergamy composed the primary traditional channel for upward mobility for women, which is the tendency for women to marry upward in socioeconomic status. In contrast, men place importance on the quality of the ‘exchange object’, and therefore value physical attractiveness (e.g. enhanced value as a sex object). Thus, physical attractiveness becomes a central means for designating relative value among exchange commodities. Traditional sex-role socialization practices are assumed to maintain and support these structural differences, and are used to inculcate role-appropriate values in males and females.

references Argyle, M., & Henderson, M. (1985). The Anatomy of Relationships. London: Heinemann. Furnham, A. (2009). Sex differences in mate selection preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 262–7. Noel, H., & Nyhan, B. (2011). The ‘unfriending’ problem: The consequences of homophily in friendship retention for causal estimates of social influence. Social Networks, 33, 211–18.

42

Group-Think: Bad Decision-Making in Teams

Love, friendship, respect, do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something. (Anton Chekhov, Notebooks, 1892) A majority never has right on its side. (Henrik Ibsen, An Enemy of the People, 1900) It takes an out-group to make an in-group. (E.G. Boring, A History of Psychology in Autobiography, 1952)

When groups develop a very cohesive, internally consistent set of roles and norms, they sometimes become concerned about not disrupting the group’s decisions. Group morale, happiness and contentment are more important than the task (good decisionmaking) the group has been forced to undertake. Group-think is the term given to the pressure that highly cohesive groups exert on their members for uniform and acceptable decisions that actually reduces their capacity to make effective decisions. The concept of group-think was proposed as an attempt to explain the ineffective decisions made by US government officials, which led to such fiascos as the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, the successful Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the Vietnam War. Analyses of these cases have revealed that, every time, the President’s advisers actually discouraged the making of more effective decisions.

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Members of very cohesive groups may have more faith in their group’s decisions than any different idea they may have personally. As a result, they may suspend their own critical thinking in favour of conforming to the group. When group members become tremendously loyal to each other, they may ignore information from other sources if it challenges the group’s decisions. The result of this process is that the group’s decisions may be completely uninformed, irrational or even immoral.

the warning signs of group-think Symptom

Description

Illusion of invulnerability

Ignoring obvious danger signals, being overly optimistic and taking extreme risks.

Collective rationalization

Discrediting or ignoring warning signals that run contrary to group-thinking.

Unquestioned morality

Believing that the group’s position is ethical and moral and that all others are inherently evil.

Excessive negative stereotyping

Viewing the opposing side as being too negative to warrant serious consideration.

Strong conformity pressure Discouraging the expression of dissenting opinions under the threat of expulsion for disloyalty. Self–censorship of dissenting ideas

Withholding dissenting ideas and counter–arguments, keeping them to oneself.

Illusion of unanimity

Sharing the false belief that everyone in the group agrees with its judgements.

Self–appointed mind guards

Protecting the group from negative, threatening information.

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Fewer alternatives are considered when solving problems; preferred accepted solutions are quickly implemented. Outside experts are seldom used, outsiders are distrusted even if they are extremely wise. Re-examination of rejected alternatives are unlikely as it makes the group unhappy.

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psych ology 1 01 Facts that do not support the group are ignored, or their accuracy challenged. Group morale is more important. Risks are ignored or glossed over and seldom assessed.

However, you can take steps to reduce the likelihood of groupthink. Reducing group-think, however, is much more difficult than preventing it in the first place, because groups engaging in groupthink seldom realize that they are doing so. To prevent or reduce the effects of group-think, leaders can: ●●

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Encourage each member of the group to evaluate their own and others’ ideas openly and critically. Ask influential members to adopt an initial external (even critical) stance on solutions (even leave the group for set periods). Discuss plans with disinterested outsiders to obtain reactions. Use expert advisers to redesign the decision-making process. Assign a devil’s advocate role to one or more group members to challenge ideas. Explore alternative scenarios for possible external reactions. Use subgroups (select committees) to develop alternative solutions. Meet to reconsider decisions prior to implementation.

Given that group-think is potentially dangerous, organizations often choose to implement decisions that avoid it by the following means: ●●

Promote open inquiry. Group leaders should encourage group members to be sceptical of all solutions and to avoid reaching premature agreements. It helps to play the role of the ‘devil’s advocate’ – to find fault intentionally with a proposed solution – so that all its shortcomings are considered.

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Use subgroups. Split the group, because the decisions made by one group may be the result of group-think, so basing decisions on the recommendations of two or more groups trying to solve the same problem is a useful check. If the groups disagree, a spirited discussion of their differences is likely to raise important issues. Admit shortcomings. Asking others to point out their misgivings and hesitations about a group’s decision may avoid the illusion of perfection that contributes to groupthink. Groups must be encouraged to believe that doubt, not certainty, is always acceptable. Hold ‘second-chance’ meetings. Before implementing any decision it may be a good idea to hold a second-chance meeting in which group members are asked to express any doubts and to propose any new ideas they may have. A second-chance meeting can be useful to see if the solution still seems as good after ‘sleeping on it’.

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State the problem clearly, indicating its significance and what is expected of the group when faced with solving it. Break a complex problem into separate parts, and make decisions affecting each part. Focus discussion on the key issues and, when all avenues are explored, put a stop to analysis, and call for a vote, if necessary, when the time is right. Assist members to cope with other people’s ideas, and then ask them to substantiate the correctness of their own ideas. Before making a final decision, encourage members to consider any adverse repercussions likely to flow from a given solution. Be suspicious of unanimous decisions, particularly those arrived at quickly, and avoid them.

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psych ology 1 01 Make sure that those who are charged with the implementation of a group’s decision understand exactly what they are expected to do. Avoid wide differences in status among members, or alternatively help members recognize these differences and explore ways of reducing their inhibitions with respect to ‘status’ in the group. Prepare procedures in advance to deal with urgent or crisis decisions. Protect the group from damaging effects of external criticism, but at the same time let the group benefit from critical ideas or observations of a constructive nature that are likely to improve the quality of its deliberations. Encourage members to evaluate the skills residing in the group and find ways of improving them.

Clearly, by the number of warnings provided by different writers and consultants, it seems that the dangers of group-think on boards, committees and in task groups is well recognized.

references Greenberg, J., & Baron, R. (2003). Behaviour in Organizations. New York: Prentice Hall. Janis, I. (1972). Victims of group-think. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton-Mifflin. Stoner, J. (1961). A comparison of individual and group decisions involving risk. MSc thesis, Sloan School of Industrial Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

43

Happiness, Flow and Joy

A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy. (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Cancer Ward, 1968) Happiness is an imaginary condition. (Thomas Szasz, The Second Sin, 1974) When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy. (Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890)

The word ‘happiness’ means several different things, such as joy and satisfaction. Psychologists prefer the term ‘subjective wellbeing’ (SWB) which is an umbrella term that includes the various types of evaluation of one’s life one might make. It has also been suggested that there are three primary components of SWB: general satisfaction, the presence of pleasant affect and the absence of negative emotions including anger, anxiety, guilt, sadness and shame. These can be considered at the global level or with regard to very specific domains like work, friendship, recreation. More importantly, SWB covers a wide scale from ecstasy to agony: from extreme happiness to great gloom and despondency. It relates to long-term states, not just momentary moods. It is not sufficient but probably a necessary criterion for mental or psychological health.

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All the early researchers in this field pointed out that psychologists had long neglected wellbeing, preferring to look at its opposites: anxiety, despair, depression. Just as the assumption that the absence of anxiety and depression suggests happiness, so it is true that not being happy does not necessarily mean unhappy. Diener (2000) has defined subjective wellbeing as how people cognitively and emotionally evaluate their lives. It has an evaluative (good–bad) as well as a hedonic (pleasant–unpleasant) dimension. The Positive Psychology Centre at Pennsylvania State University has a website dedicated to answering frequently asked questions like ‘isn’t positive psychology just plain common sense?’. They note 13 points (abbreviated here) as an example: ●●

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Wealth is only weakly related to happiness both within and across nations, particularly when income is above the poverty level. Activities that make people happy in small doses – such as shopping, good food and making money – do not lead to fulfilment in the long term, indicating that these have quickly diminishing returns. Engaging in an experience that produces ‘flow’ is so gratifying that people are willing to do it for its own sake, rather than for what they will get out of it. Flow is experienced when one’s skills are sufficient for a challenging activity, in the pursuit of a clear goal, with immediate selfawareness disappearing, and sense of time is distorted. People who express gratitude on a regular basis have better physical health, optimism, progress towards goals, wellbeing and help others more. Trying to maximize happiness can lead to unhappiness. People who witness others perform good deeds experience an emotion called ‘elevation’ and this motivates them to perform their own good deeds. Optimism can protect people from mental and physical illness.

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People who are optimistic or happy have better performance in work, school and sports, are less depressed, have fewer physical health problems, and have better relationships with other people. Further optimism can be measured and it can be learned. People who report more positive emotions in young adulthood live longer and healthier lives. Physicians experiencing positive emotions tend to make more accurate diagnoses. Healthy human development can take place under conditions of even great adversity due to a process of resilience that is common and completely ordinary. Individuals who write about traumatic events are physically healthier than control groups that do not. Writing about life goals is significantly less distressing than writing about trauma, and is associated with enhanced wellbeing. People are unable to predict how long they will be happy or sad following an important event.

Although aimed at adults, the advice of Myers (1992) can be applied to children. More importantly his ten points can clearly apply to adults who nurture and encourage children. In this sense, this is a checklist of important messages to give children. Myers’ suggestions for a happier life are: 1 Realize that enduring happiness doesn’t come from success. 2 Take control of your time. 3 Act happy. 4 Seek work and leisure that engages your skills. 5 Join the ‘movement’ movement. 6 Give your body the sleep it wants. 7 Give priority to close relationships. 8 Focus beyond the self. 9 Keep a gratitude journal. 10 . Nurture your spiritual self.

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references Argyle, M. (2001). The Psychology of Happiness. London: Routledge. Diener, E. (2000). Subjective wellbeing: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55, 34–43. Eysenck, M. (1990). Happiness: Facts and Myths. Hove: LEA. Myers, D. (1992). The Pursuit of Happiness. New York: Avon Books.

44

Hawthorne and Placebo Effect: Do Treatments Really Work?

The sound of the flute will cure epilepsy and sciatic gout. (Theophrastus, 280 BC Physics) Time is the great physician. (Benjamin Disraeli, Henrietta Temple, 1880) Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression. (Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle, 1980)

There are two expressions in psychology, the one arising from work and the other health psychology, which have very different origins but very similar meanings. They refer to the fact that interventions or treatment appear to work but not for the reason people think. It is about how people are treated rather than what medicine or management techniques they are given.

the hawthorne effect This refers to the fact that people change their behaviour because they are being treated differently and observed, not for more obvious reasons. The idea originated from studies done in the 1920s which all aimed at changing the physical nature of the workplace to increase productivity. The first studies were intended to identify lighting

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levels that would produce optimal productivity at cheapest cost. It posed a simple question: Would the quality of the lighting in a manual dexterity task affect the speed and quality of production? In the first illumination experiment, however, productivity increased when illumination was increased and when it was decreased. Although conditions were systematically changed the resultant productivity changed little. Other studies continued and looked at the effect of longer and shorter breaks, free food etc. but they could not understand the results. Eventually it dawned on them that it was not the light, or breaks or food that made the difference but the way the workers were being treated by the experimenters. It heralded the Human Relations movement which argued: Individual work behaviour is rarely a pure consequence of simple cause and effect relationships, but rather is determined by a complex set of factors. The informal or primary work group/team develops its own set of norms which has a big impact on morale and productivity. The social structure of these informal groups is maintained through job-related symbols of prestige and power. Supervisors need to listen to the personal context of employee complaints to understand the unique needs and satisfactions of each individual. Awareness of employee sentiments and employee participation can reduce resistance to change.

So when you hear someone say ‘it is a pure Hawthorne effect’ they mean the action that people claim to be the result of some activity is actually the result of them being treated differently.

placebo effect Placebo means ‘to please’. The concept of mind over matter in the world of health has been known for centuries. Modern research

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in the area is usually attributed to a paper written in the American Dental Association journal over 50 years ago. Henry Beecher shocked the medical world by claiming that just placebo procedures like giving sugar pills or even a sympathetic physical examination of the patient would lead to an improvement in 30 per cent of cases. Some believe placebo effects are more effective for psychological rather than physical illnesses. One important recent study showed that nearly 60 per cent of placebo controlled patients did better than average waiting-list control patients, showing the power of the placebo. It is possible to distinguish between active placebos which have effects, but not on the problem they are meant to cure, and inactive effects which have measurable direct or side effects. Placebos administered in an orthodox medical context have been shown to induce relief from symptoms in an impressively wide array of illnesses, including allergies, angina pectoris, asthma, cancer, cerebral infarction, depression, diabetes, enuresis, epilepsy, insomnia, Meunière’s disease, migraine, multiple sclerosis, neurosis, ocular pathology, Parkinsonism, prostatic hyperplasia, schizophrenia, skin diseases, ulcers and warts. Adverse effects of placebo administration have also been noted in many studies. These include dependence, symptom worsening (the nocebo effect) and a multitude of side effects, both subjective (headache, concentration difficulties, nausea, etc.) and objectively visible (skin rashes, sweating, vomiting). Differences between placebo responders and non-responders have long been of interest. Attempts to spot such differences on sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, educational level) have generally yielded weak and inconclusive findings. Other studies have looked at possible individual differences in intelligence and personality. Any patient may benefit from the placebo effect, not just a gullible minority. What type of placebo works best? The colour and size of capsules and pills have been repeatedly subject to experimental manipulation, but with little reliable impact. It does not seem to make much difference. One researcher reported that for a placebo

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to be maximally effective it should be very large and either brown or purple or very small and either bright red or yellow. More serious, ‘major’ or invasive procedures do appear to have stronger placebo effects. Injections per se appear to have a greater impact than pills, and even placebo surgery (where people are cut open and sewn up with little or nothing done) has yielded high positive response rates. Those therapists who also exhibit greater interest in their patients, greater confidence in their treatments and higher professional status, all appear to promote stronger placebo effects in their patients. Randomized, double-blind, control trials The placebo effect is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing for all therapists irrespective of what treatment they prescribe. They are a curse for scientists who try to evaluate the real effect of interventions. The placebo controlled, randomized, double-blind study has become the gold standard of scientific research to assess therapy and ‘discount’ any placebo effects.

references Mayo, E. (1949). Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company, The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization, Routledge. Del Mar C., & Hoffman, T. (2015) A guide to performing a peer review of randomized controlled trials. BMC Medicine.

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Honesty and Integrity: The Traits People Most Want in Their Boss

He who says there is no such thing as an honest man, you may be sure is himself a knave. (Bishop George Berkeley, Maxims Concerning Patriotism, 1740) More people are flattered into virtue than bullied out of vice. (Alfred Adler, cited by P. Bottome, 1939)

Many studies have demonstrated the fundamental importance of honesty and integrity at work. The characteristic that people most want in their boss is honesty. It may be defined as: part of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness and straightforwardness, along with the absence of lying, cheating or theft. Every organization would prefer to have honest, dependable and trustworthy employees. In some organizations like police forces, banks and the military it is essential. Hence they often invest a lot in techniques for assessing honesty and integrity and detecting deception when selecting employees. Equally, these techniques can be used to ‘vet’ people in the organization or attempt to establish guilt after the event. The sort of options people have to do honesty testing include: the lie detector (polygraph), reference checking or background

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investigations, drug testing, use of applications forms (biodata), integrity interviewing and personality testing.

integrity testing at work Integrity tests, also called honesty tests, are pencil and paper questionnaires designed to assess a very wide variety of workrelated behaviours. These include: dishonesty and general untrustworthiness, unauthorized use of company information, forgery. ●●

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Alcohol/Drug abuse: selling, using on the job, coming to work with a hangover/intoxicated. Deception and deliberate misrepresentation: tax fraud and cheating, bribery, blackmail, job instability/excessive absenteeism, turnover/time theft, coming late to work, using sick-leave when not sick. Violent behaviour: physical assault on others at work. Theft of cash, merchandise and property: misuse of discount privileges, embezzlement, doing slow or sloppy work, failure to implement company policy. Alienating attitudes: the opposite of commitment and engagement, inattention to safety rules, causing preventable accidents, Ludditism and damage to property, wilful damage and waste, vandalism, poor time keeping, having unauthorized work breaks, sabotage and sexual harassment.

This list shows two things: first these behaviours go far beyond the simple concept of integrity and second the list contains diverse and unrelated issues. The idea, however, is that integrity/honesty is relevant to all of these behaviours because, in some sense, they all reflect a level of dishonesty. Some tests try to veil or disguise their purpose. Others assume low integrity is associated with thrill-seeking, non-conformity

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and low conscientiousness. Many tests have traditionally been used either to screen out undesirable applicants, investigate crimes for current employees, vet those being considered for promotion or transfer, or just to assess the current moral beliefs of people within the organization. Integrity tests were typically used with supervisory level personnel, especially in retail and financial companies.

‘honesty’ screening An employer interested in ‘honesty’ screening has a number of different options: 1 Polygraph/lie detector. Original tests measured blood pressure, pulse, sweat gland activity and breathing. Newer models measure the electrical activity in the brain or voice stress. There is now serious doubt about its validity. It seems popularly accepted that eliciting an accurate confession depends more on the skills of the examiner than the characteristics of the testee. 2 Vetting. This is also called reference checking or background/ biographical investigations. Essentially this involves checking up on what applicants have said or written about themselves and their past work, education and reward. 3 Drug testing. Taking urine and blood samples is useful and legal but some companies prefer not to do it because of charges of invasion of privacy. Also, these tests cannot always pick up those likely in the future to have addictive problems. 4 Application form/biographical data research. This method seeks retrospectively to look at the differences between honest and dishonest employees for signs of possible future problems. 5 Integrity interviewing. This is often little more than a structured interview that seeks to observe verbal, vocal and

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non-verbal signs of lying like higher voice pitch, speech errors, increased blinking, frequent swallowing, fast and shallow breathing and false smiles. It does require some considerable expertise. The jury remains out on the validity of these methods. 6 Personality tests and assessment. These come in very many forms, for instance: Graphological analysis, which has little or no evidence of validity; projective tests, where people tell stories about pictures they see and project their personality motives, but are still thought of as highly unreliable; and personality tests around issues of morality and conscientiousness. What is the latest thinking around integrity tests? First, it is agreed that these tests are certainly useful. They are valid enough to help prevent various problems in many different sectors. Second, testing alone will not stop theft, dishonesty or sabotage as many other factors (than dishonest individuals) cause them. It is only part of the solution to the problem. Third, integrity tests may be measuring aspects of human personality which are stable over time, though it is not certain which. That is, integrity may be thought of as a trait. Fourth, there are problems in testing because some testing codes and standards insist that testees give informed consent on details about the test such as what it measures. This may not be the best thing to give the dishonest person, intent on dissimulation. Fifth, there may be legal issues in how ‘cut-off’ scores are used and labelled. One could classify people as pass/fail or from moderately to highly dangerous. How this information is used or recorded can cause expensive legal action, particularly in developed countries. Sixth, integrity tests are used to ‘select-out’, not ‘select-in’. They are designed to help people screen out high-risk applicants not identify ‘angels’.

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references Bennett, R., & Robinson, S. (2000). Development of a measure of workplace deviance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 349–60. Griffin, R., & Lopez, Y. (2005). ‘Bad Behaviour’ in Organizations. Journal of Management, 31, 988–1005. Ones, D., & Viswesvaran, C. (1998). Integrity testing in organizations. In R. Griffin, A. O’Leary-Kelly and J. Collins (Eds). Dysfunctional behaviour in organizations. Vol 23B. Greenwich, CT: JA Press. Robinson, S., & Bennett, R. (1997). A typology of deviant workplace behaviours. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 555–72.

46

Humour, Jokes and Laughter: A Funny Thing

The marvellous thing about a joke with a double meaning is that it can mean only one thing. (Ronnie Barker, Sauce, 1977) He that jokes confesses. (Italian Proverb) A different taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections. (George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, 1850)

What does a sense of humour tell us about an individual? Why are some jokes funny and others not? What is the function of humour in society? Does humour travel? Why do some countries think things are funny while others do not? Do people have to feel superior to others to laugh at them? Is visual humour different from verbal humour? What about professionals who make money from humour? Is it true that many great comedians are prone to bipolar disorder and only at their best when they are up, and manic? These are important but unresolved issues. Psychologists since Freud have been very interested in what people find funny and why. Like many other everyday activities they can be seen to give a remarkably powerful insight into the human psyche. For the psychologist the central question is ‘What is funny, for whom, and why?’. They have studied the difference between laughing with, as opposed to laughing at, someone. Some people are particularly sensitive to the latter, which can cause great pain.

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First the history: umor is the Latin word for liquid, fluids. Hence humores: body fluids: blood, phlegm, black and yellow bile. Today we think of humour and wit as talents; the ability to make others laugh. Freud was very interested in humour and what it revealed about the unconscious. He asked: Why are we obsessed with sex and aggression in jokes? What do joke preferences tell us about people’s personality dynamics? How can we account for different forms of humour: (a) verbal jokes, (b) physical comedy, (c) philosophical perspective-taking? Why is laughter so enjoyable? He concluded that jokes of many sorts release emotions and drives that are normally repressed. He essentially distinguished between two forms: Obscene wit which was about sexual drives and Witty invective which was about aggressive drives. He maintained that these drives are normally kept in check by our superego or conscience (‘censor’). Thus, for jokes to be successful they need to be able to release psychic energy. The release of drives allows release of energy normally used for repression. This is expressed as laughter. Most joke techniques are pleasurable in themselves: they can allow for childish, irrational thinking. They can be an expression of unacceptable sexual and aggressive impulses in a socially acceptable manner. They represent a relaxing of inhibitions. Thus it has been noted that jokes express ‘the voice within us that rebels against the demands of morality’. Psychologists working in this area have come up with a number of testable hypotheses: ●●

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Those finding aggressive jokes funniest will be those in whom aggression is normally repressed. Those finding sexual jokes funniest will be those whose sexuality is normally repressed. Psychopaths should not find jokes amusing, as they have no need to lift their repression in this way. Since most wit is hostile, wits will tend to have powerful unconscious aggression. Joke deprivation should cause increased dreaming and/or direct expression of impulses.

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Humour may have many social functions. It can help engender a sense of playfulness which in turn can help creativity. It can boost morale and help bind teams together. It certainly can help in all social occasions like dreary meetings. It can defuse conflict, open up dialogues and allow difficult and subtle things to be said while allowing everyone to save face. It can help people connect quickly and build rapport. It is particularly important in customer service situations.

types of humour Those psychologists interested in taxonomizing humour have found very different groups. Whether it is visual or verbal humour, there appear to be quite different categories of jokes and stories that are thought of as funny. Four groups seem very clear: Nonsense humour: Whether jokes, shaggy dog stories or cartoons, these all rely on tricks like puns or incongruous inconsistent situations. Satire: This refers to jokes or stories that are funny because they take the Mickey out of and attempt to ridicule particular people, groups, organizations or institutions. Aggressive humour: This works for certain people and can show (particularly in cartoons) pictures of violence, torture and even sadism as well as verbal insults. Sexual humour: This of course refers to subtle or explicit sexual jokes from crude to vulgar depending on your taste.

social effects There is much evidence that both laughter and humour ratings are socially influenced: when we hear others laughing or smiling, especially friends, we are more prone to do such actions ourselves.

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We tend to smile more if we think that our friends are watching the same funny material. This illustrates the concept of the social mediation of laughter. Indeed, there is increasing evidence that males are the best ‘laughter-getters’, that males are attracted to females who laugh in their presence, and that females are attracted to males who make them laugh. Such compelling evidence became the foundation for the use of ‘canned laughter’ to try and capitalize on the social nature of laughter to make the audience laugh. Canned laughter is a separate soundtrack with the sound of usually genuine audience laughter, but which is often inserted into comedies and sitcoms on television. People laugh in response to canned laughter due to an, ‘automatic, non-thinking conformity’. The laughter of others in the audience, in a sense, provides ‘social proof ’ that the material being presented actually is humorous.

does humour sell? Humour is widely used in advertising, with approximately 15 to 40 per cent of television advertisements consisting of humorous materials to some extent. It has been proposed that using humour in advertisements could enhance affective responses such as advertisement appeal/enjoyment, positive attitudes towards the advertisements and the advertised brands. It is thought that humorous advertisements have more persuasive power as they distract audiences. Many studies have found significant positive relationships between humorous advertisements and audiences’ memory recall and attitudes. Emotional advertisements, such as those containing humour content, are more likely to be remembered and associated with positive attitudes. However, it all depends on the nature of the product or service being sold, the style and type of humour and the audience. Yet the fact that so many adverts contain humour suggests the marketing people have good evidence that it works.

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references Furnham, A., Gunter, B., & Walsh, D. (1998). Effects of programme context on memory of humorous television commercials. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 12(6), 555–67. Raskin, V., & Ruch, W. (2008). The Primer of Humour Research. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Wanzer, M.B., Booth-Butterfield, M., & Booth-Butterfield, S. (1996). Are funny people more popular? An examination of humor orientation, loneliness, and social attraction. Communication Quarterly, 44, 42–52.

47

Impression Management and Selfpresentation: The Psychology of Faking Good

It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. (Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1880) There is no trusting in appearances. (Richard Sheridan, The School for Scandal, 1800) Appearances are not held to be a clue to the truth. But we seem to have no other. (Ivy Compton-Burnett, Manservant and Maidservant, 1947)

Some people argue that psychological tests are a complete waste of time because everyone ‘fakes good’. The same may be true of interviews. The idea is often called impression management, which essentially means presenting oneself in a very positive (and not always accurate) light. In effect it means lying or not telling the truth. Test publishers have various ways to try to catch fakers and liars. One is simply to tell them to be truthful. The second is to have a lie scale in the questionnaire like ‘Do you always wash your hands before a meal?’ or ‘Have you ever been late for an appointment?’. Once the candidates score goes above a certain threshold they are assumed to be lying on all questions and rejected. The third method is to tell people to lie, to fake good, so you have the template of a liar. If the candidate has a similar template this warrants further

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investigation. Fourth, it is possible to use ipsative tests whereby people have to choose between two equally positive (‘I often take work home’; ‘I am always on time’) or negative (‘I have stolen office stationery’; ‘Not all my claim forms are accurate’) statements. Some people are self-delusional and tell lies because they are not self-aware. Max Eggert, an expert on selection, has argued that there are many different types of lies. They make a good checklist for the potential interviewer. White Lies: These are found in the ‘puff’ statement some people are encouraged to write on their CV. ‘I am a totally committed team player.’ ‘I have excellent social skills and the ability to read people.’ ‘I am utterly trustworthy and loyal.’ Altruistic Lies: These are lies that attempt a cover-up, but look as if they are helping others. So rather than say they left their last job because their manager was a bully, or the company was patently dodgy, people say they resigned to look for new challenges. Lies of Omission: People might omit details of school or university grades because they had poor marks. Whole periods of their life are obfuscated. Defensive Lies: The defensive lie is one that conceals by generalizations or vagaries. Ask a person about their previous boss’s management style, their reason for leaving or their health record and you are often faced with a string of vague expressions such as ‘like others in the company’, ‘much the same as my co-workers’, ‘at that time’. Impersonation Lies: This is also called the transfer lie and occurs mostly where people take credit for others’ work. Embedded Lies: This is a clever subterfuge to confuse the interviewer. The idea is to suggest that an experience, qualification or achievement was very different from the actuality. ‘It was good fun being with the BBC/CNN’ could mean practically anything from ‘I once went to a show there’ to ‘They filmed at my school.’

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Errors of commission or fact: They are explicit, verifiably, false claims. It is about claiming qualifications you don’t have; starting up or working for companies that never existed, skills that don’t exist. It is the most blatant form of lie. Definition Lies: This approach involves working with a very specific and obscure definition so that for all intents and purposes you are telling the truth. Proxy Lies: This is where the candidates get others to lie for them. It is usually referees but could be former teachers. They may skilfully work on their previous employers’ poor memory, vanity or other bribes to persuade them to obfuscate.

Usually lying in interviews can be hard work. Lying is difficult and demanding because you have to do several things at the same time: 1 You have to get the story right: it must be plausible and consistent with all known (revealed and revealable) facts. 2 You have to memorize the story well so that you are completely consistent in re-telling it many times while possibly being recorded. 3 You have to scrutinize your interviewers to ensure they are swallowing the bait. 4 You have to memorize the script and also perform: the emotions displayed need to match the story. 5 In addition to remembering the script you have also to repress or suppress memories of the actual occurrence. So it takes a good memory, acting skills, emotional intelligence and sheer effort to tell a good and complicated lie (many times) convincingly and get away with it. Experts suggest adhering to the following guide in order to root out liars:

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1 Tell the Story in Reverse Order. It’s not that easy to do, but much easier if the story has not been fabricated. Sequences are not always well thought-through by liars and the fumbling-bumbling can soon be spotted. 2 Maintain Eye Contact in the Telling. Liars have to concentrate inwards. Maintaining eye contact is very difficult if you are trying to remember your lines. 3 Using Unanticipated Questions. Liars are sensitive to saying ‘I do not recall/remember/ know.’ It sounds fishy. So they learn to give plausible answers. So ask questions they don’t expect and ask them more than once. 4 Devil’s Advocate. A lot of lies are about opinions and beliefs. Good liars are usually able to articulate a clear ideological position. So ask them to be the devil’s advocate, in effect providing their true opinions about an issue. Liars are faster at this and give richer, more complex answers than those who are telling the truth. 5 Strategic Questioning. Most liars have to do avoidance and denial. They need a number of strategies to avoid having to admit or describe true events as well as denial strategies. Innocent people say more, fearing interviewers do not have all the facts; guilty people say less for fear of incrimination. So clever interviewers ask open and then closed questions. Innocent people are more likely spontaneously to offer facts than liars.

references Eggert, M. (2007). The Perfect Interview. London: Random House. Ekman, P. (1985). Telling Lies. New York: W. W. Norton.

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Impulsivity and Postponement of Gratification: I Want it Now!

Procrastination is the thief of time. (Edward Young, Night Thoughts, 1742) While we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it. (Quintellan, Institutotio Oratorio, 35–100 AD) Pleasure’s a sin, and sometimes sin’s a pleasure. (Lord Byron, Don Juan, 1810)

Consider the ten simple statements below: ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●● ●●

I often do things without thinking. I am not very serious minded. I usually make up my mind very quickly. I generally seek new and exciting experiences and sensations. I am pretty happy-go-lucky. I can put my thoughts into words pretty quickly. I admit I often lose interest in things I have started. I really get impatient waiting. I don’t like and am not good at business planning. I am not the person to ‘sleep on it’ before making a decision.

If you say ‘true’ or ‘yes’ to seven or more you would probably be called impulsive. This means your work is often fast but inaccurate.

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Impulsive people are often stable and sociable, but not very conscientious. They prefer ‘explosive’ to ‘endurance’ sports. They tend to have more traffic accidents and violations. Impulsivity is a tendency to act capriciously, with little or no planning forethought, reflection or, more importantly, consideration of any consequences. Impulsive actions are signs of poor emotional regulation which have been said to have two identifiable parts: acting without any planning deliberation, and second, choosing short-term gains over long-term ones. Impulsivity is both a facet of personality, often related to psychoticism or low conscientiousness. It is also associated with various disorders, including ADHD, substance use disorders, bipolar disorder, antisocial personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. Neuropsychology suggests that there are specific brain regions involved in impulsive behaviour and that genetics may also be important. More interestingly, impulsive people are highly sensitive to reward cues but curiously insensitive to punishment cues. This, in effect, means they are better managed by promises of quick, sexy, exciting rewards than by the threat of dire punishment. Impulsivity can be exaggerated by caffeine and tends to be more noticeable in the evening than the morning.

functional and dysfunctional impulsivity There are benefits of what is called functional impulsivity. The functional (that is good) impulsive can quickly take advantage of unexpected opportunities. They can rapidly put their thoughts into words. They can think on their feet. They are mentally agile. The bright functional impulsive is an asset; the dim one much less so. But equally they can be lethal. They need someone to temper their enthusiasm, to consider consequences, to plan ahead and to keep persisting in the face of failure or setbacks. Impulsives need control mechanisms to moderate their fast tempo and love of reward. These mechanisms may lie in other aspects of their personality. Thus the brighter the impulsive the better – the more they see consequences

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and size-up a situation wisely. And the more anxiety-prone (up to a point, of course) the better because this tempers the risky, recklessness that is so often associated with impulsives. The dysfunctional impulsive can be an accident waiting to happen. These people say whatever comes into their heads without thinking first. They make appointments without checking they can honour them. They buy things before considering whether they can afford them. They jump in, just do it before considering difficulties, implications, pros and cons. They don’t like careful reasoning. So it’s a trade-off. A bright impulsive person in a fast moving products business can be an advantage. But impulsivity like all human characteristics (except handedness), is normally distributed in a bell curve. Most of us have moderate impulsivity. So it’s not a case of all or nothing. To be on the high side of the impulsivity spectrum brings its advantages and disadvantages. The adventurous, active, enthusiastic impulsive can bring dynamism to any group. But the disorderly, anti-analytic, plan-less impulsive can lead any well thought-through plan to doom and destruction.

references Mischel, W. (2014). The Marshmallow test: Mastering self-control. New York, NY, US: Little, Brown and Co. Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 65–94. Tobin, R.M., & Graziano, W.G. (2010). Delay of gratification: A review of fifty years of regulation research. In R.H. Hoyle (Ed.), Handbook of personality and self-regulation (pp. 47–63). Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.

49

Inkblots and Projective Techniques: The Psychology of Pretty Pictures

If subjects describe any of the Rorschach inkblots as an inkblot this is regarded as a defensive response. (P. Kline, 1993) In short there is no single, inevitable meaning attached to a given response; all things are relative and interpretation requires considerable training and experience. (E.J. Phares, 1984)

One of the most consistent criticisms of those using interviews or questionnaires to get information about others is that they cannot rather than will not tell you the answer to certain questions. What really motivates you? How aggressive or altruistic are you? How much do you enjoy power? What effect did your childhood have on you? It is not that they won’t tell you the answer to these questions but rather that they do not have the insight, or language, to answer honestly. There are various types of projective technique. 1 Inkblot or abstract pictures: These can be constructed very simply by dropping a large ‘blob’ of wet ink on the middle of a page, folding it in half and then looking at the resultant pattern. There are versions of this famous test devised by a Swiss psychologist. The most well-known are

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ten separate cards of symmetrical inkblots half coloured, half monochrome. The tester gives the person one card at a time and asks them to say what they see. This is repeated. Testers note what is said, how long the subject spends looking at each card, which way up they hold it, etc. There are different expert systems to score this test but the idea is to do a diagnosis or paint a profile of the real individual. 2 Sentence Completion: You complete the following ‘I wished I had never…’, ‘My greatest fear is…’, ‘I am rather proud about…’. Perhaps the most famous test in this is the ‘I am…’ So you can say ‘I am 22 years old,’ ‘I am a Muslim,’ ‘I am rather bored,’ ‘I am deeply ambitious.’ The idea is to analyse the themes in the responses. 3 Free Drawings: People, often children, who are less inhibited by adults are asked to draw people or objects they are familiar with. The idea is that the size, attitude and expression of the people reveals the person’s real attitude to them. In one test people are given numerous pieces of plastic shapes and they are asked to do a collage. The colours (blue and black indicates depression) and the shapes are interpreted. 4 Objects: People are asked to play with or manoeuvre objects that may have special or personal meanings.

the thematic apperception test This is perhaps the most well-known and widely used projective test. It is also known as the picture interpretation technique because it uses a series of around 20 provocative yet ambiguous pictures which a person uses in order to tell a story. The pictures look very dated now and some are famous. The person is asked to tell as dramatic a story as they can for each picture presented, in turn, including answers to the following questions: what has led up to the event shown?; what is happening

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at the moment?; what are the characters feeling and thinking?; what is the outcome of the story? The answers are transcribed and coded for themes about the need for affiliation, need for power, need for achievement, etc. The first picture is a little boy looking at a violin. But what is your story? An unhappy little boy forced to go to violin lessons by a tyrannical mother when he would rather be playing conkers? A sad little deaf boy knowing he will never hear the sweet music of the violin? A triumphant little boy who has mastered a tune before his peers? Then the next picture and so on. All are obviously from another era, and many rather beautiful. None are racy, but number 13 is most interesting. A woman (possibly naked) lies on a bed/sofa shrouded by a see-through curtain; a fully dressed man peers out of the window. What is your version of events? Tell your story, which will be very carefully content-analysed by an expert. There are many well-rehearsed objections to the use of these tests on scientific grounds: First, they are unreliable because different experts or scorers come up with quite different interpretations of the data. Some suggest that if well trained in the Rorschach Inkblots or the McClelland TAT, different experts will give ‘more or less’ the same answer. If the testers cannot agree on the meanings/interpretation we cannot assume test reliability. Second, they are invalid because the scores do not predict anything. This is perhaps the most devastating criticism, though of course it has been objected to. However, it is probably true to say that there are not many good studies which have linked projective test-derived data with important real world behaviours like success at work, health, etc. In short, the criticism is that they don’t measure what they say they are measuring. Third, context makes all the difference. The mood of the person, the characteristics of the tester, the setting of the test all affects results which suggests they are picking up on trivial rather than

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essential, underlying factors. In other words, a person given the same test on two different occasions can yield surprising and dramatically different results. This means they are measuring mood states rather than anything profound. Fourth, the testers can’t agree on what the tests measure: attitudes, abilities, defences, motivation, deep desires. By measuring everything they may measure nothing.

So why do these tests still get used? Is it lazy journalists, charlatan psychologists or naive managers that use these (discredited) tests? Why are they still used despite limitations? 1 They provide often unique and intriguing data relatively easily that cannot be obtained as cheaply, quickly and easily elsewhere. 2 Skilled and trained practitioners sometimes seem able to obtain impressive, reliable and insightful findings which they can’t get from other tests or interviews. 3 The richness of the data makes other test data often look crude, colourless and constipated. 4 They can complement and confirm other findings and ideas. So after nearly 100 years some psychologists still use the inkblots to try to understand personality.

references Hertz, M. R. (1986). ‘Rorschach bound: A 50-Year Memoir’. Journal of Personality Assessment. 50 (3): 396–416. Imuta, K. (2013). ‘Drawing a Close to the Use of Human Figure Drawings as a Projective Measure of Intelligence’. PLoS One. 8 (3): e58991. Verma, S. K. (2000). ‘Some Popular Misconceptions about Inkblot Techniques’. Journal of Projective Psychology & Mental Health. 7, 71–3.

50

Intelligence and IQ: How Bright Are You?

The prime author and mover of the universe is intelligence. (St Augustine, Confessions) Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct from ability, which is capacity to act wisely on the thing apprehended. (A.N. Whitehead, Dialogues, 1930) To judge well, to comprehend well, to reason well. These are the essential activities of intelligence. (A. Binet and T. Simon, The Intelligence of the Feeble Minded, 1916) Intelligence is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas. (Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation, 1966)

Intelligence testing has had a chequered and controversial history in psychology. Yet research from many scholars over many areas in many countries and over a century has demonstrated the pervasive influence of intelligence in all walks of life from health and happiness to wealth and welfare. It is a basic building block for the differential psychologist. It is, quite simply, the most easily and reliably measured individual difference variable with the best reliability and validity in the whole of psychology. The last 10–20 years have seen different attempts to expand the concept of intelligence to devise tests of greater face validity and

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acceptability, to monitor group (sex, race) differences carefully, and provide incontrovertible evidence of the predictive validity of tests. There are many fundamental psychometric questions about intelligence which get asked again and again: Do intelligence tests have good reliability? Yes. Only high anxiety or situationally-induced low motivation causes test-retest correlations to drop below a correlation of r = .90 Are IQ scores stable over (lifetime)? Yes. By late childhood tests reasonably and accurately predict adult scores as many as 50 years later. Do intelligence tests have adequate validity? Yes. They predict school success (around r = .50) and how long people remain in school (r = .70), and many other educational, or organizational and social variables. Do intelligence tests predict job performance and academic success? Yes. There are various caveats to this question which are central to this chapter. But are there not multiple intelligences? No. Not in the sense that most people are very good at some cognitive tasks and very bad at others. Generally, we find that scores on all sorts of (good) IQ tests correlate positively and significantly with one another. That is, people perform at a broadly similar level across all tasks (vocabulary, maths, etc.). Are all IQ tests equally good? No. It takes quite some effort to develop, refine and produce a test that gives an all-round picture of a person’s cognitive functioning.

Other questions include: How much is intelligence shaped by environment vs. heredity? How much can intelligence be enhanced? The publication of a recent highly controversial book on intelligence (The Bell Curve, Herrnstein & Murray, 1994) began a passionate, although not necessarily well-informed, debate led by over 50 of the world’s experts on intelligence. Their summary is an

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excellent and clear statement on what psychologists think about intelligence. These are the first six points: 1 Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or descriptive of test-taking smarts. 2 Intelligence, so defined, can be measured, and intelligence tests measure it well. They are among the most accurate (in technical terms, reliable and valid) of all psychological tests and assessments. They do not measure creativity, character, personality or other important differences among individuals, nor are they intended to. 3 While there are different types of intelligence tests, they all measure the same intelligence. Some use words or numbers and require specific cultural knowledge (such as vocabulary). Others do not, and instead use shapes or designs and require knowledge of only simple, universal concepts (many/few, open/closed, up/down). 4 The spread of people along the IQ continuum, from low to high, can be represented well by the bell curve (in statistical jargon, the ‘normal curve’). Most people cluster around the average (IQ 100). Few are either very bright or very dull: about 3 per cent of Americans score above IQ 130 (often considered the threshold for ‘giftedness’), with about the same percentage below IQ 70 (IQ 70–75 often being considered the threshold for mental retardation). 5 Intelligence tests are not culturally biased against AfricanAmerican or other native-born, English-speaking people in the USA. Rather, IQ scores predict equally accurately for all such Americans, regardless of race and social class. Individuals who do not understand English well can be given either a non-verbal test or one in their native language.

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6 The brain processes underlying intelligence are still little understood. Current research looks, for example, at speed of neural transmission, glucose (energy) uptake and electrical activity of the brain.

are we getting brighter? the flynn effect It was an American political scientist working in New Zealand, James Flynn, who gave his name to this ‘effect’. He noticed that every so often the norms which describe typical scores for different age, sex and race groups had to change. Every few years scores in the same age group showed that differences were growing. In short, people were doing better over time. The tests seemed to be getting easier or we were, as a species, getting brighter… or both. This means a good score in 1990 was a brilliant score in 1970 but only an average score in 2015. Was this effect true of many countries and many tests? The answer was YES. There seemed to be impressive evidence of ‘massive IQ gains’. But the central question became, why? Flynn never questioned the reliability, validity and usefulness of IQ tests in educational and occupational settings.

explanations for the flynn effect Education: In most countries, with every generation people are spending longer at school and with better facilities. Schooling is compulsory and people from all backgrounds are used to learning and being tested. Intelligence is related to learning, so as education is better, more widespread scores get higher. Nutrition: People are now better nourished, particularly in childhood, which reduces the incidence of ‘backwardness’ in the population. There are fewer people who had poor nutrition in their youth so the bottom end of the distribution is removed. Which means the average score goes up.

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Social trends: We are all now much more used to timed tests and performing against the clock. People are familiar with tests and testing and so do better overall. Parental involvement: The idea is that parents provide richer home environments for their children and express a greater interest in their education than they used to. They have higher expectations and get involved more. The trend to have smaller families, where parents invest more in their children, may also be an important factor. Social environment: The world is more complex and stimulating. Modernization and new technology means people have to manipulate abstract concepts more, which is essentially what intelligence tests measure.

references Deary, I. (2001). Intelligence: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Eysenck, H. (1998). Intelligence: A new look. London: Transaction Publishers. Flynn, J. (1987). Massive IQ gains in 14 nations. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 171–91.

51

Justice: What is Reasonable and Fair

Justice is that which is in the interests of the stronger party. (Plato, The Republic, 400 BC) We should therefore claim, in the name of intolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. (Karl Popper, The Open Society, 1945)

The concept of justice and how justice is meted out in any organization is, nearly always, fundamental to that organization’s corporate culture and mission. The psychological literature tends to be descriptive (focusing on perceptions and reactions), whereas moral philosophy writings are more prescriptive (specifying what should be done). References to questions of justice and fairness occur whenever decisions have to be made about the allocation of resources, whatever they are in a particular business. Most, but by no means all, fairness-at-work issues focus on pay, but also include selection, promotion and the granting of particular privileges. Organizational justice researchers have, for 40 years, carried out research on the economic and socio-emotional consequences of perceived injustice. In doing so, they have distinguished between various types of justice. 1

Distributive Justice The allocation of outcome rewards in accordance with implicit or explicit norms like equality and equity.

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Procedural Justice

The consistency, accuracy, lack of bias, correctability and representation in all decision-making processes at work.

3

Interpersonal Justice

The way people are treated (i.e. with respect, sensitivity, dignity) as justice procedures are enacted.

4

Informational Justice

The accuracy, timing and comprehensiveness of explanations for all justice procedures and distribution.

5

Retributive & Retaliative Justice

The attempt to take revenge or retaliate against individuals, groups or organizations who have been perceived as treating one unfairly.

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Restorative Justice

The attempt to restore justice to victims and their network.

There are also a number of organizational justice theories, so many in fact that Greenberg (1987) attempted to taxonomize them. He isolated two dimensions (proactive–reactive and process–content) which revealed four types of theory: reactive content (how workers react to inequitable payments), proactive content (how workers attempt to create fair payments), reactive process (how workers react to unfair policies or legal procedures), and proactive process (how workers attempt to create fair policies or procedures). A: Distributive justice. Concern about the outcomes of justice decisions is called distributive justice. It is argued that rewards should be proportionate to costs, and the net rewards should be proportionate to investments. The question is who does one compare oneself to, on what criterion of one’s job, and for how long? It seems that most employees are able to distinguish between unfavourable outcomes (not as good as one had hoped) and unfair outcomes. Clearly, employees react much more strongly and angrily to unfair, compared to unfavourable, outcomes. B: Procedural justice. Procedural justice concerns the means rather than the ends of social justice decisions. These are questions about how fair decisions are made and the procedures and processes each organization has in place to make those decisions.

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The evaluation of procedural justice issues depends on both the environmental context within which the interaction occurs and the treatment of perpetrators and victims. C: Interpersonal Justice. All employees are concerned with interactional justice, which is the quality of interpersonal treatment they receive at the hands of decision-makers. Two features seem important here: social sensitivity, or the extent to which people believe that they have been treated with dignity and respect, and informational justification, or the extent to which people believe they have adequate information about the procedures affecting them. The entitled on the other hand believe they have a right to others’ total, continual and unconditional support. The entitled are exploiters and manipulators. They employ charm or temper tantrums, intimidation or attention seeking to achieve their end. They seem to always be worried that they are not getting a better deal. The benevolent tend to produce more and better work. This is particularly true under salaried work conditions. They are consistent and low in their absenteeism and turnover regardless of the level and equity of reward. The entitled are the opposite and will demonstrate high absenteeism and turnover if equity is not ensured. There is also evidence that benevolents and entitleds define work outcomes quite differently. Thus doing ‘challenging work’ may be seen as a privilege by benevolents but as a source of stress by entitleds.

restorative versus retributive justice at work Restorative justice has become a familiar concept in the context of rehabilitating prisoners by making them face their victims. It has become fashionable to contrast two very different approaches to crime, delinquency and deviance, be they at school or work. The contrast is between retributive and restorative justice. The former sees ‘misbehaviour’ in terms of breaking the law, the rules or the conventions; the latter as adversely affecting many other people. Restorative justice focuses on the needs of victims and offenders, rather than legal principles or calculating and exacting punishment. It aims at repairing harm and reducing recidivism. It follows a very different set of procedures.

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The retributive approach focuses on establishing blame or guilt, often through some adversarial process. It is believed that the evidence argued over by prosecution and defence will (hopefully, usually) establish who did what and when and perhaps why. There may be, as part of this model, a lot of attention to due processes: following carefully and openly the proper procedures that ensure justice. It’s a model that emphasizes head over heart: where argument and conflict of description and explanation are portrayed as abstract, impersonal and logical. The restorative justice model involves many more people: usually those who were affected by the behaviour – the ‘victim’, their friends and family, witnesses even. Their task is twofold – to express their feelings but more importantly to undertake a problem-solving attempt to prevent recurrence. The objective is to fully attend to the victim’s needs; to help re-integrate the offender and to get them to take real responsibility for their actions; to recreate a healthy community and avoid escalating the costs of traditional legal justice. The retribution model aims to deter by some sort of punishment: pain, exclusion, firing. The restorative model aims for the restoration of property and wellbeing by reconciliation. The latter approach is usually more about relationships, respect and feelings. It is not about the pain that the perpetrator should receive but the pain the victims feel. It is less about meting out the exact and appropriate amount of pain for that inflicted, and more about repairing the damage, hurt or injury to others.

references Adams, J. (1965) Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, (vol 2 pp. 267–99). New York: Academic Press. Furnham, A. (2003). Belief in a just world. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 795–817. Greenberg, J. (2001) Setting the justice agenda: Seven unanswered questions about ‘what, why and how’. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 58, 210–19.

52

Leadership: Why so Many Fail

….the successful leader is the one who most keenly senses the wishes of a potential audience. (Howard Gardner, Leading Minds, 1996) The leader takes on the qualities which his adherents project onto him. (Kimball Young, Social Psychology, 1945) The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes. (Tony Blair, Mail on Sunday, 1994)

There are over 70,000 books in English with the word leadership in the title. Many list the various ‘secrets’ about how to become a successful leader. Yet a very large number fail. There is now an active interest in dark-side leadership and why so many leaders fail and derail. Three things, all of which are surprising and counterintuitive to many people, characterize this growing and important literature. First, it is the large number of leaders who fail and derail. The data from over a dozen studies suggest the number may be more like 50 per cent. That is, failure of one sort or other, is as common as success. Second, failure and derailment comes as a shock to many because those that do, have nearly always been regarded as high flyers and in the talent group. It is those who have often be chosen for, and lauded with, particular talents that are most often among

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the derailers (Furnham, 2014). Why does a supposedly highly successful, carefully selected, leader fail and derail? Third, failure is not exclusively due to the personality and pathology. The first is organizational culture and processes which can allow, even sow seeds of management failure. The second is employees or followers who are prepared to go along with, and obey the derailing leader. Thus one must be careful not to offer only personal, pathological explanations for this occurrence neglecting the other two. For fire you need heat, oxygen and fuel; for derailment you need personal pathology, willing followers and a poorly regulated and managed corporate culture.

sub-clinical or dark-side explanations Leadership researchers have turned from the personality traits to the personality disorders to try to explain leadership derailment and failure. Personality disorders are diagnosable when they are inflexible, maladaptive and persisting and cause significant functional impairment or subjective distress. One of the most important ways to differentiate personal style from personality disorder is flexibility. It is their inflexible, repetitive, poor stress-coping responses that are marks of disorder. Personality disorders also influence the sense of self – the way people think and feel about themselves and how other people see them. The disorders often powerfully influence interpersonal relations at work. People with clinical or sub-clinical personality disorders have difficulty expressing and understanding emotions. It is the intensity with which they express them and their variability that makes them odd. More importantly, they often have serious problems with self-control. Hogan developed the well-known Hogan Development Survey (HDS) which dominates the dark-side literature. The HDS is a contextualized measure as it seeks to identify dysfunctional behaviours that impair work performance.

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The DSM-IV and the HDS DSM Labels

Theme

PROFILE Issues

Scale

HDS Theme

Borderline

Inappropriate anger; unstable and intense relationships alternating between idealization and devaluation.

Unstable Relationships

Excitable

Moody and hard to please; intense, but short-lived enthusiasm for people, projects or things.

Paranoid

Distrustful and suspicious of others; motives are interpreted as malevolent.

Argumentative

Sceptical

Cynical, distrustful and doubting others’ true intentions.

Avoidant

Social inhibition; feelings of inadequacy and hypersensitivity to criticism or rejection.

Fear of Failure

Cautious

Reluctant to take risks for fear of being rejected or negatively evaluated.

Schizoid

Emotional coldness and detachment from social relationships; indifferent to praise and criticism.

Interpersonal Insensitivity

Reserved

Aloof, detached, and uncommunicative; lacking interest in, or awareness of, the feelings of others.

Passive­Aggressive

Passive resistance Passive-­ Leisurely to adequate social Aggressive and occupational performance; irritated when asked to do something he/she does not want to.

Independent; ignoring people’s requests and becoming irritated or argumentative if they persist.

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Narcissistic

Arrogant and Arrogance haughty behaviours or attitudes; grandiose sense of self-importance and entitlement.

Bold

Unusually self-confident; feelings of grandiosity and entitlement; overvaluation of one’s capabilities.

Antisocial

Disregard for the truth; impulsivity and failure to plan ahead; failure to conform with social norms.

UntrustMischievworthiness ous

Enjoying risk taking and testing limits; needing excitement; manipulative, deceitful, cunning and exploitative.

Histrionic

Excessive emotionality and attention seeking; self-drama­tizing, theatrical and exaggerated emotional expression.

Attention-­ Colourful seeking

Expressive, animated and dramatic; wanting to be noticed and needing to be the centre of attention.

Schizotypal

Odd beliefs or magical thinking; behaviour or speech that is odd, eccentric or peculiar.

No Common Sense

Imaginative

Acting and thinking in creative and sometimes odd or unusual ways.

ObsessiveCompulsive

Preoccupations with orderliness, rules, perfectionism and control; over conscientious and inflexible.

Perfectionism

Diligent

Meticulous, precise and perfectionistic; inflexible about rules and procedures; critical of others’ performance.

l eader sh i p Dependent

Difficulty making Dependeveryday decisions ency without excessive advice and reassurance; difficulty expressing disagreement out of fear of loss of support or approval.

227 Dutiful

Eager to please and reliant on others for support and guidance; reluctant to take independent action or go against popular opinion.

Predictably the two dark-side traits most often implicated in derailment are psychopath and narcissist. Why are they selected? First, selection involves both ‘select in’, and ‘select out’: looking for characteristics you want and don’t want. It is the failure to do good ‘select out’ work at selection which means potential derailers get through. ‘Select out’ criteria are often thought of as ‘not enough’ of the ‘select in’ criteria, rather than something different. Second, when selecting for particular competencies or features (team work, innovativeness) they assume that more is better (linearity) rather than a more cautious curvilinear approach. This issue refers to extreme scorers. In this sense a very high score on a healthy competency could be a sign of potential derailment. This being rated as a very strong team player may indicate someone who ‘hides’ in teams and is dependent rather than independent. Third, when an analysis of failed and derailed leaders is made, there is a consistent, and for many, surprising finding, that there were many early biographical markers of their future failure. That is, when looking back there were clear indicators of the traits that later proved so crucial in leading to derailment. Fourth, while the use of references has been shown to be problematic, a detailed structured interview with various people who have known the candidate well can provide extremely quick, cheap and relevant information on such things as the three indicators below.

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three crucial indicators The modern literature based on both psychological and psychiatric theory suggests that underlying all the leader derailment (and all personality disorders) there are three very fundamental markers. These make a useful and simple checklist at selection interviews without the use of a questionnaire. Relationships: Can the person establish and maintain healthy, happy, long-term relationships with various sort of people? Self-Awareness: Does the person have insight into themselves? Adaptability, Learning and Transitioning: At various times in a work career people have to learn to let go of old, odd, dysfunctional assumptions and beliefs. Further they need to acquire new skills and ideas.

references Babiak, P., & Hare, R. (2006). Snakes in Suits. New York, NY: Regan Books. Dotlich, D. & Cairo, P. (2003). Why CEOs fail. New York: Jossey Bass. Furnham, A. (2014). Bullies and Bastards. London: Bloomsbury. Hogan, R. (2007). Personality and the fate of organizations. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Judge, T.A., Piccolo, R.F., & Kosalka, T. (2009). The bright and dark sides of leader traits: A review and theoretical extension of the leader trait paradigm. The Leadership Quarterly, 20, 855–75.

53

Lying and Deceit

A truth that’s told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent. (William Blake, Auguries of Innocence, 1800) Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive. (Walter Scott, Marmion, 1810) A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation. (Saki, The Square Egg, 1895)

Liars ‘leak’ deceit. Most try hard to cover-up their deceit but it is difficult trying to control your words, voice, face, feet and hands all at the same time. The voice and the face carry important cues. Prof. Aldert Vrij from Portsmouth University in England has identified 17 non-verbal behaviours that may be directly related to lying: 1 Speech hesitations: use of the words ‘ah’, ‘um’, ‘er’, and so on. 2 Speech errors: word and/or sentence repetition, sentence change, sentence incompletions, slips of the tongue, and other errors. 3 Pitch of voice: changes in pitch of voice, such as a rise or fall in pitch. 4 Speech rate: number of spoken words in a certain period of time.

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5 Latency period: period of silence between question and answer. 6 Frequency of pauses: frequency of silent periods during speech. 7 Pause durations: length of silent periods during speech. 8 Gaze: avoiding looking at the face of the conversation partner. 9 Smile: smiling and laughing inappropriately or excessively. 10 Blinking: blinking of the eyes. 11 Self-manipulations: scratching the head, wrists, and so on. 12 Illustrators: functional hand and arm movements designed to modify and/or supplement what is being said verbally. 13 Hand and finger movements: non-functional movements of hands or fingers without moving the arms. 14 Leg and foot movements: movements of the feet and legs. 15 Head movements: head nods and head shakes. 16 Trunk movements: movements of the trunk (usually accompanied by head movements). 17 Shifting position: movements made to change the sitting position (usually accompanied by trunk and foot/leg movements). He also gave some very specific verbal indicators that can indicate a person is lying: ●●

●●

●●

●●

Negative statements: Statements that indicate aversion towards an object, person or opinion, such as denials and disparaging statements, and statements indicating a negative mood. Plausible answers: Statements which make sense and which sound credible and reasonable. Irrelevant information: Information which is irrelevant to the context, and which has not been asked for. Overgeneralized statements: The use of words such as ‘always’, ‘never’, ‘nobody’, ‘everybody’, and so on.

lyi ng and deceit ●●

●●

●●

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Self-References: The use of words referring to the speaker himself or herself, such as ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘mine’. Direct answers: To-the-point and straightforward statements (for example, ‘I like John’ is more direct than ‘I like John’s company.’ Response length: Length of response or number of words spoken.

Paul Ekman, the greatest expert in this area, has stressed facial clues to deceit and how facial expressions can serve a lie, but also provide manifold and very subtle clues to the truth. Ekman has argued that the face may contain many different clues to deceit including micro and squelched expressions, leakage in the reliable facial muscles, blinking, pupil dilation, tearing, blushing and blanching, asymmetry, mistakes in timing, mistakes in location and false smiles. There are some facts that are clearly true about lying: 1 You can observe stress signals produced by the autonomic nervous system: dry mouth, sweaty palms, shallow uneven breathing, ‘tickly’ nose and throat, blushing or blanching. 2 People are less conscious of their feet or legs: the further you are from the face the nearer you get to the truth. 3 Posture is more sincere than gesture: it can be seen as more unnatural and forced when people lie. 4 Give-away, expansive gestures decline: because they feel they may be caught, liars tend to sit on their hands, fold their arms, clasp their hands together. 5 Shifty gazes: when children are lying they look down or away. They look guilty but do not look you in the eye. Peter Collett, the Oxford University trained psychologist, used the concept of ‘tell’ to specify signals or actions that ‘tells you’ what somebody is thinking even if that person does not know it themselves:

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Detection Tells: Whereas most people believe they are good at detecting lies, the opposite appears to be the case. They seem to fail at this all-important skill for five reasons. First people prefer blissful ignorance, not wanting to admit that the other person is lying. Next people set their detection threshold very high but highly suspicious people might set it very low. Third, people who rely on intuition and ‘gut feelings’ do not do as well as those who look for clues to deception. Fourth, people forget that all behaviours have multiple causes and that there are few single, simple indicators of lying. Finally, people look in the wrong places and for the wrong cues – fidgeting as opposed to smiling. Eye Tells: People know about gaze patterns and control them but continuous rapid blinking and unusually intent staring may be signs of lying. Body Tells: Despite popular beliefs, hand movements and fidgeting are under conscious control and therefore unreliable indexes of lying. However, other neglected things like leg and feet movements and self-touching are better indicators. Nose Tells: Touching the nose really represents covering the mouth. The ‘Pinocchio syndrome’ may be simply due to anxiety and it remains unclear whether vasoconstriction (blood draining from the face/nose) or vasodilatation (blood increasing in the face/nose) occurs when people lie. Masking Tells: These are masks (often smiles) that people use to cover or mask their negative feelings about lying. The straight or crypto-relaxed face masks seem to work best. Smiling Tells: Smiles are used extensively by experienced liars because they both make others feel positive and also tend to be less suspicious about them lying. But there are many types of smile – blended, miserable and counterfeit. Micro Tells: These are very fast, short-lived, micro-moment expressions that are difficult to see live but can be seen on second-by-second video playback.

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Talking Tells: Despite the fact that most people believe non-verbal clues are better than verbal clues to lying it actually appears the opposite way around. These include Circumlocution: beating around the bush with long-winded digression and Outlining: broad brush, detail-less account. Liars rarely expand when asked; truth-tellers do.

The bottom line is this: some people are much better than others at detecting deceit. People trained in this area point to a number of subtle and specific behaviours they examine carefully to detect lies. Yet even experts get it wrong sometimes, judging the innocent as guilty and vice versa.

references Collett, P. (2003). The Book of Tells. London: Doubleday. Ekman, P. (2001). Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton. Vrij, A. (2000). Detecting lies and deceit. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.

54

Mental Health Literacy: Would You be a Good Psychiatrist?

Insanity is a kind of innocence. (Graham Greene, The Quiet American, 1955) A paranoid is a person in full possession of the facts. (William Burroughs, Independent on Sunday, 1997)

Would you know if a colleague was suffering with depression, or whether they were a schizophrenic or a psychopath? Can you recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness? And if you were to believe a friend or colleague were ‘in trouble’ what would you advise them to do? In short, are you knowledgeable and literate about mental illnesses? The term ‘mental health literacy’ (MHL) was introduced 20 years ago. It includes the ability to recognize specific disorders, knowledge about the causes and risk factors, and knowledge of the help available. Mental health literacy is important as it can ensure that mental disorders are recognized early, and the appropriate help-seeking behaviour is encouraged. Social psychiatrists have been very active in this area trying to find out what illnesses and disorders are more easily recognized than others and what the strong clues are for individuals.

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Test yourself: Read each of the five stories below and answer about the person X. Then answer the following questions: What, if anything, would you say is X’s main problem? How distressing do you think it would be to have X’s condition? How sympathetic would you be towards someone with X’s problem? In general, how happy do you think X is? In general, how successful at their work do you think X is? In general, how satisfying do you think X’s personal relationships are?

1 Kerry is 24 years old. Recently, she has been having trouble getting out of bed; she randomly burst into tears at the dinner table a couple of days ago and had to be excused. That didn’t really matter to her because she wasn’t hungry anyway. She saw her future as very bleak and believed she would never be accepted by any graduate school and that she would never again find anyone she would love. 2 Terry is 50 years old and lives alone. He has for many years had virtually no conversational contacts with other human beings except to say ‘hello’ or ‘how are you’. He reads newspapers avidly and is well informed in many areas, but he has no interest in the people around him. He prefers to be by himself, finds talk a waste of time and feels awkward when people initiate a relationship. He works as a security guard and is known by his co-workers as ‘loner’ or ‘cold fish’. After a while, they no longer even notice him or tease him since he never seems to notice or care about their teasing anyway. He considers himself different from other people and regards emotionality in others as strange. He experienced the death of his parents without emotion and feels no regret whatsoever at being completely out of contact with the rest of his family. 3 Rose is 17 years old and lives at home. She is very shy and doesn’t socialize much with her work colleagues. One of the reasons for this is that she never goes out to parties or

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clubs for fear that they might be dirty and contaminated. If she does go out, it would only be to a place she knows well and even then she would avoid touching anything as much as possible. She always carries an antibacterial soap with her which she uses often. She avoids shaking hands and touching door handles and coins since many people before her have touched them. Rose’s biggest fear is that she would be responsible in some way for harm done to vulnerable people, especially children and the elderly, and finds it difficult to visit her sister and her newborn niece. Rose’s fear causes her great anxiety, so she engages in cleaning and checking her behaviours to relax herself. 4 Up until a year ago, life was pretty okay for Rachel. But then, things started to change. She thought that people around her were making disapproving comments and talking behind her back. Rachel was convinced that people were spying on her and that they could hear what she was thinking. Rachel lost her drive to participate in her usual work and family activities and retreated to her home, eventually spending most of her day in her room. Rachel was hearing voices even though no one else was around. These voices told her what to do and what to think. She has been living this way for six months. Answers: 1. Depression, 2. Social Phobia, 3. OCD, 4. Schizophrenia

Previous studies relating to mental health literacy have found that people have difficulty recognizing mental disorders when they are described in a vignette, like those above, and many people hold common misconceptions, for example that schizophrenia involves a ‘split personality’. With regards to specific disorders, it is found that correct recognition rates of depression and schizophrenia were around 70 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.

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A number of studies have shown that both younger and more educated people have more informed beliefs about mental disorders. Females are also better informed than males. MHL comes from wide reading and academic study and/or extensive contact with people with mental disorders. The more exposure to the mental illness and its symptoms and the more educated people are in general – as well as in the mental health disciplines – the more they know. However, what the studies do show, is how surprisingly ignorant they often are with respect to cause and cure.

references Furnham, A., & Swami, V. (2018). Mental health literacy: A review of what it is and why it matters. International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, 7, 240–57. Jorm, A.F. (2012). Mental health literacy: empowering the community to take action for better mental health. American Psychologist, 67, 231–43. Jorm, A.F. (2015). Why do we need the concept of ‘Mental Health Literacy’? Health Communication, 30, 1166–1168.

55

Mental Health Classification

The Gods have made thee mad. (Homer, Odyssey, 8th C, BC) We are all born mad. Some remain so. (Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot, 1960)

The classification of mental disorders is essentially the holy grail of psychiatry. Creating a parsimonious, efficient and universal classification system is something that has only in the last five decades really begun to take shape. Pushed by the de-institutionalization movement the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders produced by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), were the first comprehensive systems. Both list categories of disorders thought to be distinct types, and have deliberately converged their codes in recent revisions so that the manuals are often broadly comparable, although significant differences remain. The ICD is an international standard diagnostic classification for a wide variety of health conditions. One chapter focuses on ‘mental and behavioural disorders’ and consists of ten main (plus one supplementary) categories: 1 Organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders.

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2 Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of psychoactive substances. 3 Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders. 4 Mood [affective] disorders. 5 Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders. 6 Behavioural syndromes associated with physiological disturbances and physical factors. 7 Disorders of personality and behaviour in adult persons. 8 Mental retardation. 9 Disorders of psychological development. 10 Behavioural and emotional disorders with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence. 11 In addition, a group of ‘unspecified mental disorders’. The DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) consists of five axes (domains) on which disorder can be assessed. The five axes are: Axis I: Clinical Disorders (all mental disorders except Personality Disorders and Mental Retardation). Axis II: Personality Disorders and Mental Retardation. Axis III: General Medical Conditions (must be connected to a Mental Disorder). Axis IV: Psychosocial and Environmental Problems (for example limited social support network). Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning (Psychological, social and job-related functions are evaluated on a continuum between mental health and extreme mental disorder).

When the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) was released at the American Psychiatric Association’s Annual Meeting in May 2013, it marked the end of more than a decade’s journey in revising the criteria for the diagnosis and classification of mental disorders. DSM-V serves as the universal authority for the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders

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and most diagnosis and treatment of mental illness is based on the criteria and guidance set out in the manual. The publication of a revised and significantly altered version therefore has significant practical implications. The manual is divided into three major sections: 1 Introduction and clear information on how to use the DSM. 2 Provides information and categorical diagnoses. 3 Provides self-assessment tools, as well as categories that require more research. While DSM-V has approximately the same number of conditions as DSM-IV there have been some significant changes in specific disorders. A summary of these is as follows: ●●

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Autism – There is now a single condition called autism spectrum disorder, which incorporates four previous separate disorders including autistic disorder (autism), Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. Disruptive Mood – Dysregulation Disorder Childhood bipolar disorder has a new name – ‘intended to address issues of over-diagnosis and over-treatment of bipolar disorder in children’. This can be diagnosed in children up to age 18 who exhibit persistent irritability and frequent episodes of extreme behavioural dyscontrol (e.g., they are out of control). ADHD – Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been modified especially to emphasize that this disorder can continue into adulthood. The one ‘big’ change is that you can be diagnosed with ADHD as an adult if you meet one less symptom than if you are a child. Bereavement Exclusion Removal – In the DSM-IV, if you were grieving the loss of a loved one, technically you

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couldn’t be diagnosed with major depression disorder in the first two months of your grief. This exclusion was removed in the DSM-V for a number of reasons: the implication that bereavement typically lasts only two months; bereavement is recognized as a severe psychosocial stressor that can precipitate a major depressive episode; bereavement-related major depression is most likely to occur in individuals with past personal and family histories of major depressive episodes; the depressive symptoms associated with bereavement-related depression respond to the same psychosocial and medication treatments as non-bereavement-related depression. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – More attention is now paid to behavioural symptoms that accompany PTSD in the DSM-V. It now includes four primary major symptom clusters: re-experiencing, arousal, avoidance and persistent negative alterations in cognitions and mood. The condition is now developmentally more sensitive in that diagnostic thresholds have been lowered for children and adolescents. Major and Mild Neurocognitive Disorder – Major Neurocognitive Disorder now subsumes dementia and the amnestic disorder. But a new disorder, Mild Neurocognitive Disorder, was also added. Other New & Notable Disorders. Both Binge Eating Disorder and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder are now official diagnoses in the DSM-V (they were not prior to this, although still commonly diagnosed by clinicians). Hoarding disorder is also now recognized as a real disorder, separate from OCD, ‘which reflects persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions due to a perceived need to save the items and distress associated with discarding them. Hoarding disorder may have unique neurobiological correlates, is associated with significant impairment, and may respond to clinical intervention.’

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These criticisms are not new and certainly not unique to DSM-V. Is the reliability of diagnosis improved? That is, do psychiatrists and psychologists agree upon diagnoses? Is all this medicalization in the real interests of big pharmaceutical companies? There is also the serious issue of culture bias. It is argued that national culture affects the experience, expression, generation and management of symptoms. It also affects the management of symptoms. People in different cultures use different words and idioms to express their psychological distress and pain. It also reflects shame in different ways. Many cultures accept supernatural explanations for mental illness while others try hard to medicalize it as soon as possible. What place does a universal diagnostic manual have in a multi-cultural and diverse world? And does it help to improve the mental health literacy of the general public?

references American Psychiatric Association. 1987. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3th edition., text rev.). Washington, DC. American Psychiatric Association. 2013. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition.). Washington, DC.

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Mindset: What you Can and Cannot Change

Credulity is the man’s weakness but the child’s strength. (Charles Lamb, Essays on Elia, 1800) Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open. (James Dewar, attributed, 1900)

Can you become more intelligent? Yes or No? If yes, how do you do it? Read more, do a university degree, complete difficult Sodoku and crosswords every day? Do you know adults who appear to be getting more intelligent? And why are there not courses called ‘Learn how to be brighter’? What can you change and learn and what not? Are you being unreasonably optimistic and naive to believe in change and development? Henry Ford famously said ‘Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.’ In other words if you believe you can change you will…and vice versa. Are those who believe intelligence does not and cannot be changed pessimists who don’t know the scientific literature? Equally, are those who think we can all become brighter naive optimists who hold these beliefs without any foundation? As a result of what psychologists call ‘reduced plasticity’ most of us have stopped changing much by around 30 years old. But this is now a very hot issue around what can and can’t be changed.

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The whole issue of malleability and immutability of abilities and temperament is at the heart of many psychological debates including the ‘talent myth’ and 10,000-hour rule which suggests all expert/ elite performance can be trained if people put in sufficient effort. People vary in the degree to which they think intelligence is innate, unchangeable or fixed factors (‘fixed’ mindset) but are there various factors that can be influenced through learning, effort, training and practice (‘growth’ mindset)? MINDSET QUIZ Read these ten statements and rate how much you agree with each on the following scale: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree

1 Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can’t change very much. 2 No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit. 3 Only a few people will be truly good at sports, you have to be born with the ability. 4 The harder you work at something, the better you will be. 5 I often get angry when I get feedback about my performance. 6 I appreciate when people, parents, coaches or teachers give me feedback about my performance. 7 Truly smart people do not need to try hard. 8 You can always change how intelligent you are. 9 You are a certain kind of person and there is not much that can be done to really change that. 10 An important reason why I do my schoolwork is that I enjoy learning new things. SCORE CHART Points awarded: Strongly Agree (3), Agree (2), Disagree (1), Strongly Disagree (0) for even-numbered statements.

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Strongly Agree (0) Agree (1) Disagree (2) Strongly Disagree (3) for odd-numbered statements. 22–30 = Strong growth mindset; 17–21 = Growth with some fixed ideas; 11–16 = Fixed with some growth ideas; 0–10 = Strong fixed mindset.

This is the work and concept of Carol Dweck. It is relatively easy to see to what extent one holds a Fixed or Growth Mindset (see above). But why this research is interesting is that she claims holding these ideas has very important consequences. So growth or incremental theorists believe that intelligence can be increased and cultivated over a lifetime through hard work and continued learning. Fixed mindset people usually do not increase their level of effort in educational and work environments because they do not believe they can improve their performance. You can or you can’t do it, they assert. Incremental people, however, tend to acknowledge the importance of effort and then believe everything is possible as long as you are prepared to put in enough effort. Dweck has argued that having a mindset about intelligence has serious consequences and implications, particularly for motivation to practice and learn. She initially called fixed mindset ‘entity’ theorists and growth mindset people ‘incremental’ theorists. Interestingly, mindset does not only refer to intelligence. Individuals with a fixed mindset believe that personality, intelligence, values, etc are ‘set in stone’ – probably genetically based, formed early and stable. Individuals with a growth mindset believe that effort or training can change many qualities and traits: we are all ‘captains of our ship’ and ‘masters of our fate’. Where the mindset work becomes really interesting is when you examine people in education and work settings. Fixed mindset people tend to be interested only in feedback on their success in activities because they do not use it to learn, simply because they tend not to believe that their success depends on their effort to learn. Negative feedback is particularly unpleasant and may be avoided or denied because it is so damning of failure.

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A growth mindset emphasizes that success is about learning, investing effort, practising and mastering skills. Feedback of all types (positive and negative) is seen as potentially useful because it affords an opportunity to get better. Researchers assessing mindset are particularly interested in how parents and teachers communicate with their children. If parents or teachers argue that success is down to inborn or innate abilities, children will probably develop a fixed mindset. If either praises or ‘explains’ success as being down to the child being naturally bright, they are less likely to put in effort whether they succeed or fail. Yet if parents or teachers say that both success and failure are caused by sufficient or insufficient effort and practice, children will be more likely to develop a growth mindset: ‘You did well because you worked hard and are conscientious. This is something you can do again and do more of with many benefits.’ Differences in mindset can have effects in the workplace. A boss that has a fixed mindset may invest more on selecting high-ability employees than professional development and ongoing training. Fixed mindset people would also probably be less concerned with performance management and regular feedback sessions.

references Dweck, C. S. (2000). Self theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group. Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Constable & Robinson Limited.

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Money: The Source of All Evil?

I sell, therefore I am. You buy, therefore I eat. (Craig Dormanen) What better way to prove that you understand a subject than to make money out of it? (Harold Rosenberg) Money changes people just as often as it changes hands. (Al Batt) The entire economic system depends on the fact that people are willing to do unpleasant things in return for money. (Scott Adams)

Bankers, economists and financiers assume that people, like themselves, are rational with respect to their own money. Their models and marketing strategies are based on homo-economicus: the rational human being. They could not be more wrong. People are ignorant, irrational and a-rational with nearly all aspects of their money. The belief about what money is good for; how best to acquire, multiply and store it; and about the happiness it brings are often demonstrably false. Studies show that parents rarely talk about money to their children but that children acquire many of their money habits from their parents. Profligate parents beget profligate children; obsessional miserly hoarders are copied by their children or in oppositional triumph spend it all. Surveys show that over 90 per cent of adults would like their children to know more about the financial reality of life than they currently do, but that they are not really confident enough to ensure their children are financially literate, sensible and mature.

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The dream to become rich is widespread. Many cultures have fairy tales, folklore and well-known stories about wealth. One story is that money brings security; another that it brings freedom. Money can be used to show off one’s success as well as to repay those who in the past slighted, rejected or humiliated oneself. One of the many themes in literature is that wealth renders the powerless powerful and the unloved lovable. Wealth is a great transforming agent that has power to cure all. Hence the common desire for wealth and the extreme behaviours sometimes seen in pursuit of extreme wealth. There are two rather different basic fairy tales associated with money. One is that money and riches are just deserts for a good life. It should be enjoyed and spent wisely for the benefit of all. The other story is of the ruthless destroyer of others who sacrifice love and happiness for money, and eventually gets it but finds it is of no use. Hence, all an individual can do is give it away with the same fanaticism with which he or she amassed it. Money has powerful emotional associations. Ask people what emotions are most frequently associated with money and research provides the following rank-ordered list: anxiety, depression, anger, helplessness, happiness, excitement, envy, resentment.

four things that are associated with money Money as Security. Emotional security is represented by financial security and the relationship is believed to be linear – more money, more security. Money is an emotional lifejacket, a security blanket, a method to stave off anxiety. A fear of financial loss becomes paramount because the security collector supposedly depends more on money for ego-satisfaction. Money bolsters feelings of safety and self-esteem and so is hoarded. Money as Power. Because money can buy goods, services and loyalty, it can be used to acquire importance, domination and control. You can use money to exploit others’ vanity or greed. With loads of money one can bribe and control and so feel powerful. Money can be used to buy-out or compromise enemies and clear the path for oneself.

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Money is Love. For some, money is given as a substitute for emotion and affection. Those who visit prostitutes, ostentatiously give to charity; those who spoil their children are buying love. Others sell it: they promise affection, devotion, endearment and loyalty in exchange for financial security. Money is used to buy loyalty and self-worth. Further, because of the reciprocity principle inherent in gift giving, many assume that reciprocated gifts are a token of love and caring. Money is Freedom. This is the more acceptable and more frequently admitted attribute attached to money. It buys time to pursue one’s whims and interests, and frees one from the daily routine and restrictions of a paid job. Money buys escape from orders, commands; everything that restricts autonomy and limited independence. There are a number of pathologies surrounding money because of all the complicated emotions and associations it has. Five are well-known: 1 Misers who hoard money. They tend not to admit to being niggardly, have a terrible fear of losing funds, and tend to be distrustful, yet have trouble enjoying the benefits of their own money. 2 The Spendthrift who tends to be compulsive and uncontrolled in his/her spending, particularly when depressed, feeling worthless and rejected. Spending is an instant, but short-lived gratification that frequently leads to guilt (and debt). 3 The Tycoon who is totally absorbed with money making, which is seen as the best way to gain power, status and approval. These people argue that the more money they have, the better control they have over their world and the happier they are likely to be. 4 Bargain hunters who compulsively hunt bargains even if they do not really want them, because getting things for less makes people feel superior. They feel angry and depressed if they have to pay the asking price or cannot bring the price down significantly.

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5 Gamblers feel exhilarated and optimistic when taking chances. They tend to find it difficult to stop, even when losing, because of the sense of power they achieve when winning. So what do people in finance need to know about the psychology of money? First, that many well-educated, sophisticated, adults remain ignorant and embarrassed about money issues. They might not understand the simplest concepts and need education before sales. It is a fine line between educating and patronizing a professional and sellers need to be aware. Second, find out what people think about and do with their money. It will help understand their emotions and associations and ‘hot buttons’. Each money type needs a different sales strategy: and probably a different product. Third, explore more the mythology, symbolism and imagery associated with money and use it in advertising. Using trees for growth is hardly very psychological. Marketing products need more emotional understanding. Four, remember that you are dealing with sensitive issues. You may be prying into areas where people are very uncomfortable. You may need counselling skills before anything. Five, give lots of examples and let people take their time. Befriend the client: they may become clients for life because they see you as a wise confidant. Like a psychiatrist or gynaecologist, people have to share intimacies with you. You may think it’s all pretty bland and dull but they don’t.

references Forman, N. (1987). Mind Over Money. Toronto: Doubleday. Furnham, A. (2014). The New Psychology of Money. London: Routledge. Lea, S.E.G., & Webley, P. (2006). Money as tool, money as drug: the psychology of a strong incentive. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 29, 161–209.

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Morality and Ethics

What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after. (Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon, 1950) It horrifies me that ethics is only an optional extra at Harvard Business School. (Harvey Jones, The New Elite, 1987)

Moral psychology is concerned with explaining individual differences in moral conduct. This question is important for three reasons. First, morality, defined as the behaviours and beliefs that individuals consider to be right or wrong helps social living by censuring self-indulgence and promoting social justice. Second, moral conduct is positively related to happiness, career success and leadership. In short, good people do better for lots of reasons. Third, moral deficits disrupt personal and work relations, lead to counterproductive work behaviours (e.g., bullying, theft and absenteeism) that cost the economy billions every year. There is no doubt that some people are more moral than others in that they follow moral codes more closely. We know that psychopaths are without a conscience and are therefore able to abuse and hurt people without any guilt. They are cold and callous. Academics study ethics in medicine, philosophy and theology. Medics are particularly interested in the ethics behind resource allocation. Traditionally, the two philosophical principles of utilitarianism and egalitarianism have been used to underpin

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discussions concerning the ethics behind resource allocation methods. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory because it focuses on the outcomes of actions rather than the actions themselves. In accordance with utilitarianism, the best, or most ideal, action is one that brings about maximum happiness, and the worst action is one that causes maximum unhappiness, where happiness is defined as ‘pleasure and the absence of pain’ while unhappiness is defined as ‘pain, and the privation of pleasure’. In the context of resource allocation, utilitarianism would endorse allocation to the person whose health and wellbeing would bring about most happiness in society, thus giving rise to individual judgements of social worth. The second philosophical perspective is egalitarianism, which is a deontological principle. Deontology, in contrast to consequentialism, is focused on the act rather than the outcome and the morality of the act is determined by a known and accepted set of rules (Broad, 1930). As such, egalitarianism puts forth the rule that all individuals are equal in terms of social worth. However, with scarce resources, some sort of selection usually has to be made. Medical people often have to make difficult ethical choices when they have to choose who to treat because there are too many people wanting treatments that are limited. As a consequence ethicists have come up with different systems, strategies or principles. A recent study suggests there are essentially eight principles that may be used to allocate scarce medical interventions. These are listed below: Lottery: the random allocation of interventions, through drawing recipients blindly. First-come, first-served: allocating interventions based on the order of request, or requirement. Sickest first: prioritizing those with the worst future prospects if left untreated. Youngest first: prioritizing those who have had the least life years, and thus have the potential to live longer if cured.

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Save the most lives: aiming to save the most individual lives possible, through offering all people treatment. Prognosis or life-years: aiming to save the most life-years, thus prioritizing those with positive prognoses, and excluding those with poor prognoses. Instrumental value: prioritizing those with specific skills and usefulness – e.g. those producing a vaccine, or those who have agreed to improve their health following treatment and thus requiring fewer resources (stop smoking, lose weight, etc.) Reciprocity: prioritizing those who have been useful in the past – e.g. past organ donors.

ethics committees Many kinds of public institutions have found it necessary to appoint ethics committees. Ethics committees are there usually to facilitate decisions as to whether a course of action – such as conducting a research project – fulfils certain criteria. The theory is that a group of (wise) individuals can perform a disinterested evaluation of a proposed course of action that minimizes harm to any and maximizes benefits to many. Furnham (2015) recommended that to make ethics committees function, the following seem useful requirements. First, have a chair who knows about ethics. Second, decide on a system or code that is to be implemented. Third, choose and vet committee members carefully and do not have too many. Fourth, have a lawyer on board. Fifth, ensure this process and dynamic is functional, not dysfunctional. Sixth, ensure the committee knows precisely its function and duties. Seventh, have an appeals procedure. Eighth, ensure people have a set period on the committee and do not automatically renew. Ninth, give the committee feedback on their earlier decisions. Tenth, consider changing the name from ethics committee to something else like ‘Litigation’, ‘Harm Avoidance’ or ‘Research Progress’ Committee.

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references Furnham, A., McClelland, A., & Drummond-Baxter, E. (2010). The allocation of a scarce correctional resource: Deciding who is eligible for an electronic monitoring program. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40, 1605–1617. Furnham, A., Petrides, K. V., & Callahan, I. (2011). Prioritizing patients for surgery : Factors affecting allocation of medical resources for kidney transplantation, IVF, and rhinoplasty. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41, 588–608.

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Music: Preferences, Uses and Distraction

Extraordinary how potent cheap music is. (Noel Coward, Private Lives, 1945) Music has charms to soothe the savage breast. (William Congreve, The Mourning Bride, 1700)

Psychologists have been interested in music for over a century. They ask questions about the musically talented and the best way to teach music. They are interested in musical taste and different reactions to music. They attempt to classify music from a psychological, rather than a music store, point of view. Also they are interested in music in the workplace as well as in the commercial environment.

the uses of music People ‘use’ music for many purposes. Some are interested in it from a cognitive processing point of view. They are interested in the technicalities of composition and performance. Many are interested in how people use music for emotional regulation: to use music to induce moods, lift depression, to make them want to dance, to encourage mystery and awe. Equally importantly people use music as distraction: to keep them more awake when driving or performing a tedious task.

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the classification of music There are many ways of doing this such as: reflective and complex, intense and rebellious, upbeat and conventional, energetic and rhythmic. A more recent classification is: 1 Sophisticated: Classical, opera or jazz. 2 Contemporary: The current mainstream genres such as pop music, rap, electronic, trance and so on. Using modern techniques and equipment. 3 Intense: Loud, forceful, energetic music such as rock, punk and heavy metal. More rebellious music. 4 Mellow: Smooth and relaxing music styles, as well as blues, soft rock, R & B and soul music. 5 Unpretentious: Sincere and rootsy music, such as country, folk or singer-songwriter genres. World music.

music at work Does music help in the workplace? Are people more or less productive when there is background music? The questions are: What music: fast vs. slow, vocal vs. instrumental, familiar vs. novel, chosen by whom? The results suggest that the most distracting music is that which is loud, fast, vocal and familiar. This can cause people to very seriously lose their concentration. What tasks: simple vs. complex, individual vs. group, cognitive vs. manual, memory? Music distraction occurs most when you are trying to do a complex, language task like proofreading, analysing text or committing material to memory. What people: personality, ability, values?

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We know that extraverts are less distracted than introverts, young people are more distracted than old people, and musicians are most distracted when their instrument is being played.

Music at work is always distracting. Since the 1920s it has been believed that certain forms of distraction (i.e. music) may facilitate productivity on particular tasks (e.g., assembly line tasks). It has been observed that school children often choose to do tasks (such as homework) in the presence of television, radio, CD/records or other distractions. Music was advocated as beneficial in the workplace but serious researchers concluded that feelings of euphoria during periods of music stimulation have a physiological basis, which is evidenced by changes in blood pressure that occur in some participants while listening to music. Instrumental, rather than vocal, music is preferred during working hours by the majority of workers. There is a negative correlation between age and preference for work music. Young, inexperienced employees, engaged in doing simple, repetitive and monotonous tasks, increased their output when stimulated by music.

music, mood and shopping Commercial organizations have not been slow to see the financial rewards of using music in shops, restaurants, banks, etc. In one study a supermarket played either stereotypically French or German music on alternate days for a fortnight in the part of the shop selling wine. They measured the amount and type of wine bought in this period. French music led to more sales of French wine and German music to a preference for German wine. Interestingly, when questioned, customers were unaware of the music and its potential effects on their product choice. Not quite subliminal selling, but not far from it. In another study either classical, pop or no music at all was played in a British restaurant over the course of nearly three weeks.

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Researchers measured time and money spent, the latter being broken down between drink and food. The customers spent more time and money (on starters and coffee, but not booze) when the classical music was playing. In another study researchers played classical, ‘easy listening’ or no music in a bank and a bar and customers were asked to rate the overall atmosphere of the two places. The more they liked the music, the better they evaluated the atmosphere on three dimensions and the more they were prepared to pay for products on sale in the bar. But other things also made a difference and these included the volume of the music and the time of day. However much one likes certain music there is clearly an optimal level. In another study, researchers kept callers waiting on the phone, playing them either a selection of songs by the Beatles, played either in the original or with Pan Pipe recordings, or one of those ‘please hold, the line is busy, you are in a queue…’ messages repeated every ten seconds. They measured how long people were prepared to hold and also their liking for the music played. The Pan Pipes came out top. People were prepared to hold longer with music they liked over a minute longer than the ‘sorry caller’ repeat. On-hold music affects holding on!

references Furnham, A. & Strbac, L. (2002). Music is as distracting as noise. Ergonomics, 45, 203–17. North, A. (2014). The Social Psychology of Music. London: Routledge. Oldham, G., Cummings, A., Mischel, L., Schmidtke, J., & Zhan, J. (1995). Listen while you work? Quasi-experimental relations between personal-stereo headset use and employee work responses. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 547–64. Rentfrow, P. J., Goldberg, L. R., & Levitin, D. J. (2011). The structure of musical preferences: A five-factor model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 1139.

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Myths about Psychology

Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths. (Karl Popper, British Philosophy in the mid-century, 1957) The moment there is imagination, there is myth. (Camille Paglia, Sexual Personnae, 1990)

Misconceptions can be considered as ‘beliefs that are held contrary to known evidence’. Myths and misconceptions concerning human behaviour can have extremely unpleasant consequences. For example, myths regarding mental health, victims of sexual abuse or sex differences in occupational potential have led to social stigma, isolation, unjustified criticism and discrimination. An accurate understanding of psychology directly influences how we think, feel and behave towards others and ourselves, and as such, investigations concerning the prevalence of ‘psycho-mythology’ are a crucial step towards improving psychological knowledge. There is a long-standing academic interest in the misconceptions psychology students bring with them when they embark upon psychological education (e.g. the accuracy of eye-witness testimony; the validity of projective techniques; the ‘dangerousness of schizophrenics’). Lilienfeld, et al. (2010) utilized the reputational method throughout their book 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology. The book has 11 chapters each devoted to addressing common myths

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in a particular area of psychology. The 11 sections considered myths about: the brain and perception, development and aging, memory, intelligence and learning, consciousness, emotion and motivation, interpersonal behaviour, personality, mental illness, psychology and the law, and psychological treatment. In addition to the 50 main myths, Lilienfeld et al. present 250 other ‘mythlets’ worth exploring. Against each, described as fiction, the authors provided the ‘fact’ which was based on experimental and research evidence. Inevitably, some of the assertions that statements are a myth may be challenged, as indeed may be the concept of myth as opposed to truth. Nevertheless, at this stage it provides an excellent list of ‘urban legends’, ‘misconceptions’ and ‘non-proven assertions’ to investigate. The authors argued the 50 great myths of popular psychology were caused by four factors: ●●

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Much information is spread by ‘word-of-mouth’, with urban legends becoming widespread beliefs. So, we should be sceptical about believing information that ‘everybody knows…’ Media coverage is often misleading. The preference to report interesting stories can lead us to misjudge the frequency of sensational cases. Heuristics can lead us to come to incorrect conclusions. Aspects such as availability and representativeness heuristics (judging probability based on the information available) are useful shortcuts for quick decisions but cannot be relied upon. Finding two aspects are correlated does not mean that one causes the other.

the 50 myths All the statements are false. Myths about the brain and perception 1 Most people use only 10 per cent of their brain power.

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2 Some people are left-brained, others are right-brained. 3 Extrasensory Perception (ESP) is a well-established scientific phenomenon. 4 Visual perceptions are accompanied by tiny emissions from the eyes. 5 Subliminal messages can persuade people to purchase products. Myths about development and aging 6 Playing Mozart’s music to infants boosts their intelligence. 7 Adolescence is inevitably a time of psychological turmoil. 8 Most people experience a midlife crisis in their 40s or early 50s. 9 Old age is typically associated with increased dissatisfaction and senility. 10 When dying, people pass through a universal series of psychological stages. Myths about memory 11 Human memory works like a tape recorder or video camera, and accurately records the events we’ve experienced. 12 Hypnosis is useful for retrieving memories of forgotten events. 13 Individuals commonly repress the memories of traumatic experiences. 14 Most people with amnesia forget all details of their earlier lives. Myths about intelligence and learning 15 Intelligence (IQ) tests are biased against certain groups of people. 16 If you’re unsure of your answer when taking a test, it’s best to stick with your initial hunch.

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17 The defining feature of dyslexia is reversing letters. 18 Students learn best when teaching styles are matched to their learning styles. Myths about consciousness 19 Hypnosis is a unique ‘trance’ state that differs in kind from wakefulness. 20 Researchers have demonstrated that dreams possess symbolic meaning. 21 People can learn new information, like new languages, while asleep. 22 During ‘out-of-body’ experiences, people’s consciousness leaves their bodies. Myths about emotion and motivation 23 The polygraph (‘lie detector’) test is an accurate means of detecting dishonesty. 24 Happiness is determined mostly by our external circumstances. 25 Ulcers are caused primarily or entirely by stress. 26 A positive attitude can stave off cancer. Myths about interpersonal behaviour 27 Opposites attract: We are most romantically attracted to people who differ from us. 28 There’s safety in numbers: The more people present at an emergency, the greater the chance that someone will intervene. 29 Men and women communicate in completely different ways. 30 It’s better to express anger to others than hold it in. Myths about personality 31 Raising children similarly leads to similarities in their adult personalities.

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32 The fact that a trait is heritable means we can’t change it. 33 Low self-esteem is a major cause of psychological problems. 34 Most people who were sexually abused in childhood develop severe personality disturbances in adulthood. 35 People’s responses to inkblots tell us a great deal about their personalities. 36 Our handwriting reveals our personality traits. Myths about mental illness 37 Psychiatric labels cause harm by stigmatizing people. 38 Only deeply depressed people commit suicide. 39 People with schizophrenia have multiple personalities. 40 Adult children of alcoholics display a distinctive profile of symptoms. 41 There’s recently been a massive epidemic of infantile autism. 42 Psychiatric hospital admissions and crimes increase during full moons. Myths about psychology and the law 43 Most mentally ill people are violent. 44 Criminal profiling is helpful in solving cases. 45 A large proportion of criminals successfully use the insanity defence. 46 All people who confess to a crime are guilty of it. Myths about psychological treatment 47 Expert judgement and intuition are the best means of making clinical decisions. 48 Abstinence is the only realistic treatment goal for alcoholics. 49 All effective psychotherapies force people to confront the ‘root’ causes of their problems in childhood. 50 Electroconvulsive (‘shock’) therapy is a physically dangerous and brutal treatment.

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references Furnham, A., & Hughes, D. (2014). Myths and Misconceptions in Popular Psychology: Comparing Psychology Students and the General Public. Teaching of Psychology, 41, 256–61. Lilienfeld, S., Lynn, S., Ruscio, J. & Beterstein, B. (2010). 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

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Narcissism and Self-love: The Dark Side of Self-Esteem

Virtue brings honour, and honour vanity. (Thomas Fuller, Gnomologists, 1700) Our vanity desires that what we do best should be considered what is hardest for us. (F. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 1880)

Several versions of the myth of narcissism survive. At the heart of the myth is the caution of misperception and self-love: the idea that inaccurate self-perceptions can lead to tragic and self-defeating consequences. There is a scale which goes from healthy high self-esteem, to very high, to pathologically high. While it is healthy to ‘feel good about yourself ’, narcissists are self-absorbed, focusing on and caring about, only themselves. Researchers have summarized the psychiatric diagnostic criteria of clinical Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) as: A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behaviour), lack of empathy and hypersensitivity to the evaluation of others, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by at least five of the following:

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1 Reacts to criticism with feelings of rage, shame or humiliation (even if not expressed). 2 Is interpersonally exploitative: takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends. 3 Has a grandiose sense of self-importance, e.g. exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be noticed as ‘special’ without appropriate achievement. 4 Believes that his or her problems are unique and can be understood only by other special people. 5 Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love. 6 Has a sense of entitlement: unreasonable expectation of especially favourable treatment, e.g., assumes that he or she does not have to wait in line when others must do so. 7 Requires constant attention and admiration, e.g., keeps fishing for compliments. 8 Lack of empathy; inability to recognize and experience how others feel, e.g., annoyance and surprise when a friend who is seriously ill cancels a date. 9 ‘Is preoccupied with feelings of envy’ (Oldham and Morris, 1991, pp. 93–4). Narcissism is a disorder of self-esteem. People with NPD self-destruct because their self-aggrandizement blinds their personal and business judgement and managerial behaviour. Their reaction to any sort of criticism is extreme, including shame, rage and tantrums. They aim to destroy that criticism, however well-intentioned and useful. They are poor empathizers and thus have low emotional intelligence. They can be consumed with envy and disdain of others, and are prone to depression as well as manipulative, demanding and selfcentred behaviours; even therapists don’t like them. Narcissists are boastful, pretentious and self-aggrandizing, over-estimating their own abilities and accomplishments while simultaneously deflating others. They compare themselves favourably to famous, privileged people, believing their own discovery as one of them is long overdue. They are surprisingly

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secure in their beliefs that they are gifted and unique and have special needs beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. Paradoxically, their self-esteem is fragile, needing to be bolstered by constant attention and admiration from others. They expect their demands to be met by special favourable treatment. In doing so they often exploit others because they form relationships specifically designed to enhance their self-esteem. They lack empathy, being totally self-absorbed. They are also envious of others and begrudge them their success. They are well known for their arrogance and their disdainful, patronizing attitude. The two dimensions of NPD are often referred to as grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Grandiose narcissism primarily reflects traits related to aggression and dominance, while vulnerable narcissism reflects a defensive, insecure grandiosity that obscures feelings of inadequacy, incompetence and depression. The primary feature shared by both dimensions of narcissism is a tendency to act antagonistically towards others. Vulnerable narcissists have grandiose fantasies but are timid, insecure and consequently do not appear narcissistic on the surface. Grandiose narcissists have higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction and are more exhibitionistic than vulnerable narcissists. Narcissists are unsupportive but demand support for themselves. All are unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others in and out of work. They have desperately low emotional intelligence, though are apparently unaware of this. Indeed, they may assume they have superior emotional intelligence. Curiously, they are often envious of others and believe that others are envious of them. In this sense they are deluded. They show arrogant, haughty behaviours or attitudes all the time and everywhere at work (and home). Narcissists are super self-confident: they express considerable self-certainty. They are ‘self-people’ – self-asserting, self-possessed, self-aggrandizing, self-preoccupied, self-loving – and ultimately self-destructive. They seem to really believe in themselves: they are sure that they have been born lucky. At work they are outgoing, high energy, competitive and very ‘political’, depending of course on their normal (big five) trait profile. Thus the extraverted

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conscientious narcissist may be rather different from those more neurotic and open. They can make reasonable short-term leaders as long as they are not criticized, or made to share glory. They seem to have an insatiable need to be admired, love and be needed. This can appear amusing or pathetic to outside observers. They are often a model of the ambitious, driven, self-disciplined, successful leader or manager. The world, they believe and demand, is their stage.

references Dotlich, D. & Cairo, P. (2003). Why CEOs Fail. New York: Jossey Bass. Furnham, A. (2015). Backstabbers and Bullies. London: Bloomsbury. Kets de Vries, M. (2006). The Leader on the Couch. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Oldham, J., & Morris, L. (1991). Personality self-portrait. New York: Bantam.

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Networks and Networking

Of two close friends, one is always the slave of the other. (Mikhail Lermontov, A Hero of our Time, 1820) Our feelings towards our friends reflect our feelings towards ourselves. (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics)

Who are the really powerful people in your organization? Who are at the centre of the action and who are the socially isolated? Who do people turn to in a crisis and who do they most and least trust? We all know the organizational chart, or organigram, as the Americans call it, is of little or no use. It is a neat HR-based diagram of reporting structures and lines of responsibility. Yet it is obvious that it has little to do with how the business really works. Informal friendship and power networks are a function of many things: personality, propinquity and motivation, years in the organization, etc. Smart people seek to know how the organization really works: who has real power and influence. Organizational networks, not hierarchies, determine organizational success today. Less successful managers often don’t recognize how these connections work, limiting their ability to identify, assess and adjust organizational strategies. Understanding networks is vital for success; whether by making friends and influencing people, being associated with the right people or seeking advice or personal support.

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Apart from the formal organizational structure, employees form their own networks in order to get professional advice, make decisions and receive personal support. Often it is through these informal interactions that work really gets done. For well on 80 years researchers have been doing sociometry. Sociometry is a quantitative method for measuring social relationships and is widely considered as the precursor to social network analysis. Jacob Moreno, a Gestalt theorist who developed the method, defined it as the ‘science of group organization, it attacks the problem not from the outer structure of the group, the group surface, but from the inner structure’. The idea was to reveal the hidden structures that give a group its form: the cabals, the deviants, the non-believers, the snipers. It is always fascinating to see the X-ray of the organization that sociometry revealed. But things have moved on, and with fancy statistics and some clever questionnaires we can see what is really going on in organizations. Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) in organizations is used to shed light on these informal interaction networks in order to diagnose potential misalignments in the organizational structure. By disclosing where certain relations exist and where they are missing, ONA can help to mitigate such dysfunctions to reduce high project costs caused by team workflow inefficiencies. Graphical visualization allows for an in-depth understanding of various different types of relations between employees. The graphs are captivating. They show intra- and inter-departmental communication and belief patterns. They show how some individuals are in effect brokers between departments. They show how little trusted some managers are, and also surprising how some relatively lowly people are really at the centre of important networks. At an individual level, it is possible to identify and characterize individuals with key network role such as central connectors, information brokers and rising stars. Gaining an understanding of their personal characteristics (e.g. personality, attitudes, values etc.) and position in the network permits purposeful resource allocation and process improvement.

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Central connectors are the most prominent people with the highest number of direct connections. They are typically emotionally stable extraverts. They are high self-monitors, meaning that they are very socially aware and adaptable. They are of course very good communicators but may be overloaded. Further, if the team is overly dependent on him/ her, he/she may be a bottleneck, slowing down information flow and decision-making processes. Information brokers are high-leverage individuals connecting people across functional, hierarchical or geographical boundaries. These people can drive change, effectively diffuse information and bridge diverse perspectives and opinions. Many are experts and known for this knowledge and good judgement. Take them away and information exchange is slow and inefficient. Rising stars are unrecognized individuals who occupy key positions in the informal network but not in the formal hierarchy. Often the ‘people at the top’ have no idea about the importance of these people in the power play. Equally the ‘grownups’ often believe that some people are rising stars when in effect they are almost social isolates.

Insightful people all know that they need to understand the ‘real’ power map of the organization. They try to get to know through networking who knows what, who does what and who controls what. It can take a long time to do this and can be a hit and miss affair. But now ONA can do this in a matter of hours.

sex differences in networks Why do men make it to the top more often than women? One argument is that women do not have the same access to career enhancing networks as men. Academic studies have shown that establishing powerful networks is beneficial for many reasons,

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including increased motivation, social support, performance and individual career opportunities. Various studies provide evidence that men and women differ in the structure of their personal networks: men often have a greater number of instrumental ties, relationships that provide job-related resources, while women have a greater number of expressive ties, relationships that provide emotional and social support. Women tend to have smaller networks of stronger relationships, while men see their networks as a way to get ahead and are more interested in what the relationship can yield. Women like to get along with others, men ahead of others. It seems that men prefer to network with other men on both expressive and instrumental contents, women often choose other women for expressive contents only and prefer to go to males for instrumental contents. There are two important consequences of sex differences in networking. Men build ‘multiplex relations’ more than women. These are characterized by the exchange of both personal and professional resources. These relationships are shown to be key in the process of becoming a senior leader. Second, the preference of both males and females to have instrumental relations with males, results in females rarely being in informal/natural roles of influence which may negatively affect women’s ability to construct a credible leader identity. Where men predominate in positions of power, women often have a smaller pool of high-status individuals (women and men) to draw on. This difference partly stems from a reluctance of women to undertake the instrumental activities required to build a strong network.

references Ibarra, H. (1993). Network centrality, power, and innovation involvement: Determinants of technical and administrative roles. Academy of Management journal, 36(3), 471–501. Watson, J. (2012). Networking: Gender differences and the association with firm performance. International Small Business Journal, 30(5), 536–58.

63

Normality and Sanity

Insanity left him when he needed it most. (Roger McGough, Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, 1986)

Clinical psychologists study what they call abnormal behaviours. They look at the origins, manifestations and treatments of disordered habits, thoughts or drives. Inevitably these abnormalities cause stress. These may be caused by environmental, cognitive, genetic or neurological factors. For clinical psychology, the issue is not so much whether the behaviour is abnormal, as whether it is maladaptive and causing a person distress and social impairment. If a person’s behaviour seems irrational or potentially harmful to themselves and others we tend to think of that as abnormal. For the psychologist it is called psychopathology, for the layperson, madness or insanity. While it is relatively easy to spot people who are distressed or acting bizarrely it is much more difficult to define abnormality. NORMALITY VS ABNORMALITY: Five Different Ways of Looking at this problem Subjective: This is the idea that uses our behaviour and our values as the criteria of normality.

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So people like us are normal, those different are not. This approach also tends to think in simple categories or non-overlapping types: normal – abnormal – very abnormal. Normative: This is the idea that there is an ideal, desirable, state of how one should think and behave. Normality is perfection: the further from normality one is the more abnormal. It’s a more ‘what ought to be’ than ‘what is reasonably possible’ state of affairs. Cultural: Culture dictates trends in everything from dress to demeanour. Certain things are taboo, others are illegal. Again, the further away or different from culture norms a person appears to be, the more he or she is judged as abnormal. However, as culture beliefs and practices change so do definitions of normality. Statistical: All statisticians know the concept of the bell curve or the normal distribution. It has particular properties and is best known in the world of intelligence. This model has drawbacks in the fact that behaviour that occurs frequently does not necessarily make it healthy or desirable. Also, while it may work for abilities which are reasonably straightforward to measure, it is less easy with more subtle and multi-dimensional issues like personality or mental illness. Clinical: Social science and medical clinicians attempt to assess the effectiveness, organization and adaptiveness of a person’s functioning. Much depends on which dimensions are being assessed. Clinicians also accept that the normal–abnormal distinctions are grey and somewhat subjective, though they strive for reliable diagnosis. Abnormality is usually associated with poor adaptations, pain or bizarre behaviours.

generally agreed upon criteria Psychological definitions of abnormality revolve around half a dozen or so ‘generally agreed upon’ criteria. These have been called the 4Ds: distress, deviance, dysfunction and danger. Abnormality generally involves pain and suffering. Acute and chronic personal

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suffering is one criteria. Another is poor adaptation – not being able to do the everyday things of life, such as hold down a job, maintain happy interpersonal relationships and plan for the future. A very common criteria is irrationality – the person has bizarre, illogical beliefs about the physical or social world as well as very often, the spiritual world. Their behaviour is often incomprehensible to others. Abnormal people are often unpredictable; they can be very volatile, changing from one extreme to another and often quite unable to control their behaviour. Their behaviour is often very inappropriate. Almost by definition their abnormality is characterized by unconventional, rare and undesirable behaviours. It is sometimes called vivid and eccentric. In addition, abnormality has a moral dimension. It is associated with breaking rules, violating moral standards, disregarding social norms. Illegal, immoral, undesirable behaviour is abnormal. There is one other rather interesting criteria of abnormality. It’s the discomfort that is generated in people around abnormality. Observers, be they friends, family or just onlookers often feel uncomfortable around clear evidence of abnormality. The problems with any definition of abnormality are clear. First a healthy person in an unhealthy society is often labelled as abnormal. There have been many historical incidents where sick societies have been deeply intolerant of those who don’t obey or concur with their narrow (unhealthy, maladaptive) standards of belief and behaviour. Second of course, expert observers can’t agree on the categorization of normal vs. abnormal. Even when multiple criteria of abnormality are specified, there remains fundamental disagreement about whether a person is considered in some sense abnormal. Third, there is the actor–observer difference: who is to make the judgement? ‘Actors’ rarely think themselves abnormal: most of us are reasonably positive about ourselves and indeed have a great deal of information others do not have. Yet there are well-known traps and hazards in making a self-diagnosis. It is easier to be observers

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and label others abnormal, particularly those different from us or threatening to us. Fifty years ago Marie Jahoda proposed a simple but effective checklist to understand what ideal, mental health is. The six points are: 1 A positive attitude to the self: positive but realistic self-esteem. We need to feel (appropriately) good about ourselves. Having a strong sense of identity. 2 Self-actualization: the idea is that of contentment, achieving your goals and exploring your talents. Having an ability to self-regulate. 3 Autonomy: having a sense of independence and selfreliance. To function alone and not being dependent on others. Being well integrated with other people. 4 Resistance to stress: not feeling in a constant stage of stress, or that one has not got good coping strategies to deal with it. Having a sense of personal growth. 5 Environmental mastery: a sense that one can adapt easily to new situations and life circumstances and be successful and well-adapted. 6 Accurate perception of reality: having a worldview similar to that of others. Not having distorted views.

references Furnham, A. (2015). Psychology: 50 ideas you really need to know. London: Quercus. Jahoda, M. (1958). Current concepts of positive mental health. London: Penguin.

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Obedience and Conformity

The American ideal, after all, is that everyone should be as much alike as possible. (James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son, 1955) Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. (Oscar Wilde, De Profundis, 1881)

Why do people comply, conform and obey the orders of others? Obedience and conformity are not the same, and differ in the following four ways: ●●

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Hierarchy: conformity regulates the behaviour of equal status subjects whereas obedience links one status to another. Imitation: conformity is imitation, whereas obedience is not. Explicitness: in obedience the prescription for action (an order) is explicit, whereas in conformity the requirement of going along with the group is implicit. Voluntarism: because conformity is a response to implicit pressure the subject interprets his/her own behaviour as voluntary.

However, the obedience situation is publicly defined as one devoid of voluntarism and thus the person can fall back on the

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public definition of the situation as the full explanation of his/ her action. There are two very famous conformity experiments in psychology. The first was called the auto-kinetic study. People sat in a completely darkened room but could see a completely stationary pinpoint of light. They were asked to call out if they saw it moving. Stooges in the room cried things like ‘yes, slightly to the left’; then ‘me too, there is definite movement’. But it was completely stationary. The question was: how many others claimed to see it move following the cries of the stooges? A more famous study required people to join a small group of what they thought were people like themselves but they were actually experimental stooges. They were told they had to judge whether a set of lines were longer or shorter than each other, but soon all the group gave an obvious wrong answer. The question is: whether, when and why did the real subject conform? The study then manipulated many variables and found a number of factors that influenced the amount of conformity. 1 Task Difficulty & Ambiguousness: The less the conformity with ambiguous stimuli, the more subjects look to others as sources of information, especially opinion and abilities that have reference to social reality. 2 Nature of Stimuli: It worked with different judgements such as metronome clicks, attitude items, arithmetic problems – and there were many differences. 3 Source Certainty: The more certain you are in the source’s ability, the more conformity. 4 Group Size: Some evidence that it does not matter how many people are involved (two, four or six), other evidence for a curvilinear crucial ‘threshold’ of four. Real-life, bigger groups may pose greater threat. 5 Uncertainty of Group Judgement: One dissenter to break unanimity has a considerable effect on group judgement. But it can happen to a lesser degree with an extreme dissenter who responds even more indirectly than the group.

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6 Group Composition & Attraction: Homogeneity is important. Males conform less to mixed groups, than male-only groups. If the situation demands unanimity the person attracted to the group conforms more; but if the group demands the right answer, they will not. 7 Group Acceptance: Accepted, more secure, members conform less. The most dramatic experiment in psychology in the twentieth century was that of Stanley Milgram (1974) whose book caused a storm. What the study showed was that nice, normal, middleclass Americans were prepared, for a $4 fee, to shock to death an innocent man who wasn’t too hot on memorizing paired words. Milgram told the person they were there to take part in an experiment on human learning. Their particular job consisted of delivering electric shock to a learner – a jolly middle-aged man – each time he made an error in learning associations between paired words. The experimental sessions began innocuously enough, the learner got some of the pairs right, but he soon made an error and was ‘given’ a mild 15-volt shock. At 75 volts, the learner grunted in pain. At 150 volts the ‘learner’ screamed, ‘Experimenter get me out of here! I won’t be in the experiment anymore!’ The learner continued to cry out in pain, with his cries increasing in intensity, becoming agonized screams once the shocks reached 270 volts. The experimenter and ‘teacher’ were now engaged in torture! At 300 volts, the learner shouted in desperation that he would no longer respond to the word pairs. The experimenter – our, cold, steely authority figure – matter-of-factly informed the subject to treat no response as if it were an error, and to go on administering shocks. Twenty-six of the 40 male volunteers who took part in the experiment continued to the end; exactly the same number of men as women continued to the end. The fully obedient subjects stopped administering the 450-volt shocks to the victim only when the experimenter told them to stop.

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factors that affect obedience Proximity to victim  Subjects obey the closer they are to a suffering victim. Proximity to authority  Subjects obey less the further away the authority who gives command is. Institutional setting  Conducting Milgram’s obedience experiments in a run-down office building away from Yale University reduced obedience only slightly. Conformity pressures Obedient peers increase subject’s obedience; rebellious peers greatly reduce obedience. Role of person giving People obey others most when others are perceived to be legitimate. Commands  In Milgram’s studies, subjects generally obeyed the experiment but did not obey other subjects. Personality traits  In Milgram’s studies, assessed traits correlated weakly with obedience. Gender  Milgram found no difference between men and women in their average levels of obedience. Cultural differences  Cross-cultural replication show some variation across cultures, but obedience in Milgram-type studies tends to be high regardless of culture. Attitudinal factors Religious people are more likely to obey in Milgram-type experiments. Ideological factors Attitudes towards individual responsibility and towards obedience influence whether people hold individuals responsible for crimes of obedience.

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references Asch, S.E. (1952b). Social psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Blass, T. (1991). ‘Understanding behavior in the Milgram obedience experiment: The role of personality, situations and their interactions’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 60 (3): 398–413. Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to Authority. New York: Harper & Row.

65

Office Politics: The Cynical and the Savvy

A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but protect the writer. (Dean Acheson) Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his political life. (Jeremy Thorpe, 1962)

Office politics is a seriously bad thing. Ask people what they mean and they say backstabbing, brown-nosing, bootlicking, style-oversubstance, manipulative, hidden agendas, old boy networks, deals under the table, turf struggles, testosterone overload. Ask people to rate their organization on a 10-point scale and a few are bound to say 11. So why does it occur in some organizations more than others? Here are some possible explanations: excessive competition at the top; ambiguous goals for individuals and departments; complex structures; having no clear definition of performance; high (or very low) level of change; punishment culture; limited resources; and jobs being at risk. What are the key features of the concept? First, perhaps, is the secrecy, the covert agendas and the under-handedness of it all. There are the insiders and the outsiders. Politics is exclusionary. Office politics is about processes, procedures and decisions that are not meant to be scrutinized. Politics is about opaqueness not transparency. Second, there is impression management. Another

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word for this may be hypocrisy. Third, office politics are about selfinterest. They are concerned with power and all of the trappings like money and prestige. It is about select groups hijacking activities, processes and procedures to secure their (and only their) interests. Covert groupings of individuals based on clan, ideology or simply greed, co-operate with each other to obtain an unfair share of the resources of an organization. In this sense, office politics act against long-term organizational interests at least from a shareholder perspective. The negative view is clear. Politics causes distrust, conflict and lowered productivity. People do not openly share, they are guarded. They spend too much time and energy ingratiating themselves to the in-group and try to work the system.

savvy But there is another perspective and it’s much more positive. Office politics is about building and strengthening networks and coalitions: it is about getting together movers and shakers prepared to do the hardest thing of all – make change happen. About driving through necessary but unpopular strategies. About identifying those with energy and vision – those who command various constituencies. Researchers in this area claim you can divide people into those who believe organizations are rational, logical and just and those who see them as human systems with many foibles (DeLuca, 1999). Those who take the first view are political avoiders: some are cynics, others believe success results from hard work. Those who take the second view – political engagers – are divided into Machiavellians and the savvy. Both are politically aware, but the latter act with integrity while the former do not. Savvy people recognize that at work some people have more power than others, either through hierarchy or some other basis of influence. For most, gaining promotion is important, and this can create competition between individuals, or misalignment between the team’s objectives and those of individuals within it. Most people care about decisions at work and this encourages political

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behaviour as they seek to get their way. Decisions at work are impacted by both work-related goals and personal factors, which causes conflict. People and teams within organizations often have to compete for limited resources, which can lead to conflict where teams compete to satisfy their needs and objectives, even when this is against the greater good. Politically savvy people tend to: 1 Partner with your boss: Unless you have unique and irreplaceable knowledge or skills (or are related to the CEO), your boss has more power than you do. Politicallysavvy people know how to ‘manage up’. 2 Be a team player: With a wide network of relationships, you will have more information about what’s going on. Politically savvy people develop positive relationships in all directions. 3 Understand the power map: Organizations are power hierarchies. And from time to time, that power shifts. To succeed, you need to know where the leverage lies – who has influence (formal/informal), who doesn’t, and how much you have yourself. 4 Practise subtle self-promotion: No one can appreciate you if they don’t know what you’re doing. Find natural ways to mention achievements and challenges, like sending regular progress reports to your boss or chatting about your projects at lunch. 5 Connect with powerful people: The big decisions about your career will be made (or endorsed) by people above your boss, so you need to make sure they know who you are. Since you may have limited access, look for interaction opportunities and be ready with a question to ask or information to share. 6 Commit to the business: An indifferent, apathetic attitude never impressed anyone. If you want decision-makers to think well of you, you need to be interested in, and excited about, the business, because you can bet they are. Politically savvy people choose a career that they find interesting and energizing.

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political skill Savvy people have political skill which is: The ability to effectively understand others at work and to use such knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal and/or organizational objectives. It has four factors: 1 Social Astuteness: This is about being perceptive, insightful, attuned to all the vagaries and nuances of everyday interactions. It is about being psychologically minded. It is about being aware of self and others: how you are ‘coming across’, what they are really saying. 2 Interpersonal Influence: This is about being persuasive in different contexts. It inevitably means being adaptable and flexible, being a good negotiator and skilful. 3 Networking ability: This is understanding the usefulness of, and more importantly to be able to establish, a range of alliances, coalitions and friendship networks. This involves the serious skills of deal making, conflict management and negotiation. 4 Apparent Sincerity: This is about being able to look authentic and genuine on all occasions, irrespective of what you really think or feel. Office politics is inevitable. Everyone can learn to be savvy and politically skilful and aware and most importantly act with integrity.

references Deluca J. (1999). Political Savvy. Berwyn, Pennsylvania: Evergreen. Ferris, et al. (2005). Development and validation of the political skill inventory. Journal of Management, 31, 126–152.

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Parenting Style and Attachment

The art of being a parent consists in sleeping when the baby isn’t looking. (Proverb) Children unavoidably treat their parents as though they were experts on life. (Adam Phillips, Terrors and Experts, 1995) Parentage is a very important profession, but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children. (G.B. Shaw, Everybody’s Political What’s What? 1930)

It is immediately apparent to any observer that there are many systematic and consistent differences in the way parents behave towards their children. Many factors influence this, including the parent’s age and social class; their social, religious and cultural values as well as their personality and cognitive ability. It has been asserted that people tend to parent as they were parented because, that is, for most people, their only role model. What is clear, however, is that parenting style certainly has many major and important consequences. Two dimensions of parental rearing styles emerge consistently from the various methods employed to study parenting patterns: ●●

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The first, separates parents that are controlling and demanding from those that are not demanding. The second, differentiates between parents that are childcentred, accepting and responsive and those that are parent-centred, rejecting and unresponsive.

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For over 30 years developmental psychologists have attempted to come up with a parsimonious and sensitive categorical scheme that would accurately describe a very different style. This is a necessary prerequisite for doing research in the area. Inevitably there are different models and schemes and consequentially different methods of measuring them. There is, however, more overlap and agreement than disagreement. Baumrind (1982) did a large-scale study on the different patterns of parental authority employed in raising children. She suggested three types of parenting (authoritative, authoritarian and permissive) behaviours that have empirically been associated with different outcomes for the children. 1 Authoritative parents are viewed as ideal for child development as they combine control and acceptance with child-centred involvement. They are strict and expect appropriate levels of discipline and behaviour, but are willing to explain the reasons behind rules and punishments, and will often value the child’s point of view. These parents are perceived by their children as warm and nurturing. The children in turn tend to be: independent, assertive, co-operative with adults, friendly with peers, intellectually successful, enjoy life and possess a strong motivation to achieve. 2 Authoritarian parents are typically more dictatorial in their dealings with their children. They have an absolute set of standards to which children must conform. They are perceived to be not particularly warm or affectionate. This style of parenting supposedly tends to produce children low on self-reliance, responsibility and achievement motivation. 3 Permissive parenting is characterized by accepting, responsive, child-centred, non-punitive parents who place few demands on their children, leaving them to exercise as much control as possible over their own activities. Children of this parenting style tend to be very positive in their moods and possess more vitality than those of authoritarian

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psych ology 1 01 parents. Their behaviour, however, is less mature due to low impulse control, responsibility and self-reliance.

Having defined these characteristic parenting patterns one should note that most parents use a combination of all three styles, calling on a particular style as and when it is appropriate.

It is suggested that permissive parents tend to make fewer demands on their children than do other parents, allowing them to regulate their own activities as much as possible. Thus permissive parents are generally less controlling and tend to use a minimum of punishment with their children. Authoritarian parents, tend to be highly directive with their children and expect unquestioning obedience in their exercise of authority over their children. Baumrind argues that authoritarian parents discourage verbal give-and-take with their children, favouring instead punitive measures to control their children’s behaviour. Baumrind saw parental style as a spectrum with permissive and authoritarian parents at either end and authoritative parents falling somewhere in between these extremes. She saw authoritative parents as providing clear and firm direction for their children, but also warmth, reason and verbal exchange. Researchers have found clear relationships between a parenting style and many child, adolescent and adult behaviours. They include everything from drug taking and delinquency to educational attainment and economic behaviour. Carlson & Grossbart (1998) distinguished between five parental styles and considered how they relate to consumer socialization: authoritarian, permissive, rigid controlling, authoritative and neglecting. Authoritarian parents seek high levels of control over children because they view children as dominated by egotistical and impulsive forces. These parents judge children’s conduct by religious or other standards endorsed by authority figures: expect unquestioned obedience, strictly enforce rules and discourage

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and punish wilful behaviour. Authoritarians believe in parent omnipotence, keeping children in subordinate roles, restricting expression of autonomy and not encouraging verbal exchanges between parents and children. Authoritarians believe children have few rights, but have adult responsibilities. Rigid Controlling parents are similar to Authoritarians, except that calm detachment limits their emotional involvement in children’s socialization. Like Authoritarian and Rigid Controlling, Neglecting parents also maintain distant relations with children. However, they neither seek nor exercise much control over children, perhaps because they are self-involved and deny or wish to avoid obligations to provide guidance. Their limited restrictiveness is coupled with a relative lack of warmth or anxious concern about the child’s development. They see children as having a few rights or responsibilities that require parental attention, as being capable of meeting many of their own needs, and recruiting little communication reinforcement. Hence, neglecting parents do little to monitor or directly encourage their children’s capabilities to function autonomously. (p.78).

So in terms of parental warmth, the neglecting parents have the lowest, and the permissive and authoritative the highest. Yet authoritative are the most restrictive on certain issues whereas the permissive the least restrictive. The parental styles differ on all sorts of issues from the quality and quantity of parent–child communication to how the parents control, restrict and mediate things like television viewing consumption.

references Baumrind, D. (1982). Are androgynous individuals more effective persons and parents? Child Development, 53, 44–75. Carlson, L., & Grossbart, S. (1998). Parental style and consumer socialization of children. Journal of Consumer Research, 15, 77–94.

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Passive-Aggressiveness: The Stereotypical Mother-In-Law

The tendency to aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man. (Sigmund Freud, Civilisation and its Discontents, 1902) The greatest remedy for anger is delay. (Seneca, De Ira, 4 BC–65 AD) A soft answer turneth away wrath. (Bible: Proverbs)

One of the most controversial of the personality disorders is PassiveAggressive Personality Disorder (PAPD). The concept originated in the American military soon after the Second World War to describe difficult, childlike soldiers who were, in effect, social dissidents. The originally described behaviours regarding shirking duty by ‘wilful incompetence’ were then applied by psychiatrists to those in civilian life. One of the dozen or so PDs listed in the early American Psychiatric Manual (DSM-I) published in 1952 was PAPD. Within this framework three related types were identified: passive dependent who were described as clingy, helpless and constantly indecisive; passive-aggressive who were inefficient, pouty, stubborn, prone to procrastination and very obstructive; and aggressive who were destructive, irritable and resentful. Sixteen years later the latter two types were merged into PAPD.

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It was suggested that people with PAPD ‘snipe rather than confront’, and mask their opposition to, and rebellion against, authority. They are noted to shirk responsibility and sabotage others. The list of symptoms grew as the DSM manuals were updated to include behaviours such as apparent forgetfulness, dawdling and intentional inefficiency. However, by the third edition of the manual, PAPD was dropped because it was thought of not as a syndrome or disorder, but a specific behavioural response to particular (work) situations. That is, it was situation specific, not a trait, a response pattern possibly with its origins in childhood socialization. By the fourth edition of the manual (DSM-IV) the syndrome was renamed negativistic, but was appendicized rather than put in the main text. Many of the behavioural descriptions remained the same, such as resistance to routine tasks, consistent complaints about being misunderstood, sullen argumentativeness, scorn of all those in authority, envy and resentment of the relatively fortunate, perpetual and exaggerated complaints of personal misfortune.

popular versions This personality type is very concerned about ‘doing their own thing’. They demand the ‘right to be me’. They have a right to do their thing in their way and no one has the right to deprive them of it. They believe at work and in private relationships nobody has the right to own them. They like the companionship of others but need strong defences against being ill-used. They are particularly sensitive to fairness. Passive-aggressive types are not usually stressed. They sulk, procrastinate and forget when asked to do things they think are not fair. They are called passive-aggressive because they are rarely openly defiant; yet they are often angry. They snipe rather than confront and they are often furious – and then can be needy but resentful about those moods. They are in essence oppositional: not assertive. They often have downward job mobility.

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The DSM-III-R disorder as:

describes

passive-aggressive

personality

‘A pervasive pattern of passive resistance to demands for adequate social and occupational performance, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by at least five of the following:

1 Procrastinates, i.e., puts off things that need to be done so that deadlines are not met. 2 Becomes sulky, irritable or argumentative when asked to do something he or she does not want to do. 3 Seems to work deliberately slowly or to do a bad job on tasks that he or she really does not want to do. 4 Protests, without justification, that others make unreasonable demands on him or her. 5 Avoids obligations by claiming to have ‘forgotten’. 6 Believes that he or she is doing a much better job than others think he or she is doing. 7 Resents useful suggestions from others concerning how he or she could be more productive. 8 Obstructs the efforts of others by failing to do his or her share of the work. 9 Unreasonably criticizes or scorns people in positions of authority’ (pp. 212–13). Sometimes these people are called leisurely. These types march to the sound of their own drum, they are confident about their skills and abilities, cynical about the talents and intentions of others – especially superiors, and they insist on working at their own pace. They tend to get angry and slow down even more when asked to speed up. They tend to feel mistreated, unappreciated and put upon – and when they sense that they have been cheated, they retaliate, but always under conditions of high deniability. They are

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curiously quite skilled at hiding their annoyance and pretending to be co-operative, and their peevishness and foot dragging are often very hard to detect. Passive-aggressives handle stress and heavy workloads by slowing down, by simply ignoring requests for greater output, and by finding ways to get out of work. Because they seem overtly co-operative and agreeable, it takes a long time to realize how unproductive and refractory they actually can be. One needs to be aware that they are not nearly as co-operative as they seem, and that they are only pretending to agree with you about work and performance issues. Also one needs to get them to commit to performance goals in public, in front of witnesses, so that a community of people can hold them accountable. Social pressure won’t change their views of the world, but it will serve to make their performance deficits less easily deniable. Oldham and Morris (1991) claim the following five traits and behaviours are clues to the presence of what they too call the leisurely style. A person who reveals a strong leisurely tendency will demonstrate more of these behaviours more intensely than someone with less of this style in his or her personality profile. 1 Inalienable rights. They believe in their right to enjoy themselves on their own terms in their own time. 2 Enough is enough. They sort-of play by the rules. They deliver what is expected of them and no more. 3 The right to resist. They can easily resist acceding to demands that they deem unreasonable or above and beyond the call of duty. 4 Mañana. They are relaxed about time and never obsessed by time urgency or the demands of the clock. Surprisingly, they are easy-going and optimistic that whatever needs to get done will get done, eventually. 5 I’m okay. They are never impressed by authority. They accept themselves and their approach to life.

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references Furnham, A. (2014). Bullies and Backstabbers. London: Bloomsbury. Furnham, A., & Crump, J. (2017). Personality Correlates of PassiveAggressiveness: A NEO-PI-R domain and facet analysis of the HDS Leisurely Scale. Journal of Mental Health, 57, 117–22. Oldham, J., & Morris, L. (1991). Personality self-portrait. New York: Bantam References.

68

Personality Disorders: ‘Dark-Side Traits’

In graduate school, I learned this simple distinction: when people are driving themselves crazy, they have neuroses or psychoses. When they drive other people crazy, they have personality disorders. (Albert J. Bernstein, Emotional Vampires: Dealing with People Who Drain You Dry) Many people with a personality disorder recover over time. Psychological or medical treatment is often helpful, but support is sometimes all that’s needed. (NHS advice)

Psychologists are interested in personality traits; psychiatrists in personality disorders. Psychiatrists are interested in personality functioning. They talk about personality disorders that are typified by early onset (recognizable in children and adolescents), pervasive effects (in all aspects of life) and with relatively poor prognosis (that is difficult to cure). Over the years, psychiatrists have labelled various disorders: eating disorders, sexual and gender identity disorders, anxiety disorders, mood disorders. They have made great strides in clarifying and specifying diagnostic criteria and these can be found in the various Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (called DSM for short). They have changed over the years and it is now in its fifth edition. Psychiatrists and psychologists share some simple assumptions with respect to personality. Both argue for the stability of

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personality. The DSM criteria talk of ‘enduring pattern’, ‘inflexible and pervasive’ or ‘stable and of long duration’. The pattern of behaviour is not a function of drug usage or some other medical condition. The personality pattern furthermore is not a manifestation or consequence of another mental disorder. One factor does differentiate the two: dysfunctionality. Both argue that the personality factors relate to cognitive, affective and social aspects of functioning. In other words, the disorder or traits affects how people think, feel and act. It is where a person’s behaviour ‘deviates, markedly’ from the expectations of an individual’s culture that the disorder is manifest. The psychiatric manual is very clear that ‘odd behaviour’ is not simply an expression of habits, customs, religious or political values professed or shown by people of particular cultural origin. The DSM manuals note that personality disorders all have a long history and have an onset no later than early adulthood. Moreover, there are some gender differences: thus the antisocial disorder is more likely to be diagnosed in men while the borderline, histrionic and dependent personality more likely to be found in women. The manuals are at lengths to point out that some of the personality disorders look like other disorders: anxiety, mood, psychotic, substance-related, etc. but have unique features. The essence of the argument is that ‘Personality Disorders must be distinguished from personality traits that do not reach the threshold for a Personality Disorder. Personality traits are diagnosed as a Personality Disorder only when they are inflexible, maladaptive, and persisting and cause significant functional impairment or subjective distress.’ (p. 633) The DSM-IV provides a clear summary: ‘General diagnostic criteria for a Personality Disorder A An enduring pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture. This pattern is manifested in two (or more) of the following areas:

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1 cognition (i.e., ways of perceiving and interpreting self, other people and events). 2 affectivity (i.e., the range, intensity, liability and appropriateness of emotional response). 3 interpersonal functioning. 4 impulse control. B The enduring pattern is inflexible and pervasive across a broad range of personal and social situations. C The enduring pattern leads to clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning. D The pattern is stable and of long duration and its onset can be traced back at least to adolescence or early childhood. E The enduring pattern is not better accounted for as a manifestation or consequence of another mental disorder. F The enduring pattern is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., head trauma).’ (pp. 633). According to the manual there are ten or more defined and distinguishable personality disorders. Paranoid Personality Disorder is a pattern of distrust and suspiciousness such that others’ motives are interpreted as malevolent. Schizoid Personality Disorder is a pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of emotional expression. Schizotypal Personality Disorder is a pattern of acute discomfort in close relationships, cognitive or perceptual distortions, and eccentricities of behaviour. Antisocial Personality Disorder is a pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others. Borderline Personality Disorder is a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image and affects, and marked impulsivity.

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Histrionic Personality Disorder is a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and lack of empathy. Avoidant Personality Disorder is a pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy and hypersensitivity to a negative evaluation. Dependent Personality Disorder is a pattern of submissive and clinging behaviour related to an excessive need to be taken care of. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder is a pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism and control. There is, however, another better-known method to categorize the personality disorders. All DSM recommendations are that the PDs may be formed into three clusters. Cluster A (odd, bizarre, eccentric): Paranoid PD, Schizoid PD, Schizotypal PD. Cluster B (dramatic, erratic): Antisocial PD, Borderline PD, Histrionic PD, Narcissistic PD. Cluster C (anxious, fearful): Avoidant PD, Dependent PD, Obsessive-compulsive PD. One of the most important ways to differentiate personal style from personality disorder is flexibility. There are lots of difficult people at work but relatively few whose rigid, maladaptive behaviours mean they continually have disruptive, troubled lives. It is their inflexible, repetitive, poor stress-coping responses that are marks of disorder. Personality disorders influence the sense of self – the way people think and feel about themselves and how other people see them. The disorders often powerfully influence interpersonal relations at work. They reveal themselves in how people ‘complete tasks, take and/or give orders, make decisions, plan, handle external and internal demands, take or give criticism, obey rules, take and delegate responsibility, and co-operate with people’ (Oldham & Morris, 1991, p. 24). The antisocial, obsessive–compulsive, passiveaggressive and dependent types are particularly problematic in the workplace.

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People with personality disorders have difficulty expressing and understanding emotions. It is the intensity with which they express them and their variability that makes them odd. More importantly they often have serious problems with self-control.

references Furnham, A. (2016). Bullies and Backstabbers. London: Bloomsbury. Oldham, J. & Morris, L. (1991). Personality Self-portrait. New York: Bantam.

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Personality Theories and Tests

A man’s personality reflects others’ image and recognition of him. (Kimball Young, Social Psychology, 1945) I divide the world into two classes: those who divide the world into two classes and those who do not. (Anon) The choleric drinks, the melancholic eats, the phlegmatic sleeps. (Proverb)

There are over 100,000 personality tests published worldwide. In one study over 300 HR specialists who use a lot of tests in selection and training were asked various questions about some of the bestknown personality tests. These were the results: Your attitudes to Psychometric Tests Tests

Have you heard of this test? % YES

Have you completed this test? % YES

Does your organization use this test? % YES

How valid do you rate this test? 1–10

How useful is this test for Selection? 1-10

How useful is this test for Development? 1-10

16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)

85.5

63.9

28.6

6.94

6.16

6.59

Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i)

40.3

13.7

9.1

4.89

4.12

5.51

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Belbin Team Role Inventory

71.8

59.3

39.8

5.49

3.55

6.24

Big Five (NEO-PI-R)

62.5

41.5

22.9

7.20

6.37

6.49

California Personality Inventory (CPI)

46.3

23.0

7.5

6.87

5.42

5.71

Corporate Culture Questionnaire

28.2

9.3

4.6

5.29

3.81

4.90

Eysenck Personality Tests (EPI) (EPQ) (EPP)

62.8

27.1

7.1

6.44

5.25

5.42

Fundamental Interper61.3 sonal Relations Orientation Behaviour (FIRO-B)

39.9

31.3

6.35

4.55

6.71

Hogan Personality Questionnaires (HPI, HDS)

46.4

24.6

15.9

6.37

5.85

6.19

Kirton Adaptor Innovator Test (KAI)

26.3

8.5

3.3

5.12

4.20

5.23

Motivational Appraisal of Personnel Potential (MAPP)

25.1

5.7

3.3

5.31

4.98

5.23

Motivational Questionnaire

40.5

19.4

11.7

6.00

5.05

6.03

Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

84.2

72.2

55.6

6.92

3.82

7.25

Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ)

79.8

52.6

34.7

6.98

6.12

6.03

Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI)

51.4

12.1

6.3

5.59

4.44

5.33

Orpheus Personality Test

18.2

2.4

1.7

5.12

4.94

4.69

PASAT Sales Personality Test

19.2

5.3

1.3

5.24

5.15

4.87

Perception and Preference 31.3 Inventory (PAPI)

12.1

2.9

5.08

4.71

5.03

Personal Profile Analysis (PPA)

28.3

10.9

6.3

4.87

5.66

4.70

PRISM Team Preferences Questionnaire

13.4

7.3

1.6

4.54

4.35

4.58

Self-Directed Search

38.6

30.6

29.4

4.85

4.31

4.89

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There are various criteria to use when selecting a particular personality test: Single or multiple traits are measured. A single trait (measuring just one dimension) might be considered, or alternatively a trait system. Most personality theorists have tried to discover the basic, fundamental traits (such as the basic elements in the fundamental table) and then measure all of them. Cognitive or biological based traits are measured. For instance, some ‘traits’ or personality dimensions are quite clearly conceived of in cognitive terms These cognitive traits refer to the way people perceive the world, or attribute the cause of their own or others’ behaviour. On the other hand, some traits, e.g. extraversion or sensation-seeking are conceived of in biological terms, such that the person’s behaviour is a function of physiological, genetic or biochemical differences. ‘Normal’ and ‘abnormal’ traits can be measured. For instance, some traits are clearly conceived of in terms of abnormal behaviour, such as depression, psychopathy or hypochondriasis. These measure aspects of ‘abnormal’ behaviour which, although valid and, indeed, at times quite relevant to work-related behaviours, are less useful than ‘normal’ traits, because many working people do not exhibit these traits to any degree. However, this is not true of neuroticism, which is very common. Dynamic versus stylistic traits. This is the distinction made between Freudian and neo-Freudian ideas (such as the oral or anal personality, which supposedly measures deep-seated, possibly unconscious, needs and fears) and stylistic traits which do not presume the same aetiology (in childhood) or processes.

twelve myths about psychometric tests 1 All tests are biased, particularly with regard to sex and race. Some tests do show sex and race differences. This does

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not mean they are invalid but rather that they need to be used in a very particular way, checking against population norms. Any bias occurs in how they are used, not in what they measure. 2 All candidates fake and lie, making answers worthless. If everyone faked the good/ideal answer, they would all be the same and tests would have no validity. You can’t fake ability tests (only to do worse). There are a number of techniques that test constructors have for catching those who fake, including lie scales. 3 Testing is simply too costly in terms of time and money. If the cost of testing is taken into consideration compared to a candidate’s annual salary or the cost of failure and derailment, it is clearly very little. Some tests can be too expensive for what they provide, but the majority are very good value. 4 Tests are too unreliable: mood, health and the setting influence the results. In fact the opposite is true. Tests are surprisingly robust, yielding very similar results, on different occasions, a long time apart. They are just as reliable as most medical tests and much more so than some (blood pressure measures). 5 Tests do not predict work performance well enough. This is perhaps the most important issue. The question refers, however, to a very simple but very important point: what is the relationship between test scores and reliable and representative measures of work performance? Good tests have all the data in their manuals about this. 6 Most tests don’t or can’t measure really important things like integrity and motivation. This is simply not true as there are many tests of both integrity and motivation. In fact, there are over 50,000 tests of psychological factors in print.

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7 People change a lot over time anyway. The data show the opposite. After the mid-twenties there is surprisingly little change in personality to the mid-seventies. 8 All tests are pretty much the same: none out-performs the other. Tests trying to measure the same thing, like intelligence or personality, can be radically different. The question is not what the test looks like but rather evidence of their validity or reliability. 9 You can teach/train/coach anybody to be a great performer. The idea that anyone can become a brain surgeon or an airplane pilot with enough practice and training is still very popular. You need a set of certain characteristics (like intelligence level, body shape, certain gifts) to succeed at certain jobs. 10 Tests don’t spot ‘problem people’ well enough. There are numerous ‘clinical’ tests that set out to do just this. There must be 20–30 very well-established tests that measure ‘dark side’ variables. 11 Attitude, knowledge and skill are more important than intelligence and personality at work. No matter how bright an individual or how well fitted they are to a job, if they are not sufficiently intrinsically motivated very little can be done. Knowledge and skill can be taught: but this is affected by personality and intelligence. Brighter people learn faster. 12 The ‘old trio’ (application form, interviews and references) work well enough in selection. Again, this is partly true if: the application form collects biodata that is important and relevant to the job; the interview is planned and structured; the references are collected from people who know the candidate and are prepared to tell the truth.

references Furnham, A. (2008). Psychometric correlates of FIRO-B scores. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 16, 30–45.

per sonal i t y th eor i es an d te sts Furnham, A. (2010). Personality and Intelligence at Work. London: Routledge. Furnham, A., & Jackson, C. (2011). Practitioner reaction to work related psychological tests. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 26, 549–65.

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70

Persuasion: The Psychology of Influence

Why do we follow the majority? Is it because they are more right? No, but they are stronger. (Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1660) Reason is never aware of its hidden assumptions. (L.L. Whyte, The Unconscious Before Freud, 1962) The soft spoken salesman strikes the hardest bargain. (Anon) A salesman is someone who it is always a pleasure to bid goodbye to. (Anon)

the six principles of persuasion In a very important book, the American psychologist Cialdini (2007) proposes six key principles of persuasion, which can be employed to influence others. His work has been among the most influential in the whole of social psychology. 1 Reciprocity. When we are given something by another person, or treated well, we feel obliged to reciprocate the kind behaviour shown to us. We reciprocate in kind: you send me a Christmas card and I send another back; you buy me a drink and I ‘return the favour’. You spend money on me and I give it back in some way. All human societies subscribe to this rule. As humans we do not feel happy being indebted to someone and so offer something in return for what others have provided us with. Therefore, in

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order to persuade another person to do something for you, you should consider doing something for them. The whole psychology of the ‘free gift’, the coupon and the ‘taster’ is the psychology of reciprocation. The principle is: people (nearly always) repay in kind. 2 Commitment and Consistency. We (particularly in the West) have a drive to be consistent. When we make a commitment to do something, we experience personal and interpersonal pressure to behave as we have suggested that we will. Inconsistency is frowned upon and considered to be an undesirable personality trait by (Western) society and so is avoided. Making a small commitment can therefore result in significant behavioural changes. It is for this reason that politicians are so unwilling to answer questions that would seem to commit them to a certain strategy. It is also why salespeople ask very specific questions like ‘If the price were right, would you buy today?’ They know people feel foolish and dishonest if their words and actions do not match. Individuals have also been found to be increasingly willing to purchase a product related to a cause that they previously committed to (when buying a product a donation is made to a rainforest protection charity). The principle is: people tend to feel the need to fulfil written, public and voluntary commitment. 3 Social Proof. We use others’ behaviour to determine what is correct and accepted. We look for social proof: what others do, say and think. People are persuaded more by the actions of others than by any proof we can offer. This is proposed to be especially true when we are unsure of ourselves. If a decision is ambiguous, we are likely to accept others’ actions as the correct route. We are more likely to imitate behaviours of those who we consider similar to ourselves. People can therefore be persuaded by others’ actions: they are followers of fashion. If you want to persuade a

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psych ology 1 01 person in your life to act in a certain way, you can tell them stories of people similar to themselves and the actions that they engage in, in order to back up your own suggestions. If people are told most people in their area (immediate environment) complete their tax forms on time or own a particular product, they are more likely to ‘follow suit’. All parents know the power of peer pressure in their children. This is why hotel chains tell you that previous guests behave in a particular way (i.e. re-use their towels, use room service). The principle is: people follow the lead of others perceived to be like them.

4 Authority. Once an individual in a position of authority has given an order, we are said to stop thinking about the situation and to start responding as suggested. People show their authority by uniforms and titles; by particular ways of speaking or acting. In doing so they ‘command authority’, which means you are more likely to follow their advice. People like us can also employ the technique, through hinting to others how much we like a gadget or car belonging to a celebrity, for example; if they have it, it must be good. The principle is: people tend to defer to ‘experts’, ‘authorities’ or ‘celebrities’ who provide ‘shortcuts’ to decision-making (advice) requiring specialized information. In short, we follow those we respect. 5 Scarcity. Products will be more popular when they are available for ‘a limited time only’, or when they are in short supply and likely to sell out – ‘only 10 iPhones left in store’. Organizations have closing down sales showing the scarcity of time. Products show ‘limited editions’. Anything that is rare is seen to be more valuable. Any resource that is ‘running out’ is therefore seen as more desirable.

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Further, if you have some information that few other people have, businesses are willing to pay for it. Insights into specific consumer behaviour, for example, can be priced highly. In order to persuade, therefore, the scarcity of an aspect of the product should be highlighted. The principle is: people value (much more) what is scarce and rare. 6 Liking. We like people who are like us; and we tend more to follow their advice. Thus the more we share with others (language, education, worldview and religion) the more we are likely to be persuaded by them. A number of factors lead to ‘liking’. Physical attractiveness plays a role, with research showing that we believe goodlooking individuals have more desirable traits such as being kind and intelligent. We like those who are similar to us – this seems to be the case whether we are alike in terms of opinions, personality or lifestyle. Co-operating and having to work together to achieve mutual goals also results in liking. We also develop liking for those who compliment us, believing and accepting these compliments, as well as positive feelings towards those who have praised us. The principle is: people like others who are similar to them, who (also) say they like (compliment) them.

references Cialdini, R.B. (2007). ‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion’. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Gass, R., & Seiter, J. (2010). Persuasion, social influence, and compliance gaining (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

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Phobias: A Fear of Fear

I was afraid of small spaces and I was afraid of the tree outside my window, and I had all these phobias. I think many kids have those phobias, but I probably had more than most. (Steven Spielberg) I have three phobias ... I hate going to bed, getting up and hate being alone. (Tallulah Bankhead)

A phobia is an irrational fear that produces a strong avoidance of the feared subject, activity or situation. Generally phobias are categorized into three areas: fear of animate objects (spiders, snakes), fear of inanimate objects (needles, rubber) and fear of ambiguous situations (heights, darkness and open spaces). Interestingly one of the most common phobias is speaking in public. Some phobias are well known and others very rare. They can have a very dramatic impact on people’s lives. Thus the fairly common fear of flying essentially means that people have to travel by much slower, possibly more expensive, means to get to their destination. However, the good news is that psychologists say that of all the psychological problems, phobia is probably the most easy to cure. The two most well-known behavioural methods are flooding and desensitization. Consider a fear of birds. The flooding method might involve taking a phobic person to a bird sanctuary or to a room with many caged birds. They would of course be flooded

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with anxiety but hopefully learn to cope with it, seeing there is no danger. The desensitization method involves exposing people to birds slowly and cautiously so that they learn to cope with their fear. Hence they might be first shown pictures of small birds, then taken into a big room with an attractive caged bird in the far corner. Both methods work well. Phobias are very common: social phobia affects approximately 10 per cent of adults and specific phobias affect a similar number. People with severe forms of a phobia can experience panic attacks that include feelings of intense, overwhelming terror accompanied by symptoms such as sweating, shortness of breath or faintness. They can also get to the point where they begin to disrupt the individual’s life, interfering with work or their social relationships. The individual may resort to extreme measures to avoid the source of the phobia, with the possibility of isolating themselves and creating more problems in their ability to function. There are probably six quite distinct academic viewpoints on the aetiology of phobia.

1 The Behavioural viewpoint argues that phobias develop after a frightening experience that can occur at any time. Further, they can be learned by observing others, particularly family members. Phobias about seemingly non-traumatic objects and situations develop because they are associated with traumatic events. Evolutionary pressure partly determines what objects and events are likely to cause phobia because they are (or were) often life threatening. 2 The Psychoanalytic viewpoint is that phobias, like so much else, originate in early childhood experience. Particular phobias have symbolic meanings. Thus, proto-typically the fear of snakes is a facade for a real fear of unconscious sexual feelings towards inappropriate others. Because it is easier to avoid snakes than sexual impulse, a snake phobia develops.

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3 The Genetic viewpoint stresses the evidence that because phobias ‘run in families’ they are transmitted genetically. Some argue that because genes (in part) determine personality (i.e., neurosis) they directly affect the likelihood of the development of phobia. 4 The Cultural viewpoint, like the behavioural approach, stresses learning, but of a societal rather than an individual nature. Thus Italians, who are more likely to report or exaggerate personal fear and anxiety, report more phobia than the stoical British, whose cultural emotional repression and ‘stiff upper-lippedness’ makes them much less likely to report phobia. 5 The Biochemical viewpoint stresses that individual differences in brain chemistry make certain people more susceptible than others. Thus, if two people are exposed to the same anxiety-provoking experience, it is quite possible that only one would become phobic. 6 The Cognitive viewpoint suggests that what leads a person to develop a phobia after a particular experience is the way he or she cognitively interprets the situation. Thus, the perception of the likelihood of harm from the object may act to increase the anxiety and, hence, the probability of phobia. Clearly, these six viewpoints on the aetiology of phobia are linked. The behavioural, cultural and cognitive viewpoints are certainly not contradictory, although they do emphasize rather different features of the process. Similarly, the genetic and biochemical approaches are linked by a stress on physiological mechanisms. However, the behavioural, psychoanalytic and cognitive approaches appear to have dominated in the treatment of phobia. The behavioural approach often advocates systematic desensitization, implosive therapy/flooding or anxiety management training. Psychoanalysts would recommend free association and dream analysis, while cognitive psychologists would recommend attribution theory and other cognitive re-evaluation therapies.

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key study The Little Albert Experiment demonstrates how phobias are learnt, as opposed to being innate. Phobias are learnt through a process known as classical conditioning. Watson and Rayner (1920) conducted an experiment with a nine-month-old infant. They tested his reactions to various stimuli. The infant was shown a white rabbit, a monkey, a rabbit and various masks. First, the infant displayed no fear when shown the stimuli. Then the psychologists introduced a loud bang from a hammer being struck against a steel bar behind his head. This loud bang caused the infant to burst into tears. The experiment progressed to the infant only being shown a white rat and then seconds later the loud bang. This was done several times over several weeks, each time with the infant bursting into tears at the loud bang. The result of this was that the infant would begin to exhibit signs of distress when presented with the white rat, he would cry and attempt to crawl away. Further, in addition to the phobia of the white rat, the infant also developed phobias which shared similar characteristics to the rat, such as, a family dog, fur coat, Father Christmas mask and cotton wool. This suggests that while people can learn to cope with a phobia, it may still evoke latent reactions in the individual should they see a similar stimulus. Two points are worth making. First, it is very unlikely that this study would get through the ethics committee today. Second, just as it was possible to induce a phobia in Little Albert, so it was possible to cure him of it.

references Watson, J.B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3(1), pp. 1–14.

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Psychopaths: Watch Out, there are Many About

Virtually all of the research done in psychopathy is on the perpetrators, and we tend to ignore the tens of thousands of victims of these individuals. And most of the victims have nowhere to turn. They talk to their psychiatrist, psychologist, their friends, their employees, their priest, and they get nowhere because most people don’t understand the nature of psychopathic people. (Robert Hare) In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act. (George Orwell)

If you ask anybody about psychopaths, most tell you they think of the shower scene in the film Psycho. They think of these individuals as ruthless, cold killers. They know they have no empathy but few know that perhaps the most abiding characteristic of a psychopath is that they are without conscience or guilt.

definitions Psychopathy is a personality disorder. They are without conscience and incapable of empathy, have loyalty to anyone but themselves. They are callous and adventurous.

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Sociopathy is not a psychiatric term and refers to those who are antisocial and criminal by society. Sociopaths, often criminals, may have a well-developed conscience but their sense of right and wrong is not that of the wider society. Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a broad psychiatric diagnostic category. The difference between psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder is that the former includes personality traits such as lack of empathy, grandiosity and shallow emotion that are not necessary for a diagnosis of APD.

Various writers have tried to distinguish between subtly different types of psychopaths. These include: Primary psychopaths; Secondary [neurotic] psychopaths; Dissocial [antisocial] psychopaths; Inadequate psychopaths; Schizoid psychopaths; White-collar (‘successful’) psychopaths; Unsuccessful psychopaths (individuals who get caught); Sexual psychopaths; ‘Mild’ psychopaths; ‘Sub-criminal’ psychopaths. There has been an explosion of interest in the topic of late, with a particular interest in ‘successful business psychopaths’.

background In his famous book The Mask of Sanity, Cleckley (1941) first set out ten criteria that define the psychopath: superficial charm and intelligence; absence of anxiety in stressful situations; insincerity and lack of truthfulness; lack of remorse and shame; inability to experience love or genuine emotion; unreliability and irresponsibility; impulsivity and disregard for socially acceptable behaviour; clear-headedness with an absence of delusions or irrational thinking; inability to profit from experience; and lack of insight. Cleckley noted the slick but callous business person, the smooth-talking and manipulative lawyer and the arrogant and deceptive politicians as psychopaths. It was originally thought that the defining characteristics of psychopathy tend to fall on two dimensions. The first is

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socio-emotional where the psychopath is superficial and lacking in empathy, guilt or remorse. They are also deceitful and manipulative while being prone to egocentricity and grandiosity. The second is their social deviance is associated with boredom susceptibility, impulsivity and lack of self-control. In children they show evidence of behavioural problems and in adulthood antisocial behaviour. More recently it has been suggested that there are three themes that seem to characterize all psychopaths: Disinhibition: problems with impulse control leading to irresponsibility, unreliability and untrustworthiness.Boldness: fearless, tolerant of ambiguity, able to deal with stress and become dominant. Meanness: emotionally detached, defiant, competitive and rebellious. The latest American Psychiatric Manual (APA, 2015) notes seven clear factors that identify those with APD (pp. 659). 1 ‘Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviours, as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest. 2 Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure. 3 Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead. 4 Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults. 5 Reckless disregard for safety of self or others. 6 Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behaviour or honour financial obligations. 7 Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.’

psychopaths at work Psychopaths can easily look like ideal leaders: smooth, polished, charming. They can quite easily mask their dark side – bullying,

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amoral and manipulative. In the past it may be politics, policing, law, media and religion that attracted psychopaths but more and more it is the fast-paced, exciting, glamorous world of business. The issue with the psychopathic boss is whether they are subclinical vs. clinical psychopaths. Over the past 25 years there has been a sudden and dramatic rise in interest in psychopaths in the workplace where they go under various names like ‘corporate destroyers’ or ‘snakes in suites’. Psychopathy at work is a double-edged sword in the sense that it can predispose to both positive and negative outcomes. If one considers just two dimensions that have been isolated – fearless dominance and self-centred impulsivity – it seem clear that the former may really help people ‘climb the greasy pole of business life’ while the latter is associated with poor leadership. The idea that a psychopath could be (highly) successful in business settings is based on the spectrum concept which suggests that one can have degrees of psychopathy. Some of the ideas coming out of this literature are that psychopathic traits seem over-represented in certain groups like senior business people. Also it is asserted that in business, psychopathic traits are associated with lack of integrity, aggression and counter-productive behaviours.

popular descriptions Some popular books have tried to describe psychopaths in non-technical language so they can be easily recognized. They describe the psychopath in popular terminology which makes it easier for non-specialists to spot. Oldham and Morris (1991) define them by the following criteria: 1 Nonconformity: They live by their own internal code of values and ignore other people or the norms of society. 2 Challenge: They are dare-devils who love the thrill of risk. 3 Mutual independence: They do not care about others, only themselves.

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4 Persuasiveness: The clever ones are charming and gifted in making friends and influencing people. 5 Relishing sex: They often have a strong (and abnormal) sex drive. 6 Wanderlust: They keep moving, rarely settle down with a desire to explore and move on. 7 Freelance: They don’t like regular hours and work, preferring independent, freelance living. 8 Open purse: They are often surprisingly open and generous with money. 9 Wild oats: In their early life they were usually high-spirited hell-raisers and mischief-makers. 10 True grit: They are often physically and mentally courageous, physically bold and tough. 11 No regrets: They do not feel guilty about the past or anxious about the future.

references American Psychiatric Association (2014). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th. edn). Washington, DC. Babiak, P., & Hare, R. (2006). Snakes in Suits. New York: Regan Books. Cleckley, H. (1941). The Mask of Sanity. St Louis, MI: C. V. Mosby. Oldham, J., & Morris, L. (1991). Personality self-portrait. New York: Bantam.

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Psychotherapy

Kinship is healing: we are physicians to one another. (Oliver Sacks, Awakenings, 1973) Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass. (Michael Torke, The Observer, 1990) People go into counselling and never emerge. I wonder if counselling isn’t the new religion. (Raj Persaud, The Independent, 1997)

Most people know about, and many have sought out, ‘the talking cure’, which goes under the wide umbrella term of psychotherapy. There are, however, very different branches and types of the talking cure as well as other very different types of psychological intervention. Consider the range of therapies available; and this is far from a complete list: 1 Chemotherapy – prescribing drugs to achieve a therapeutic purpose. 2 Electroconvulsive therapy – electric shock treatment to cause convulsion. 3 Psychosurgery – destruction of specific brain tissue to control behaviour and emotions. 4 Megavitamin therapy – administering large dosages of specific vitamins.

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5 Psychotherapy – a talking cure aimed at changing feelings, attitudes and behaviour. 6 Psychodynamic theory – often based on Freudian ideas and stressing unconscious processes and early relationships. 7 Systematic desensitization – people are helped to relax in situations that cause them great anxiety. 8 Implosion therapy – exposing people to situations and things that cause them most fear. 9 Aversion therapy – pairing an unpleasant event (shock) with an undesirable habit (drinking). 10 Token economies – rewarding and fining people for desirable and undesirable behaviour. 11 Behaviour contracting – establishing a written contract/ promise of appropriate behaviour patterns. 12 Modelling/ Role playing – watching and then imitating a therapist showing an appropriate behaviour pattern. 13 Assertiveness training – helping clients to express in various social contexts more effectively their needs and emotions. 14 Rational emotive therapy – helping people to think more rationally and be less magic-orientated or superstitious. 15 Thought stopping therapy – helping people stop obsessive or compulsive thoughts. 16 Non-directive therapy – therapist encourages talking but does not give advice, reassure or ask direct questions but does clarify, reflect and emphasize the positive. 17 Existential therapy – helping people to be more aware and responsible for the choices in all areas of life experience. 18 Gestalt therapy – helping people who internalize their problems by forcing them to confront conflicts and express emotion. 19 Hypnosis – getting people into an altered state of consciousness and suggesting behavioural or attitudinal changes and helping them recall experiences. 20 Biofeedback – helping people to relax and reduce anxiety by monitoring their physiological responses (heart rate). 21 Group therapy – getting groups of fellow sufferers to provide support and feedback.

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22 Primal scream (Rebirth) therapy – attempting to get people to relive the trauma of their birth.

cognitive therapy It is often assumed that cognitive therapy began in the 1960s. The father figure of this form of psychotherapy is unusually recognized to be Aaron Beck who wrote Depression: Causes and Treatment in 1967 and Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders in 1976. He talked of the ABC of irrational beliefs: the activating event, the belief associated with it and the consequences (emotional and behavioural) of that approach. His technique was called reframing or reinterpreting which encourages a reinterpretation of events and the development of healthy coping strategies. As a therapy it has proved particularly effective with those who set themselves high standards or who ruminate and feel guilty about their own perceived inadequacies. Cognitive therapy was preceded by behaviour therapy and is sometimes called behaviour modification. Thus a phobic person may slowly but deliberately be exposed to the very situations that cause fear to provide evidence that these fears have no objective basis. They also used aversive therapy, which pairs an unpleasant experience with a particular activity. Giving an alcoholic a drug that makes them vomit every time they drink; painting nail-biters’ nails with very bitter paint. They particularly used token-economies, mainly in institutions. Here people receive a token (exchangeable for goods or privileges) if they behave in clearly prescribed ways. You encourage good behaviour like smiling and talking by giving a person a token every time they voluntarily manifest the behaviour. Cognitive therapists talked of schemas, which are ways or filters through which we see the world. People develop cognitive biases, which are selective ways in which they see and interpret events. Thus they may remember their total schooling as highly selective, generalized memories of bullying, failure and unhappiness or achievement, friendship and fulfilment. People seem arbitrary,

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selective and often prone to generalization in their memory of the past, as well as their current and future view. Cognitive therapy aims to break and then change a pattern of behaviour through changes in thinking. The aim is to replace vicious cycles with virtuous cycles through the interpretation of events. Thus a person may attend a party (situation) but fail to talk to people; this makes them think they must be boring or unattractive, which leads them to feel depressed and thus avoid future parties or turn down requests which, in turn, leads to fewer invitations – and the resulting feeling is that they are socially unskilled, inept or ugly. The therapy would start by considering other reasons why few people spoke to them at the particular party in the first place and changes in the so-called ‘logic’ that follow from it.

references Furnham, A., Wardley, Z., & Lillie, F. (1992). Lay theories of Psychotherapy III: Comparing the ratings of Laypersons and Clinical psychologists. Human Relations, 45, 839–58. Furnham A. (2009). Psychiatric and psychotherapeutic literacy: Attitudes to, and knowledge of, psychotherapy. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 55: 525–37.

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PTSD: Serious Reactions to Traumatic Events

A suicidal depression is a kind of spiritual winter: frozen, sterile, unmoving. (A Alvarez, The Savage God, 1974) Pain hardens and great pain hardens greatly, whatever the comforters say and suffering does not ennoble. (A.S. Byatt, The Virgin in the Garden, 1978)

Read this case study: Alex is an auto mechanic who was working three blocks from the World Trade Center on 9/11. Alex witnessed both towers falling. For months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, these images still haunted Alex. He was unable to keep the memories of the attack out of his mind. Alex noticed that at night, he had difficulties relaxing and falling asleep. Scenes from the tower falling would run repeatedly through his mind and disrupt his focus on work. This also affected Alex’s day-to-day life; for example, when he crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, he started sweating and trembling, as this immediately rekindled certain horrific memories. He felt as though his emotions were numbed, and as though he had no real future. At home, he was anxious, tense and easily startled. He found himself avoiding social interactions, and became very fearful of being out in public. What, if anything, would you say is Alex’s main problem?

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How distressing do you think it would be to have Alex’s condition? How sympathetic would you be towards someone with Alex’s problem? In general, how happy do you think Alex is? In general, how successful at his work do you think Alex is? In general, how satisfying do you think Alex’s personal relationships are? Alex has PTSD. But what exactly is that? According to the DSM manual the manifestations are defined by six broad aspects (A–F below): A. The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following have been present:  (1)  the person experienced, witnessed or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others; (2) the person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness or horror. B. The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced in one (or more) of the following ways:  (1) recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts or perceptions. Note: In young children, repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed. (2)  recurrent distressing dreams of the event. Note: In children, there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content. (3) acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur upon awakening or when intoxicated). Note: In young children, trauma-specific re-enactment may occur. (4) intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

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(5) physiological reactivity on exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event. C. Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by three (or more) of the following:  (1)  efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings or conversations associated with the trauma.  (2) efforts to avoid activities, places or people that arouse recollections of the trauma.  (3) inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma.  (4)  markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities.  (5) feeling of detachment or estrangement from others.  (6) restricted range of affect (e.g., unable to have loving feelings).  (7) sense of a foreshortened future (e.g., does not expect to have a career, marriage, children or a normal life span). D. Persistent symptoms of increased arousal (not present before the trauma), as indicated by two (or more) of the following:  (1)  difficulty falling or staying asleep. (2) irritability or outbursts of anger. (3) difficulty concentrating. (4) hypervigilance. (5) exaggerated startle response. E. Duration of the disturbance is more than one month. F. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of function. We know that PTSD has a relatively low lifetime prevalence, estimated at 6.8 per cent in the US. PTSD has been re-classified as a ‘trauma-and-stress-related disorder’ in DSM-V (APA, 2013), comprising four symptoms clusters: intrusion, arousal, avoidance and negative cognition and mood. Nonetheless, PTSD was first introduced as an anxiety disorder in DSM-III (APA, 1980), mainly

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in response to Vietnam War veteran trauma cases in the US. Since then, PTSD has become synonymous with military conflict. One possible explanation for why recognition rates are not higher among general population or clinician samples could be the common association of PTSD with military personnel. The stereotype of veterans experiencing PTSD has persisted since the early twentieth century ‘Shell Shock’ diagnosis. In fact, PTSD prevalence in the military is low relative to trauma exposure. PTSD can arise from a range of traumas, such as sexual or physical abuse, natural disaster, man-made disaster and road traffic accidents. PTSD prevalence from these other trauma sources are much higher. For example, the lifetime prevalence of PTSD among women with history of rape was 32 per cent, the PTSD prevalence rate following man-made/technological disaster was 30–60 per cent, and it was 5–60 per cent following natural disaster. PTSD can be the result of either direct or indirect exposure towards traumatic events. Direct exposure is experience of the event in person and carries a greater risk of developing PTSD. There is increasing evidence that professionals involved in helping those who experienced trauma are vulnerable to developing PTSD through indirect exposure.

references American Psychiatric Association (2003). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition). Washington, D.C.: APA. Brewin, C. R. (2003). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Malady or Myth? Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. Merritt, C.J., Tharp, I.J., & Furnham, A. (2014). Trauma type affects recognition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among online respondents in the UK and Ireland. Journal of Affective Disorders, 164, 123–9.

75

Queuing: The Waiting Game

Patience, n. A minor form of despair disguised as a virtue. (Ambrose Bierce, Devil’s Dictionary, 1906). An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening. (Proverb)

Many businesses are rightly concerned about customer disgruntlement at waiting times. People in line at airports now tweet their frustration. There are occasional revolts of nice, normal, well-behaved people, who have simply ‘had enough’. They shout, they sing, they rush the barricades to humiliate their tormentors. Waiting is often the cause of road rage. And consider all the issues about NHS patients on the waiting-list for operations, waiting times in A&E and those who, once admitted to a hospital, spend time waiting for a bed. There are three British ways of looking at those who phlegmatically and stoically endure the long, tedious and timewasting queuing process. ●●

First, the orderly queue is, and always was, a myth. It is a story we told ourselves that was never true. More a product of wartime propaganda movies than any reality. We never liked queuing, pushed ahead where we could, and mumbled and grumbled the whole time.

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psych ology 1 01 Second, the queue is associated with dull, sheep-like drones, beaten into submission by an inefficient system. We should adopt a ‘customers of the world unite’ manifesto, and refuse to accept this result of incompetence. It is only the foolish who tolerate it. Third, we should be amazingly proud of this quiet, orderly and dignified display of one of our great virtues. Too many people suffer from hurry sickness, dysfunctional impulsivity and childlike impatience and could learn a great deal from the fair play and equality of learning to wait. After all, postponement of gratification is one of the signs of maturity.

To the ‘modern’ person, waiting can be described quite simply as aggravating, demoralizing and frustrating. It causes tension and is expensive. There is a surprising amount of academic literature on the psychology of queuing. For instance, people who study waiting behaviour have come up with certain laws and observations that have, of course, consequences. 1 Occupied time feels shorter. Give people something to do or distract their attention. Make them walk round and round on maze-like paths. Give them television to watch, music to listen to. The worst is letting them grow surly and listless; they then mumble to each other about starting a revolt. 2 Uncertainty makes waiting seem longer. Tell them (roughly) how long they have to wait and people are more accepting of the delay. The tube and the buses have twigged this. The ‘guestimations’ need not be accurate; precision does not matter. Information takes away the ambiguity and gives a person the confidence that the system is still running. 3 Anxiety makes the wait seem longer. ‘Will it ever come, will I make my next meeting and will I make the connection?’ Explanation and reassurance works. Again, music might

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help. Too-frequent apologies don’t. Best to be the reassuring parent, as when junior says ‘Daddy, Daddy, are we nearly there yet?’ And miles from your destination and profoundly lost, you confidently proclaim, ‘Nearly, darling, almost there!’ 4 Unanticipated and unexplained waits are worse. Some organizations have twigged the explanation bit. Your train/ flight is late (and we profoundly apologize) due to the late arrival of the other train/plane. Yes, but why was that? The guard did not pitch up, the points failed at Swindon, there were tropical storms over the Congo. Best appeal to ‘Act-ofGod’ explanations, which suggest possible danger. 5 Unfair waits are much more aggravating than equitable waits. Nothing is worse than seeing someone semi-legitimately avoid the queue. The fast trackers who buy their way out; the cabin crew who get some privileged exit; the locals who have twice as many people manning the desks as the aliens. The spirit of ‘all in it together’, ‘equal suffering’ helps. 6 Solo waits seem longer than group or social waits. This is a difficult one, but explains the idea of a waiting room or one of those holding pens at airports. There are fascinating studies of what people do in queues to reduce their frustration (Pamies, Ryan, & Valverde, 2016). All sorts of factors influence how people react to queues.

queue jumping The psychologist Stanley Milgram, famous for his research on obedience, studied queuing many years ago. In one study his student assistants went to different queues in betting shops, railway stations and elsewhere. They were told to do the following: 1 Enter a queue at between the third and fourth person. 2 Say in a neutral tone: ‘Excuse me, I’d like to get in here.’ 3 Step into line and face forward.

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4 Only leave the queue when someone admonished them or after one minute, whichever was sooner. Surprisingly, on only 10 per cent of occasions were queue-jumpers physically ejected from the line. In fact people did very little – there were dirty looks, tut-tutting and shrugging shoulders. And this was New York. In further studies he found that doubling the number of jumpers doubled the rate of objections. So people are prepared to put up with the odd deviant but not if there are more. He argued from his findings: 1 People in line are not really a group. Group formation is difficult when people are stood one behind the other, all facing in the same direction. Consequently social order is weak. 2 It is costly to deal with deviants. Challenging queuejumpers could mean losing your own place in the line. We can cope with a few deviants. Social systems have to tolerate some deviance otherwise they may quickly break down, i.e. a fight may start and everyone is delayed while it is sorted out.

references Clemler, E.C., & Schneider, B. (1989). Toward understanding and controlling customer dissatisfaction with waiting. Marketing Science Institute. Working Paper. Fagundes, D. (2016). The social norms of waiting in line. Law and Social Inquiry. Larson, R.Q. (1987). Perspectives On Queues: Social Justice and the psychology of queuing. Operations Research, 35, 895–905. Zhou, R., & Soman, D. (2008). Consumers waiting in queues: The role of first-order and second-order justice. Psychology & Marketing, 25(3), 262–279.

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Racism and Prejudice

I don’t like principles…I prefer prejudices. (Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband, 1920) No tree takes so deep a root as a prejudice. (American Proverb) We should therefore claim…in the name of intolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. (Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, 1945)

Perhaps the greatest insult that can be thrown at an individual is that he or she is a racist: that they discriminate between individuals based mostly on their race rather than any other factor. Indeed racism and prejudice against various groups of people has been responsible for some of the most terrible crimes of all time. Psychologists have taken two very different approaches to racism. The first is to focus on the individual and their personality (intra-individual), attempting to explain their racist beliefs and behaviours in terms of their ideology. The second is to look at the group a person belongs to (interpersonal) and how that affects his or her behaviour. Interpersonal behaviour means acting as an individual with some idiosyncratic characteristics and a unique set of personal relationships with others. Intergroup behaviour, on the other hand, means acting as a group member. All social interactions could be depicted as falling somewhere along a continuum defined by the two extremes of interpersonal

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and intergroup behaviour. It could be a function almost entirely of an individual’s attitude, beliefs, values, personality or pathology. One factor is the clarity with which different social categories could be identified (black and white, man and woman). This will tend to locate the behaviour towards the intergroup end. Where the category differences are less relevant and observable, the behaviour is more likely to be interpersonal.

interpersonal factors Researchers in this area have come up with a number of related concepts to attempt to explain racist and prejudice. Authoritarianism: Authoritarians have been shown to avoid situations that involve ambiguity and are reluctant to believe that ‘good people’ possess both good and bad attributes. However, they often appear less interested in political affairs, participate less in political and community activities and tend to prefer strong leaders. There seem to be nine facets of authoritarianism: ●●

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Conventionalism: rigid adherence to conventional middleclass values. Authoritarian submission: uncritical acceptance of authority. Authoritarian aggression: a tendency to condemn anyone who violates conventional norms. Anti-intraception: rejection of weakness or sentimentality. Superstition and stereotypy: belief in mystical determinants of action and rigid, categorical thinking. Power and toughness: preoccupation with dominance over others. Destructiveness and cynicism: a generalized feeling of hostility and anger. Projectivity: a tendency to project inner emotions and impulses outward. Sex: exaggerated concern for proper sexual conduct.

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There are various different related concepts to that of authoritarianism. These include conservatism, dogmatism and ethnocentrism. Some focus on thinking style, others on prejudice. Most argue that this ‘attitudinal syndrome’ rather than a personality trait, occurs for both genetic/heredity and environmental factors. At the core of the theories is the idea of a generalized susceptibility to experience anxiety and threat when confronted by ambiguity or uncertainty. Conservatism: A concept closely linked with authoritarianism is that of conservatism. Wilson (1973: 3) has claimed that conservatism assumes that conservative beliefs: …arise as a means of simplifying, ordering, controlling, and rendering more secure, both the external world (through perceptual processes, stimulus preferences, etc.) and the internal world (needs, feelings, desires, etc.). Order is imposed upon inner needs and feelings by subjugating them to rigid and simplistic external codes of conduct (rules, laws, morals, duties, obligations, etc.), thus reducing conflict and averting the anxiety that would accompany awareness of the freedom to choose among them.

Closed-minded, dogmatic, authoritarian people are characterized by three things: 1. A strong desire to reject all ideas opposed to their own; 2. A low degree of connectedness among various beliefs; 3. Many more complex and positive ideas about things/issues they do believe in as opposed to those they don’t believe in.

intergroup theory The fundamental process of prejudice and a cornerstone of all intergroup theories is categorization, which is essentially the business of differentiating between us and them. Social categories simplify and order. However, a second very important and wellknown process occurs thereafter which is to minimize within group differences. People perceive and think about those within the group they have categorized differently. This can then easily lead to discrimination. This is known as the perceived intragroup homogeneity effect. What is most frequently observed in perceived

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outgroup homogeneity is expressed in the ‘they are all the same’ philosophy. We are different; they are the same.

reducing prejudice The Contact Hypothesis states that under appropriate conditions interpersonal contact is one of the most effective ways to reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members. In order for this to be helpful contact that leads to friendship, at least four criteria must be present: 1 Equal status: both groups taken into an equal (social, occupational, educational) status relationship. 2 Common goals: both groups work on a problem/task and share this as a common goal, sometimes called a superordinate goal. They need some joint task that they are both interested in and motivated to achieve. 3 Acquaintance potential: the opportunity of group members to get to know each other as friends, and not merely as actors playing out social roles or as representatives of their social groups; the familiarity between group members involving the task or situation at hand. They need to get to know each other as individuals in a socially disclosive and safe situation. 4 Support of authorities, law or customs: some authority that both groups acknowledge and define social norms that support the contact and interactions between the groups and members. That is, be in a society that approves of friendship formation. Prejudice and stereotyping is, however, only reduced if three criteria are met. First, the minority group members’ behaviour is not (totally) consistent with their stereotype. Second, that contact between group members occurs often and in a variety of social contexts. Third, that the minority members are perceived as typical (real members) of their cultural group.

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Indirect intergroup contact includes (a) extended contact: learning that an ingroup member is friends with an outgroup member, (b) vicarious contact: observing an ingroup member interact with an outgroup member, (c) imagined contact: imagining oneself interacting with an outgroup member, and (d) parasocial contact: interacting with an outgroup member through the media.

references Duckitt, J.(1992). Psychology and prejudice: A historical analysis and integrative framework. American Psychologist, 47, 1182–1193. Pettigrew, T.F., & Meertens, R.W. (1995). Subtle and blatant prejudice in Western Europe. European Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 57–75. Wilson, G.D. (Ed.). (1973). The psychology of conservatism. London: Academic Press.

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Remote Personality Profiling: Scraping Biography Off the Web

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. (Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, 1920) Scientific observation is never performed just by looking. (Rom Harre, States of Mind, 1983)

There are a number of techniques and approaches to trying to fully understand people: what they are really like, what motivates them, what they will do in the future. One of the best known is Offender or Criminal Profiling. This can take many forms (a clinical, geographic, typological approach) but the primary aim in most cases is to identify (and then detain) a criminal or criminal gangs. There is also Psychobiography, which is more than biography as it attempts to use psychological theories to interpret and explain as well as describe the behaviour of a person (living or dead). It tends to focus on motives and of how particular events shaped people. There are three aspects to Remote Personality Profiling (RPP) which make it different and more insightful, reliable and accurate.

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1 REMOTE: This essentially means trying to understand an individual without being able to interview or test them face-to-face. It is remote in the sense of distance in space and time. This is the problem for a biographer of someone who has died, but are interested almost exclusively in the living. It means relying on various other sources of information. These may be web-based: electronic or printed. It could mean having audio or video recordings of them, copies of their speeches or writing as well as many published and unpublished accounts of them. The second way of getting information about people remotely is to interview others who knew or know them well. They may be friends and family, school and university colleagues, workplace individuals or those who know them through religious or leisure groups. What they know and what they are prepared to say is of essence. There are lots of reasons why it may not be possible to interview a person that one is attempting to profile. Hence the use of remote data. 2 PERSONALITY: This is a shorthand and possibly a misnomer as we are attempting to understand much more than their personality. It is important that we understand a person’s ability, biography, culture of origin, pathology, etc, as well as their personality. We need to try to understand how the person sees the world: how their life journey has shaped them and the impact of many factors on their development. There are various psychological theories and models that are extremely useful to guide and integrate the information that is important to collect. 3 PROFILING: A profile is a rich and dynamic description of an individual which is necessary in understanding an individual and predicting his/her behaviour. It

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putting the pieces together Profiling involves collecting a great deal of information, verifying this and then ‘putting it together’ in some meaningful way. There are essentially three ways of doing this: 1 The Typological approach This usually involves having a set of pre-existing types or categories and trying to see which one the target person best fits. It is attractively simple but tends to neglect too much information and to simplify rather than clarify. People are too easily ‘fitted’ into pre-ordained boxes. 2 The Algorithm approach This method is derived from multivariate statisticians who collect specific data which they ‘feed’ into a mathematical model which weights, processes and combines the data in a particular way given the way the model is devised. There is a pre-ordained formula: the sort of thing that actuaries use when making their calculations. Everything depends on the accuracy of the formula, which may not be easily able to cope with the sort of data available about such things as a person’s motivation. 3 The Thematic approach This involves making a semi-clinical and experimental judgement based on a weighting of the factors. It differs from the algorithmic approach in that the gestalt judgement has to be based on ‘clinical’ judgement. Inevitably this requires considerable training in the business to make this both reliable and insightful.

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the six elements of rpp

There are six main elements affecting an individual’s attitudes, characteristic behaviours and motivation. 1 Culture and clan: The culture and society into which a person is born and in which they are raised has a profound impact on how they view the world, relate to others and tend to behave in everyday situations. 2 Biography and family: Against the context of culture and clan, there are experiences unique to an individual that are likely to have the greatest impact. Socio-economic background, family and key relationships, and misfortunes, especially in early life, are hugely influential in shaping or dictating life choices and attitudes. 3 Intelligence: Often overlooked or downplayed by assessors, particularly in selection for senior posts, many

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identify intellect as the most reliable overall predictor of an individual’s performance in a job. 4 Personality: While some people can adapt, personality traits are fairly fixed from late teens and a comprehensive trait assessment is a powerful tool in understanding under what conditions an individual will be at ease and operate most effectively. 5 The dark side: Particularly at senior levels, hitherto masked dark side traits, sometimes called personality disorders and mental health issues, surface with devastating impact. They are remarkably common and early identification can increase the scope to weed out and manage potential problems and derailers. 6 Motivation: This refers to what drives and directs people consciously or unconsciously. It is often something people are not very good at explaining or understanding, though others can see it very clearly.

references Goyat, S. (2011). The basis of market segmentation: a critical review of literature. European Journal of Business and Management, 3(9), 45–54. Gunter, B. (2016). The Psychology of Consumer Profiling in a Digital Age. London: Routledge. Taylor, J., Furnham, A., & Breeze, J. (2014). Revealed. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

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Resilience: The Psychology of Coping Well

Children are not resilient, children are malleable. (Bruce Perry, Children in a Violent Society, 1997) Great men rejoice in adversity just as brave soldiers triumph in war. (Seneca, The Providentia, 40 BC)

Stress affects the body, decisions and judgements, relationships and work performance. We now know a lot about the physiology of stress and how cortisol, noradrenalin and adrenalin impact on people over time. Stress is bad, so we need to know how to deal with it. Being stress-resistant and stress-coping is good. That is at the heart of resilience. It is about coping and recovering after significant, as well as minor setbacks. Resilience is a prophylactic against failure: a way of adapting and thriving, rather than ruminating or falling into depression. Resilient people can self-regulate: they can control their impulses and emotions. They tend to be optimistic. Employers want resilient staff. And most people want it too. It has been argued that resilience has various component parts. It has to do (in part) with realistic self-confidence which is a realistic appraisal of achievements and choices. It is also about self-esteem which is having a sense of one’s purpose and contribution. Next, there is self-efficacy which is the belief in one’s own abilities and

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strengths. And also self-control or the belief that one is in control of one’s life: captain of your ship and master of your fate. The question, of course, is whether it can be trained. Studies of resilience show that the toughest and most adaptive have been tested, often in childhood. Unstable family life caused by poverty, war or difficult relationships? Relationships test young people. Death, divorce, downward mobility, all bring out the best and worst in a child. It can break the sensitive, vulnerable youth or forge the stable one. If you have been through the darkest night, and survived, when most vulnerable, little can scare you after that. Resilience is about head and heart. It is about being in touch with your emotions and able to talk about them. It is detecting what the signals are in yourself and others and knowing what do about them. Resilience is not about denial, being tough or repressing emotions. And it is not about a ‘big boys don’t cry’ macho boastfulness. There is a dark side of stoicism sometimes confused with resilience. Stoicism is more about emotional non-involvement and control, lack of emotional expressivity, fortitude and emotional concealment.

the development of resilience There are a number of recent books on this topic. Managers know that everyone experiences stress at some time: the question is how often (chronicity) and how deeply (acuity). They are concerned with such issues as whether resilience is a personality trait, a cognitive process or a learnt skill? Is it a process that causes positive adaptation or is it an outcome of experience? There are also many more simple popular books. Neenan (2009) defines resilience as a set of flexible cognitive, behavioural and emotional responses to acute or chronic adversities which can be unusual or commonplace. Essentially it is about the attitude you adopt to cope with adversity. He argues that resilience is not a special gift but a capacity that can be learnt by anyone. It should be seen as coming back, rather than bouncing back from adversity.

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And it is not just about dealing with adversity: it is about seeking new experiences and opportunities to learn and grow. It is about how to interpret everyday events. To a large extent it is about managing negative emotions and being able to distinguish what is, and what is not, in one’s control. It is about learning from past experiences. Neenan offers ten simple but useful summary statements: 1 Resilience is a capacity that everybody can learn. 2 Resilience is coming back, rather than bouncing back from adversity. 3 It is not just about dealing with adversity but seeking opportunities/experiences and taking risks. 4 Attitudes, beliefs and the way you look at the world are at the heart of resilience. 5 It is not only about attitudes but behaviour: act in support of your resilient attitudes. 6 Resilience is about managing negative emotions. 7 It is important to distinguish what is inside and outside your personal control. 8 All experiences are useful: learn from setbacks and victories. 9 Develop ‘can do’ self-beliefs about achieving and stretching goals and targets. 10 Maintain your resilient outlook whatever comes your way. Others have very much the same ideas. Clarke and Nicholson (2010) have a ten-point plan to increase resilience: 1 Visualize success, thinking about whom you benchmark yourself against; how you view your own capabilities and performance; and the way you come across to others. 2 Boost your self-esteem by listing things you are good at and recognize what others appreciate and value about you. 3 Enhance your self-efficacy by taking control of your life. They suggest you need to drop six ‘drag anchors’: (a) I am the victim of my personal history; (b) There’s so much to

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do, it’s not even worth trying; (c) I only get one shot at this; (d) There’s a right answer to everything; (e) I am on my own; (f ) This isn’t fair. 4 Become more optimistic, this is the ability to reframe things, most notably moving from feelings of disappointment to seeing opportunities. 5 Managing stress by reducing stress-inducing things like displaying hostility to others; being too much of a perfectionist; being unable to listen to others; having a tendency to hide your feelings and having difficulty in relaxing. 6 Improve your decision-making by trying honest riskassessment and asking others for help. It also helps to work on being more rational and more intuitive. 7 Ask for help and reach out to others in your network. 8 Deal with conflict assertively, flexibly, using collaborative conflict. 9 Take up life-long learning. Invest time and resources in it. 10 Be yourself: authentic.

references Clarke, J., & Nicholson, J. (2010). Resilience: Bounce back from whatever life throws at you. London: Crimson. Neenan, M. (2009). Developing Resilience. London: Routledge. Reich, J., Zautra, A. & Hall, J. (Eds) (2010). Handbook of Adult Resilience. London: Guilford. Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. London: Nicholas Brealey.

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Retirement: Pipe and Slippers

We would all be idle if we could. (Samuel Johnson, 1940) Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses it purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind (Leonardo Da Vinci, Notebooks, 1500)

There is a common belief about the traditional working life where people chose, or were forced to retire at 65 years. At this point they slowed down and spent most of their time in quiet amusements as their energy and health declined. It was often portrayed as a relatively happy time and a just reward for years of hard work. The pull–push distinction is often made. For instance, there are various push factors before retirement (poor health, family health, disliked work, disliked boss, could not find work, not appreciated and employee policies) while the pull factors are: do other things, no need to work and spouse retired. Further, there are positive/pull factors after work (be your own boss, lack of pressure, wanted to relax, time with spouse, time with kids, pursue hobbies, volunteer work and travel). On the other hand, negative/push factors were boredom, not feeling useful, missing co-workers, illness/disability, not enough money and inflation.

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There seem to be three broad themes/pathways that emerged from their studies with regards to attitudes to retirement: ‘there is life beyond work’; ‘work as a lifestyle’; and ‘there is not much left to live for’ and that these pathways emerged long before people actually retired. retirement metaphors ( sargent , bataille , vough & lee , 2011)

Metaphor

Definition

Illustrative Quotes

Loss

A lack of purpose, a fear of being forgotten or a threat to one’s identity.

‘…you feel that this is a big void. You are on the border of a precipice here.’

Renaissance

A new beginning, a new chapter, or a ‘blank canvas’ with endless possibilities to pursue one’s interests or passions.

‘I’m looking forward to the next few years. And as I say, when I grow up, I’m going to be doing something equally important, no doubt.’

Detox

The ‘cleansing’ experience of getting away from an unhealthy, stressful working life.

‘It’s like playing chess all the time…You know there are only so many years, hours, days that you can do that, and then you go, “Oh, my God. I can’t do this anymore.”’

Liberation

Being released from the constraints and restrictions of work; the experience of running towards a newfound freedom.

‘And then I had always made you know, in my mind, 55 was kind of when the golden handcuffs came off me.’

Downshifting

Gaining time by shifting gears – a transition to slowing down and better pacing one’s life.

‘I’m purposely trying to enjoy it more, relax a little, because I don’t relax that well. Slow down, if I can. Smell the roses.’

Staying the course

Continuation of engagement and contribution, using one’s professional skills in different settings.

‘I’ll always have my hand probably in this business or some type of business.’

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Milestone

Reaching a pinnacle/achieving a goal: a marker of the end of one phase and beginning of another.

‘Did that, done, got the T-shirt. Time to move on.’

Transformation

A positive adaptation to a new role or new lifestyle; taking on a new identity.

‘I’m happy to report that I have no feelings of guilt about being a kept man. It’s something I’ve aspired to all my life.’

different reactions to retirement Studies of those suffering loss and adjustment have noticed that people appear to pass through various phases or stages in their adjustment. Of course, the academics quibble about how many there are; what they are called; if everyone has to go through them sequentially; what makes one move on from one stage to the next. But they do represent a way to monitor progress. They help observers predict what will happen to those they know are trying to cope. They can even encourage observers to help people onto the next stage: Denial: It seems the ‘It can’t happen to me’ response is universal. The grim reaper and the four riders of the apocalypse. Denial is primitive and widespread. You hear it all the time in recessions. ‘We are OK. They can’t/won’t do it to us. It’s just a rumour.’ Anxiety: Denial is soon replaced by fear. Fear of the unknown; fear of being able to cope with less; fear of boredom; fear of re-inventing oneself. Anxiety is manifest in moodiness and sickness; in gossip and rumour. Anger: Always a difficult emotion for the dying and the grieving; common and expected in divorce; well known in the workplace. It’s not difficult to find targets who become, as the psychoanalysts say, ‘bad objects’. It’s easier to express in groups. It mobilizes people.

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Sadness: And when the anger has dissipated and exhausted people, the black dog appears. It’s about looking back to that which has been lost and may never again happen. People go quiet, become introspective and become rather solitary. Acceptance: Anxiety, anger and depression are an exhausting trilogy. But once the corner is turned, reality and realism kick in. Fait accompli; que sera sera; it is written. Better accept the fact, adjust to the situation. Relief: For some, redundancy from tedious, high-demand and low-control jobs can be a relief. Jump off the treadmill, the grind, the remorselessness of the tyranny of the urgent and life can be rather fun. The ‘package’ may not be too bad. Interest: There are several alternatives on offer to the let-go worker. Find another (any other) job; do voluntary work; do retirement. The frenetic, worried job-seeker is often worse off, particularly in times of recession, but for the others life can be a lot more interesting. Old passions can be taken up again. Adaptation: Crises afford opportunities as much as threats. Lay off does not mean life off. It can mean precisely the opposite. Some people adapt quickly and well. Enjoyment: Many retired people say they find it difficult to imagine how they ever found time for work. Their days are full, structured, eventful and even fun. They can feel that being let go means they have been allowed to let go of the humdrum, the tedious and even the demeaning.

types of retirees Dychtwald (2014) identified various types of what he called ‘working retirees’: Driven Achievers: The data suggest that these individuals have most likely always felt driven to achieve. Caring Contributors: They are primarily motivated to work in retirement for the opportunity to give back to society, their communities and worthy causes.

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Earnest Earners: This is the group that works not so much because they want to, but because they have to.

references Dychtwald, K. (2014). Why work in retirement? The Four Types of Working Retirees. Age Waves Twitter. Flynn, M. (2010). Who would delay retirement? Typologies of older workers. Personnel Review, 39, 308–24. Hodkinson, H. (2010). Learning to work no longer: exploring ‘retirement’. Journal of Workplace Learning, 22, 94–103. Kloep, M. & Hendry, L.B. (2006). Pathways into retirement: Entry or exit?. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 79, 569–93. Sargent, L., Bataille, C., Vough, H., & Lee, M. (2011). Metaphors for retirement: Unshackled from schedules. Journal of Vocational Psychology, 79, 315–24.

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Schizophrenia: A Seriously Misunderstood Problem

Schizophrenia cannot be understood without understanding despair. (R.D. Liang, The Divided Self, 1959) Sanity is madness put to good uses: waking life is a dream controlled. (George Santayana, Interpretations of Poetry and Religion, 1900)

Schizophrenia is a psychotic illness characterized by a disorder of thoughts and perceptions, behaviours and moods. Psychoses all show much more serious and disturbing symptoms. These include hallucinations, delusions, powerful disturbance of mood, obvious disturbances of thought, as well as acute and chronic relationship problems leading to isolation and social withdrawal. Whereas most neurotics have insight into their condition, psychotics don’t. The diagnostic term schizophrenia is a major cause of dispute and debate among psychiatrists, patient groups and the laypublic. The most common objection is that it is an unhelpful ‘umbrella’ term that covers a range of different disorders with different symptoms and different causes. Diagnosis is therefore unreliable. Some advocate the idea of schizotypy which refers to a continuum of personality characteristics and experiences related to psychoses, particularly schizophrenia. This is different from the categorical view that you either have or do not have the problem.

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It is assumed that schizophrenia affects 1 in a 100 people and is the most serious of mental disorders. It has been suggested that prognosis for the problem is this: a third of people require longterm institutionalization; a third show remission and could be considered cured; while a third have periods of symptoms followed by ‘normality’. They are different because of the symptoms that they do have (positive) and don’t have (negative) compared to normal people. They tend to have various manifestations of thought disorders (disorganized, irrational thinking), delusions and hallucinations. However, they tend to lack energy, initiative and social contacts. They are emotionally very flat, have few pleasures and are withdrawn. There are several common misconceptions about schizophrenia: The first is that schizophrenics are dangerous, uncontrollable and unpredictable while most are rather shy, withdrawn and concerned with their problems. The second is that they have a split Jekyll and Hyde personality, whereas what is split is the emotional (affective) and cognitive (thought) aspect of people with schizophrenia. Third, many people believe they do not, and cannot, recover and that once a schizophrenic always a schizophrenic.

The classification of schizophrenia remains complex because of the range of diversity of symptoms. These include delusion (odd, false beliefs); hallucinations (false sensory perceptions of sound, sight, smell); disorganized speech (incoherence, loose association, use of neologisms); disorganized behaviour (dress, body posture, personal hygiene); negative flat emotions (lack of energy, libido) as well as poor insight into their problems and depression. Because of complications with the diagnosis, various subtypes have been named. There is paranoid, catatonic and disorganized schizophrenia. Catatonics (from the Greek ‘to stretch or draw

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tight’) often adopt odd, stationary poses for long periods of time. Paranoid schizophrenics have delusions of control, grandeur and persecution and are consistently suspicious of all around them. Disorganized schizophrenics manifest bizarre thoughts and language with sudden inappropriate emotional outbursts. Some mention simple or undifferentiated schizophrenia. Others have distinguished between acute (sudden onset and severe) vs. chronic (prolonged gradual). Another distinction is between Type I (mostly positive symptoms) and Type II (mostly negative symptoms). It has been recognized that researchers and medical and laypeople tend to believe in, or follow, different approaches that describe the cause and cure of schizophrenia. Essentially these split into biological models stressing genetic, biochemical or brain structure causes vs. the socio-psychological which focus on problems of communication and punishment in early life. Certainly development in behaviour genetics and brain science has led to more interest in the biological approach to cause and cure. A. The medical model: Schizophrenic persons are in most cases called ‘patients’, reside in ‘hospitals’, and are ‘diagnosed’, given a ‘prognosis’, and then ‘treated’. The medical model regards mental malfunction such as that found in the schizophrenic patient primarily as a consequence of physical and chemical changes, primarily in the brain. Treatment consists of medical and sometimes surgical procedures, but mainly the use of neuroleptic drugs. B. The moral-behavioural model: Schizophrenics are seen as suffering for their ‘sinful’ or problematic behaviour in the past. Much schizophrenic behaviour contravenes moral or legal principles, and this is the key to both understanding and curing the disorder. Whether behaviour is seen as sinful, irresponsible, simply maladjusted or socially

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deviant, the crucial thing is to change it so to make it socially acceptable. C. The psychoanalytic model: The psychoanalytic model of schizophrenia differs from the others in that it is interpretative, treating the patient as an agent capable of meaningful action. Rather than seeing persons with schizophrenia as ‘acted on’ by various forces (both biological and environmental) which cause them to behave in certain ways, the psychoanalytic conception of schizophrenia is concerned with patients’ intentions, motives and reasons. The behaviour of the person with schizophrenia is to be interpreted symbolically; it is the therapist’s task to decode it. D. The social model: All social models in psychiatry have the fundamental premise that the wider influence of social forces are more important than other influences as causes or precipitants of mental disorder. Mental illness is seen partly as a symptom of a ‘sick’ society, others being a high divorce rate, work pressures, juvenile delinquency, increased drug addiction, and so on. People with schizophrenia are seen to be driven to their form of madness by the social, economic and familial pressures. E. The conspiratorial model: The conspiratorial theory is perhaps the most radical conceptual model of schizophrenia in that it denies the existence of mental illness (as a physical disorder) and stands in direct opposition to the medical model. The behaviour of the person with schizophrenia is a direct consequence of the way the person has been treated by others. The conspiratorial model denies any ‘treatment’ or ‘cure’ in the normal sense.

references Furnham, A. & Baguma, P. (1999). Cross-cultural differences in explanations for health and illness: a British and Ugandan comparison. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 2, 121–34.

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Furnham, A. & Bower, P. (1992). A comparison of academic and lay theories of schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 201–10. Furnham, A. & Chan, E. (2004). Lay theories of schizophrenia: a crosscultural comparison of British and Hong Kong Chinese attitudes, attributions and beliefs. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 39, 543–52.

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Self-Actualization: The Ultimate Achievement

No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings. (William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1799) This above all – to thine own self be true. (Shakespeare, Hamlet)

Without doubt the best-known motivational theory is that of Maslow (1954). It often seems as if people who have been given only one lecture on psychology in their entire lives have had it dedicated to Maslow’s theory. Maslow supposed that people have five types of needs that are activated in a hierarchical manner, and are then aroused in a specific order such that a lower-order need must be satisfied before the next higher-order need is activated. Once a need is met, the next highest need in the hierarchy is triggered, and so forth. ●●

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Physiological needs are the lowest-order most basic needs and refer to satisfying fundamental biological drives such as the need for food, air, water and shelter. Safety needs are activated only after physiological needs are met. Safety needs refer to needs for a secure, predictable, habitable, non-threatening environment, free from threats of either physical or psychological harm.

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psych ology 1 01 Social needs are activated after both physiological and safety needs. They refer to the need to be affiliative – to have friends, to be liked, included and accepted by other people. Esteem needs refer to a person’s desire to develop self-respect and to gain the approval of others. The desires to achieve success, have personal prestige and be recognized by others all fall into this category. Self-actualization needs refer to the need for self-fulfilment – the desire to become all that one is capable of being, developing one’s potential and fully realizing one’s abilities.

Top of Form But what is self-actualization; how do you recognize a self-actualizer?  Maslow came up with 15 characteristics. They still make a good checklist.  1 A good grip on reality. Maslow called it an efficient perception of reality. It means that, quite simply you see, accept and face things as they are and not through a filter of ego defence mechanisms such as repression, denial, etc. They are fake sensitive, and clear perceivers of others. 2 They do almost fatalistic acceptance. They admit their own and others’ frailties, mistakes and shortcomings. They don’t hide, conceal or talk-up these problems. They are part of who they are: part of the package, part of life. 3 They have a naturalness and spontaneity that is not affected. It can look simple and childlike. It may have to do with wonder, or fascination, or being easily engrossed. They trust their intuitions and impulses. 4 They are profoundly problem-focused. They differentiate between the wheat and the chaff; the petty from the important. 5 They can be alone, and have an affinity with solitude. They are comfortable being alone. Solitude does not mean rejection, failure or boredom.

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6 They are not swayed by fad or fashion. They are independent of cultural swings, preferring to follow their own inner voice and self-determined interests. 7 They have an open, fresh appreciation of things. Maslow called it a beginner’s mind. He said they seemed to be able to find awe, pleasure and fascination in the mundane. 8 They had frequent ‘peak experiences’. These are sort of orgasms of the mind. They are clear, insightful, almost visions of understanding (grounded, remember, in reality). 9 They are empathic, caring, kind. They manifest a deep and genuine desire to help their fellow humans. This is a sincere, even passionate desire to make things better for others. 10 They have deep, profound private relationships with others. They trade off width for depth, preferring to spend most time and energy with a select few. 11 They respect and value all. They treat people as individuals, not as representatives of their group. It means seeing through the stereotypes. 12 They can differentiate the means and the end; the destination and the journey; the process and the product. They can enjoy the activity for its own sake, as well as being always goal-oriented. 13 They have a philosophical sense of humour. That is, they do not define a sense of humour as the keen appreciation of the foibles and failings of one’s enemies. 14 They are creative because they can see the connections between things. As a result of the freshness of their perceptions and ability to ask the naive questions, they can be genuinely innovative. 15 They resist the conformity of the crowd. Maslow called this ‘resistance to enculturation’. It meant being detached from the culture-bound rules of the group.

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They show inquisitiveness and curiosity; something about honesty and self-awareness; something about kindness and caring. They really do seem like attractive people – liberated from all those struggles about feeling liked or loved or lovable that lesser beings stuck at lower levels experience. Self-actualizers, as spelled out by Maslow, seem both authentic and wise; calm and energetic; peopleand problem-oriented.  Maslow conceived of the dynamic forces of behaviour as deprivation and gratification. Deprivation, or lack of satisfaction with respect to a particular need, leads to its dominance and the person’s behaviour is entirely devoted to satisfying that need. However, once satisfied or gratified, it will recede in importance and the next highest level will be stimulated or activated. Thus, beginning with the lowest level, the entire process involves deprivation leading to dominance, gratification and activation of the next level. ●●

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The deficit principle. If a need is not satisfied, it generates tension and a drive to act. A satisfied need does not motivate. The prepotency principle. Note that the needs are arranged in hierarchy. Some needs are more important and vital than others and need to be satisfied before others can serve as motivators. The progression principle. The prepotency of needs follows up the hierarchy. This is, physiological needs must be met first, followed by safety needs, then by social needs, and so on. The need structure is open-ended. The topmost need, selfactualization, implies striving to attain one’s perceived potential. But as we grow and develop, our conception of our potential also shifts and so full self-actualization remains a potential, something to continue to strive for but which is never fully attained. This is a necessary mechanism, otherwise people may satisfy all their needs and no longer be motivated to act.

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references Heylighen, F. (1992). A cognitive-systemic reconstruction of Maslow’s theory of self-actualization. Behavioral Science, 37(1), 39–58. Kress, O. (1993). A new approach to cognitive development: ontogenesis and the process of initiation. Evolution and Cognition 2(4): 319–32. Maslow, A. H. (1987). Motivation and personality (3rd ed.). Delhi, India: Pearson Education.

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Self-Awareness: Do You Know Who You Are?

Self-knowledge does not involve any form of inference or perception or labelling. It is nothing more or less than the ability to articulate the contents and objects of our emotions, motives, beliefs etc. (John Greenwood, Relatives and Representations, 1991) By the words of others shall we, using intelligence, know them; by our own words do we, if we strive, know ourselves. (Eric Partridge, Name into Word, 1935)

Self-awareness is defined as the accurate appraisal and understanding of your abilities, potentialities, preferences and motives; as well as their implications for your behaviour and their impact on others. It’s reality-testing; a calibration of self-beliefs against the facts of life. Self-awareness is partly knowledge about the self: strengths and weaknesses, vulnerabilities and passions, idiosyncrasies and normalness. It can be derived in many ways from many sources. Sometimes self-insight comes from a sudden epiphany in the classroom or on the couch. It can even occur at a work appraisal. It comes out of both experienced and unexpected success and failure: what others say, and by receiving feedback from a personality test. Essentially, we get a good appreciation of our skills from specific experiences:

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How well we do at certain tasks. What other people say about us. How successful we have been. The sort of failures and disappointments we have experienced. When we compare ourselves to other people who are both similar and different from us.

Self-awareness can be treated as an individual difference variable. It is a trait. In general, high self-awareness is most strongly associated with intellectual and social detachment, analytical inclination and ability. Smart people know how smart they are. Cognitive factors (thinking ability, vocabulary) may be of primary importance, informing accurate judgements of others. This is contrary to the popular stereotype of warmth and emotionality being linked with sensitivity. You can increase your insight of yourself and others. The data show that people who under-rate their performance tend to be better performers than those who over-rate it. Self– other agreement (the agreement between how one sees oneself and how others see one) is related to success in relationships and at work. But it is important to note who the other person is and what they know about you: what is their data bank. There are obvious advantages of self-awareness. These include: ●● ●● ●● ●●

Discovering what we are good at. Investing our developmental efforts most efficiently. Helping other people understand us. Developing our full potential.

There is, of course, a pathological form of self-awareness. This is manifest in the hyper-vigilant, counselling-addicted, self-obsessed individuals who are interested in nothing but themselves. It is a phase most adolescents pass through. But some become stuck. It’s deeply unattractive and quite counter-productive. Some call it sub-clinical narcissism.

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It can take years to find out who you (really) are, where you belong (in the family, organization, community), knowing what you can best contribute to others. Some people are lucky: they are given opportunities to test their skills and see their impact. They become more aware of their potential and how they naturally behave in specific situations. Are you self-conscious in the sense that you really have self-understanding? Three things help: First self-testing, exploration and try-outs. Try new tasks and situations. Adolescents are famous for saying they don’t like something that they have never tried. People make discoveries late in life – often through chance discoveries. Don’t wait – you might have hidden talents at something. And then again you might not. And this leads to awareness of your talents. Second feature, self-acceptance. This is neither the over- nor under-estimation of your talents. We are not all intelligent, creative and insightful. It’s as sad to see people ignoring or underplaying their strengths as their weaknesses. Third, seeking out feedback from others. A good friend, boss, teacher tells it like it is. They help to clarify crucial questions: what is really important to me? Who is the authentic me?

To be really self-aware is to be more resilient, more realistic and for others more predictable. The narcissist who vainly seeks ever-more reassurance from others is unappealing, and probably as unhappy, as the depressive who only sees personal faults. For the Freudians the goal of all therapy is self-awareness. To understand the murky unconsciousness, the real self, the inner child. That can also be the source of self-obsession: which is the darker side of the quest for self-consciousness.

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johari window Many people know about the famous Johari window with its 2 x 2 dimensions: what I see in me; what I do not see in me; what you see in me; what you do not see in me. This yields four boxes. The four boxes are labelled thus: The Open Self which is common knowledge. This involves things like interests, ambitions, abilities that both I and others who know me, know. The open self is the what-you-see-is-what-you-get part. Then there is the Hidden Self which is the little box of secrets: things I know about me that others do not. This may contain stories of past events, odd beliefs and desires or socially unacceptable attitudes and beliefs. ‘Things I know about myself that I have not disclosed’ come in various guises. There may be things I am ashamed about; or things that I really don’t think important or things simply best forgotten. The third box is labelled Blind Self which is about things other people know about (see in, are sure of ) me but which they have not told me. That is, I am blind to these supposed facts or at least reputation. Thus some people harbour odd beliefs about their appearance or abilities that are simply untrue…at least from an observer’s perspective. The fourth box is the Unknown Self – things neither I nor others know about me. Buried, repressed or long forgotten thoughts or even areas of potential. Perhaps they can be mined by therapists interested in, and supposedly able to, drag things from the murky unconscious into the bright light of day. We get information about ourselves and develop self-awareness via feedback and give others information through disclosure.

references Fletcher, C., Baldry, C. & Cunningham-Snell, N. (1998). The Psychometric Properties of 360 Degree Feedback: An Empirical Study and a Cautionary Tale. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 6, 19–34.

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Fletcher, C. & Bailey, C. (2003). Assessing self-awareness. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 18, 395–40. Furnham, A. (2018). Rater Congruence in 360 Feedback: Explaining why ratings of the same person differ and what organizations should do about it. In D. Bracken, Allan Church, John Fleenor and Dale Rose (Eds). Handbook of Strategic 360 Degree Feedback. Oxford: OUP.

83

Self-Esteem: Do you Feel Good About Yourself?

Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who has a low opinion of himself. (Anthony Trollope, Orley Farm, 1860) Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others. (Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving, 1957)

For nearly 30 years it has been an accepted fact in psychology that low self-esteem was the root cause of many social and personal problems, particularly among young people. Thus everything from teenage pregnancy to suicide and delinquency to school failure was due, in major part, to low self-esteem. Hence the development and proliferation of the self-esteem movement, which attempted through a variety of clinical and educational interventions to raise the esteem of various targeted groups. The assumption was, because self-esteem has such powerful causal power, it was the most efficient way to improve the lot of various groups that experienced a variety of social and psychological problems. However, over the last few years social psychologists have challenged many of these assumptions and found them wanting. One challenge came from Emler (2005) who did a careful, critical evaluation of the literature. His conclusion was essentially that there

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is little evidence for the causal power of low self-esteem causing social problems or for that matter, of the efficacy of programmes that attempted to raise it. The research drew a number of specific conclusions: ●●

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Relatively low self-esteem is not a risk factor for delinquency, violence towards others (including child and partner abuse), drug use, alcohol abuse, educational under-attainment or racism. Relatively low self-esteem is a risk factor for suicide, suicide attempts, depression, teenage pregnancy and victimization by bullies. However, in each case it is only one among several related risk factors. Although the causal mechanisms remain unclear, relatively low childhood self-esteem also appears to be associated with adolescent eating disorders and, among males only, with low earnings and employment problems in young adulthood. Young people with very high self-esteem are more likely than others to hold racist attitudes, reject social pressures from adults and peers and engage in physically risky pursuits, such as drink-driving or driving too fast. The most important influences on young people’s levels of self-esteem are their parents – partly as a result of genetic inheritance and partly through the degree of love, concern, acceptance and interest that they show their children. Physical and sexual abuse are especially damaging for children’s feelings of self-worth. Personal successes and failures also influence self-esteem. But despite the attention given to the effects on high or low achievement in school, the degree of influence of selfesteem is relatively small. Children’s self-esteem can be raised by parenting programmes and other planned interventions, but knowledge of why particular interventions are effective is limited.

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Emler argued that low self-esteem could have beneficial motivational characteristics while high self-esteem could lead to arrogant, conceited, self-satisfied behaviour rather than provide specific benefits. This idea has been taken up by my colleague, Tomas ChamorroPremuzic in his 2013 book Confidence. He argues that we are told that the key to success in life and business is confidence: believe in yourself, and the world is your oyster. Yet millions of people feel themselves to be hindered by low self-confidence. In Confidence, he shows us that high confidence makes us less likeable, less employable and less successful in the long run. He shows the benefits of low confidence (including being more motivated and self-aware), teaches us how to know when to fake it, get ahead at work, improve our social skills, feel better emotionally and physically, and much more. In addition to reviews, experimental studies began to show the negative effects of high self-esteem. That is, they appeared to show that people with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to themselves and others than those with low self-esteem. Baumeister’s (Baumeister et al., 2003) imaginative studies have probably provided the best empirical evidence that there is no causal relationship between low self-esteem and life success, though this conclusion has been disputed. Some recent longitudinal studies suggest otherwise. In fact, if anything the opposite is true. Still others have shown that self-esteem can have both positive and negative consequences. If people derive their self-esteem from external factors like physical appearance they may be prone to eating disorders. The essence of the argument is that we need to be accurate in self-evaluation, which is about our competencies with both a spirit of acceptance and realism. To be self-accepting we need to take responsibility for our actions. Hence, there is a difference between authentic or genuine self-esteem and external or false self-esteem. The former is internal and under our control, the latter external and under the control of others who may be insecure and fickle.

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Similarly, it is important to try to distinguish between unhealthy narcissism with all its ego-inflatedness and self-absorbed vanity and genuine, correct and appropriately high self-esteem. Those with narcissism are dependent on others to affirm them. In this sense they are highly vulnerable and addicted to their positive affirmations. Thus the genuine narcissist keeps seeking personal validation but this is never enough to convince them of their own adequacy. Because they do not have genuine high self-esteem they strive to fake it. There have been various attempts to make differentiations in the narcissism literature which spans psychiatry and psychology. It has been conceived as a type and a trait, even a psychological process. There have been studies on overt (more exhibitionistic and aggressive) vs. covert (anxious, defensive, vulnerable) narcissists and many attempts to differentiate ‘healthy’, ‘productive’ narcissism from ‘unhealthy’ ‘destructive’ narcissism. Indeed, there appears to be some differences when there is a ‘clinical’ vs. ‘non-clinical’ account of narcissism. This problem may be resolved by the trait concept, whereby it is possible to locate everybody on the selfesteem–narcissistic trait. Clinicians may see only extreme cases that are recommended for therapy while personality and organizational psychologists see less ‘extreme cases’ who appear ‘relatively’ well adjusted. Those with self-awareness, and neither hubris nor humility with respect to the abilities and talents, do best. It may be paradoxically very unwise and unhealthy to concentrate on raising self-esteem when it is not in alignment with actual capabilities.

references Baumeister, R., Campbell, J., Krueger, J., & Volis, K. (2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness and healthier lifestyles? Psychological science in the public interest, 4, 1–44.

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Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2014). Confidence. New York: Hudson Street Press. Emler, N. (2005). The costs and causes of low self-esteem. Unpublished paper: LSE. Twenge, J. (2006). Generation Me. New York: Free Press.

84

Sex Differences: Nature, Nurture or ­Nothing

It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs. (Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd, 1890) We have more than a ‘sneaking suspicion’ that the female of the species is not only more deadly but also more intelligent than the male. (D. Wechsler, The Measurement of Adult Intelligence, 1939)

a hot topic Psychologists often have to be courageous, naive or unwise to research or write about sex differences. Sex differences in intelligence is one of the ‘hottest’ topics of research, and psychology researchers have been attacked and sacked on the basis of their views. However, to assert there are sex differences in anything causes a quick and dramatic backlash. Many people want to believe that men and women are equal, not only in potential, but also ability, and certainly rights. They argue that, even if there are small but actual, verifiable ability differences, they should not be explored or explained because of the divisive effect that it has on both sexes. In other words, do not research or dispute this issue: it only leads to bad things.

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There remains a great deal of popular debate about such things as the sex-linked glass ceiling, cliff, escalator and the ‘sticky’ floor, all of which imply career opportunities are quite different for men and women. It is clearly true that men are paid more than women often in the same job and often when they are equally, if not more, productive. It is quite easy to understand their outrage.

research Many studies over many years have demonstrated sex difference in children from an early age. They have shown that boys are more interested in block-building and vehicles; girls prefer doll play, artwork and domestic activities. Boys like rough-and-tumble play; girls tend to be more sensitive and sedentary. Boys show narrow interests; girls a wider range, including boy-typical activities (asymmetrical sex-typing). There is evidence of voluntary gender segregation (same-sex playgroups) which is true for both boys and girls. Boy groups are larger and more concerned with dominance issues; girls play in groups of two/three and are more sharing – concerned with fairness. Girls acquire language earlier than boys and remain more fluent throughout life. Girls develop larger vocabularies, use more complex linguistic constructions, enunciate and read better. Boys are less communicative and use language instrumentally (to get what they want). Brain localization of language is more bilateral for females than males (MRI & lesion studies). Some of these findings will be hotly disputed. But even if some small but consistent findings are acknowledged the debate shifts into why they exist. This is the nature–nurture issue.

popular vs. scientific conclusions Another curiosity is the apparent contradiction between popular and scientific writers. There are many popular books (e.g., Men are from

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Mars; Women are from Venus) that portray a simple evolutionary perspective that describe, and even rejoice in, sex differences in almost all human behaviour but particularly communication, relationships and work. These are contrasted with the measured and cautious academic books and papers that note how complex some of these seemingly simple questions are and how all the answers require numerous qualifiers. Inevitably there are two strongly competing, opposite forces: those who stress the biology of difference (Nature) and those who stress the sociology of similarity (Nurture). The former often suggest that these differences are immutable, though we know that all innate traits can be changed with experience. While nearly everyone acknowledges that we are biopsychosocial beings, there are those who see us more as BIOpsychosocial as opposed to biopsychoSOCIAL. This all concerns explaining how and why observed differences occur.

There are those who want to argue that well-established sex differences in abilities, personality and values inevitably leads to different occupational choices as well as adaptation to those jobs. Others want to stress social forces that for a variety of ideological reasons have pre- or proscribed gender differences at work that do not exist. Differences Reviewers of this topic can be described as Maximizers vs. Minimizers. Maximizers want to find and explain the (many large) differences between the sexes, while the minimizers want to emphasize how few differences there are. Part of this debate can be seen in the interpretation of a statistic called ‘Cohen’s d’ which is an indicator of difference. While there are conventions about how to label the difference as: no, trivial, small, medium, large and very large – even this is contested. Thus, minimizers are happy to see many differences are trivial and dismissible, as unimportant in

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every sense, while maximizers are eager to describe and explain all differences that they find. Meta-analyses But in the midst of all this heat there is light. Careful and thoughtful meta-analyses from researchers who pick over the evidence in a disinterested manner. Most acknowledge difference in certain specific abilities but point out that they are small, though they might have important consequences. Diane Halpern (2012) in her very carefully and comprehensively researched book noted the tasks at which females excel: generating synonyms (associational fluency), language production and word fluency, computation, anagrams, memory for words, objects, personal experiences and locations, and reading comprehension and writing. She argued that the underlying cognitive processes that explain this was rapid access to, and retrieval of, information in memory. On the other hand, tasks at which males excel include: verbal analogies, mathematical problem solving, mental rotation and spatial perception, spatiotemporal tasks (dynamic visual displays), generating and using information in visual images, and mechanical reasoning and some science-related topics. She suggested the underlying cognitive processes were maintaining and manipulating a mental representation in visual–spatial working memory. Janet Hyde has noted that there is evidence for the gender similarity hypothesis. She noted two theoretical approaches: Cognitive social learning theory explains psychological gender differences as being a result of females and males receiving different rewards and punishments for their behaviours, people’s tendency to imitate same-gender models, and cognitive processes such as attention and self-efficacy. Sociocultural theory argues that contemporary psychological gender differences have their origins in the prehistoric division of labour by gender; once males and females take on different roles, they develop the psychological qualities that equip them for those roles.

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It is her conclusion that there are far more gender similarities than differences. Yet there are some large differences. For instance in 3D mental rotation tasks, where men do much better; the personality dimension of agreeableness/tender-mindedness, where women score higher than men; sensation seeking, where men score higher; a greater interest in things versus people, which is true of men and the opposite for females; physical aggression, where men score much higher than women; and some sexual behaviours like masturbation and pornography use. There is perhaps no area in psychology, indeed the social sciences in general, that is as ideologically charged as this topic!

references Furnham, A. (2007). 50 ideas you really need to know in Psychology. London: Quercus. Halpern, D. (2012). Sex Differences on Cognitive Abilities. New York: Psychology Press. Hyde, J. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60, 581–92. Hyde, J. (2014). Gender similarities and differences. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 373–38. Lynn, R. & Kanazawa, S. (2011). A longitudinal study of sex differences in intelligence at ages 7, 11, and 16 years. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 321–4.

85

Sex Really Does Sell: Or Does It?

It doesn’t matter what you do in the bedroom so long as you don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses. (Mrs Patrick Campbell, The Duchess of Jermyn Street, 1964) Is sex dirty? Only if it’s done right. (Woody Allen, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex, 1972) Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. (Stephen Leacock)

Advertisements attempt to be interesting, attention grabbing and memorable. They serve the important commercial purpose of increasing product awareness. This increased product awareness is, in turn, geared to the ultimate goal of increasing the likelihood that viewers will purchase the goods or service advertised. That is how advertising is supposed to work. One question is: does sex sell? That is, if advertisements contain sexual content will the product become more memorable and the viewer more inclined to buy it? Sex in advertising is commonly utilized to this end with great success, as exemplified by the case of Calvin Klein’s 1995 sexual advertising campaign that doubled sales of their jeans. Given that advertising revenue provides the main source of income for the majority of television stations internationally,

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understanding whether ‘sex really sells’ is arguably not only an area of public and scientific interest, but has also a huge commercial significance for broadcasters. Indeed, advertisers demonstrate this importance because it can cost many millions ($/£) to air a single 30-second advertisement in the middle of a very popular programme. Memory for sexually themed advertisements Despite the frequent use of sexual themes (pictures, sounds, images) in advertisements, there are contradictory findings regarding their effectiveness. Advertisement memory is a critical factor in commercial effectiveness: a growing body of research has directly examined measures of recall for advertisement content. This has been done predominantly through the design of matching sexual and non-sexual advertisements on extraneous factors unrelated to their sexual content, such as the brand, the product type, the duration of the advertisement and the target audience. That is, researchers have to find ads for similar products (beer, cars, shampoo) where one has sexual imagery and the other does not. The majority of these studies have demonstrated that sexual advertisements are more memorable than non-sexual advertisements. There is also strong physiological evidence to suggest that sexual advertisements result in a state of not only heightened arousal, but also attention, when measured via galvanic skin responses. Furthermore, it has been suggested that a sexually charged advertisement can lead to greater behavioural intentions to purchase the product. But there are some contradictory findings. One possibly confounding factor is the precise nature of the depiction of sexual activity and whether it is of the romantic or non-romantic nature and setting. This is difficult to control in both advertisements and programmes and could in part explain equivocal findings.

contextual programme effects A further area of concern for broadcasters is whether to place advertisements with a sexual content within sexual or non-sexual

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programmes. One early study found that when people saw programmes with sexual, violent or neutral content, they had poorer memory for the advertisements embedded within these programmes. This effect was also found to have an impact on the consumer’s behavioural intentions to purchase the advertised products through coupons in a subsequent follow-up study. It was suggested that sexual programmes might prompt viewers to think about sex, which disrupts the encoding of adverts, or that processing sexual material requires greater cognitive resources than non-sexual material, leaving less cognitive capacity for processing other stimuli such as advertisements. Certainly, there is considerable empirical evidence suggesting that individuals pay more attention to sexual media than non-sexual media. However, two studies showed that when these other aspects of the programmes are held constant, sex and violence does not affect the memory for the embedded advertisements – but other aspects of the programme’s content (e.g., humorous content) do influence advertisement memory. But, on balance, the evidence would suggest that sexual programme content hinders advertisement recall.

programme-induced involvement Another factor thought to influence brand recall is the extent to which the viewer is ‘involved’ with the programme, though this has been a debated construct in advertising literature. It has been argued that individuals experiencing low levels of programme involvement perceived advertisements embedded within a congruent context as clearer and more likable, whereas highly involved individuals perceived advertisements embedded in a contrasting context as having a higher likeability and clarity. Researchers argued that for individuals with a low level of involvement, a congruent programme context could act as a peripheral cue, activating knowledge structures and facilitating message elaboration (priming effect). In contrast, individuals with high involvement are more likely to process the information centrally because of the contrast between the advertisement and the programme (a contrast effect).

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Others have argued for a curvilinear relationship between the level of involvement with a programme and programmecongruency effects. When a programme induces high levels of involvement, congruity effects are eliminated due to depleted cognitive resources. When a programme induces low levels of involvement, motivational priming is absent. Between these two extremes (i.e., a moderate level of involvement with a programme) individuals are expected to be subject to congruity effects. Due to the highly involving nature of sexual programmes it is possible there would be no congruity effects for advertisements embedded within sexual programmes, because of the high level of involvement they would engender.

references Bushman, B. J. (2005). Violence and sex in television programs do not sell products in advertisements. Psychological Science, 16, 702–08. Leka, J., McClelland, A., & Furnham, A. (2013). Memory for sexual and non-sexual television commercials as a function of viewing context and viewer gender. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 27, 584–5. Lull, R., & Bushman, B. (2015). Does sex and violence sell? Psychological Bulletin, 141, 1022–48. Parker, E., & Furnham, A. (2007). Does sex sell? The effect of sexual programme content on the recall of sexual and non‐sexual advertisements. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21, 1217–28.

86

Shopping: The Psychology of Retail Therapy

The consumer is not a moron – she is your wife. (David Ogilvy) A consumer is a shopper who is sore about something. (Harold Coffin)

Is there a science to shopping? Can we predict how, what, why and when people buy in shops or online? This is an area of research called ‘consumer behaviour’. Certainly, many myths surround the topic. Take the top three theories for supermarket layout. ●●

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First, the two staples, bread and milk, are furthest apart to keep you walking the aisles and then, en-route, inevitably impulse buying. No, they are in different places mainly for temperature reasons. Second, super-marketers deliberately try to disorientate you by moving the stuff around. No, they do not, because relocating goods really annoys shoppers and sales drop if they do this regularly. Sure, changes are made but the aim is to accommodate new stock or eliminate poorly selling ranges. Third, they pile up big fruit and veg at the front of the shop to encourage you to take a trolley which you feel compelled to fill. No, shopping trolley decisions are usually made before you enter the store.

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But there are people watching and measuring behaviour in all stores to try to understand consumer behaviour. There are three methods of collecting shopping science data: ●●

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First, a careful examination of stock, cash and sales. That is quite simple and reliable. Loyalty cards make it easier. These can provide good data on consistency over time and exact details of your purchases. It can also examine associations, i.e. those who buy pesto are more likely to buy balsamic vinegar. Those who buy own-brand also buy BOGOFs (buy-one-get-one-free). This data tells us about behaviour but it can’t inform us about motives, which we have to infer. Second, if we believe people both will (and can) tell us about their real (conscious and unconscious) motives we could interview them. Or they can be stopped before they enter and after they leave shops (noting differences between shopping intentions and actual purchases) or in ubiquitous focus groups or even on the phone. Third, we can watch people shop. Through security cameras or using anthropologically trained observers, you can describe how people move through stores: what seems to slow them down or attract them to particular areas while shunning others and why they appear to inspect physically some produce and not others.

Retailers are interested in particular questions: the conversion rate (the number of people entering stores who actually purchase anything); the interception rate (the number of customers who interact with staff members); how long people actually spend in a store and how long they have to wait for service, especially paying. Time spent in a store is the single best predictor of how much is spent, so slowing people down is a good thing. But it is not a good idea to slow them down with poor signage and blocked aisles. Mirrors slow people down, intriguing displays do likewise. Equally,

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having to wait is the single best predictor of dissatisfaction, so it pays to ensure waiting is at a minimum. Studies show many pretty obvious things. Signage is very important; people like to sit down in shops; music and smells can affect moods and thence purchases. People need ways of easily carrying things and they tend to have habitual ways of moving around the store.

demographic differences Are there demographic differences? Naturally shoppers have been classified by age, sex and class. Observers notice, people self-report and loyalty card information indicate sex differences. Females spend more time shopping than men. They seem to be more aware, inquisitive and patient in shops. Men, it seems, move faster, look less and are less inclined to ask questions. Men seem to worry less about the price and seem more anxious to get out of the store. Men inhibit women shoppers. Women accompanied by men spend half the time than if accompanied by other women. Women advise, consult, talk and suggest to each other…men get on with it. Women, some socio-biologically inclined researchers note, find shopping relaxing and rejuvenating. But men are huntergatherers. They need a clear objective (i.e. a list) and to know precisely what brand, colour, size and style. Where to go, how long to stay, etc. Men go for a quick kill. And then there are the pathologies associated with shopping addictions and compulsions, including shoplifting. There seem to be a disproportionate number of women suffering from these. People shop to confirm their identity (you are what you wear), to find external symbols of missing internal needs, to restore a feeling of group belonging. Addictive shoppers are like anorexics – they feel empty inside, they need control and to feel admired.

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The thesis is developed further with the concept of retail therapy. The shopper really is a profoundly unhappy person trying to ‘buy relief ’ in big stores. There are probably more ‘shoppophiles’ than ‘shoppophobes’. And there does appear to be a sex difference in shopping preferences and predilections. Males, whose need is to make a quick kill and take it home, need a target and a timetable. Research believes men can be motivated to shop only if given clear criteria for the purchase (brand, style, colour and size); a map or directions of where to shop, even criteria for how long they should be at it! People do spend a lot of time in malls and shopping centres. And in the modern world they spend hours surfing the web ‘shopaholically’. But what are their motives? Are there clearly different types based on different reasons for shopping? Over 30 years ago the marketing experts tried to offer a list of motives. But more recently the retailing analysts have identified six clear different ‘hedonic shopping motives’. Adventure Shopping: Shopping is seen as an exciting adventure. Shopping offers a sensory world of new sights, sounds and smells. Shops are like adventure playgrounds. Social Shopping: This is the bonding shopping experience. It is a way to spend time with friends and family. Gratification Shopping: This is more akin to retail therapy. This is shopping for stress relief; shopping to indulge; shopping to pick oneself up. For some it’s winding down while for others it is a distraction. Idea Shopping: The fashion conscious and presumably fashion victims in particular have to find a way of keeping up with what is new. They need to know what is in and what is not. There are trends in everything from boys’ toys to girls’ fashion. Role Shopping: Shopping for others can be, for some, deeply satisfying and gratifying. People feel good about gift shopping. Value Shopping: This is the discount-seeking, bargain hunter who sees the whole shopping experience as a challenge and a game to be won.

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Of course, the trouble with all typologies or even dimensions is that they offer an irresistible temptation to the obsessional to split one category, add another or combine two or more. Few people fit neatly into each box. But it is a start.

references Baker, A. (ed.) (2000). Serious Shopping. Psychotherapy and Consumerism. New York: Free Association Books. Markham, J. (1998). The Future of Shopping. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Underhill, P. (2004). Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. New York: Simon & Schuster.

87

Smiling: When, How and Why We Smile

That may smile, and smile, and be a villain. (Shakespeare, Hamlet) Minds differ more than faces. (Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary)

What can you read into a smile? Smiling may be natural or faked. The broad, genuine, expressive, spontaneous smile can be defined physiologically in terms of what muscles do to different parts of the face: lips, cheeks or eyes. There is also the wry, miserable smile, often lopsided, that indicates recognition of the vicissitudes of fate. The polite smile – often more like a grimace – is as much a sign of embarrassment as happiness. Fake smiles are used for various purposes, often to pretend to show enjoyment, or sociability or agreement. These are easily noticeable because they involve the mouth and not the eyes. Technically we can define the physiological difference between a genuine and fake smile: two muscles are involved (zygomaticus major and orbicularis oculi); real smiles involve both muscles and fake smiles the former but not the latter. There are lots of reasons why people smile. We know that when people are lying they tend to smile less than when telling the truth because they do the opposite of what people expect of others who are telling a lie. Police studies have shown many times that people accused of serious (smuggling) and less serious crimes (speeding)

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tend to smile more and more genuinely when innocent than those later proved to be guilty. You can detect false counterfeit smiles by looking for four things: 1 Duration: How long it lasts. False smiles last longer. 2 Assembly: False smiles are put together (eyes, mouth) and taken apart more quickly than real smiles. 3 Location: False smiles are ‘voluntary’ and involve mainly the lower part of the face, whereas ‘involuntary’ smiles involve as much the upper part of the face around the eyes and eyebrows. 4 Symmetry: If the smile appears more on one side of the face (often the right side), it is more likely to be false. The ‘science of smiling’ was founded by Charles Darwin. Darwin also observed that smiling and laughter often occurred together and therefore had similar origins. Happiness, he thought, was similar to amusement. Smiling is the outward manifestation of happiness and serves to begin to connect us to others. We are, as we say now, ‘prewired’ to connect with others via this system. Interestingly, some researchers have shown that people who cannot smile, because of facial paralysis, have more difficulty in social relationships. However, there may be culture differences in the rules of smiling: when etiquette dictates it is appropriate to smile or not. For instance, it has been demonstrated that in America, people smile more in the south than the north (cut by the Mason– Dixon Line). On average, women smile more than men. At two months old we can observe that baby girls smile more than baby boys. We know that powerful men smile less than less powerful men. Also that smiling is linked to testosterone: the more men have, the smaller and fewer smiles they make. There is a lot of evidence of body language mirroring. ‘Laugh, and the world laughs with you; cry and you cry alone.’ This sets up

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a virtuous cycle for the smiler and a vicious cycle for the non-smiler. Smiling helps bond people together. There is also physiological evidence that smiling has specific biological consequence. This is even truer of laughter and is evidence of a feedback loop. Smiling has hormonal and physiological consequences which make us feel better and want to smile more. Smiling self-medicates and heals. All body language researchers have attempted to come up with a full category scheme for the different smiles that one notices. Zoologists noticed that chimpanzees have two smiles: a submission face (lips retracted, teeth exposed) and a play face (lower jaw dropped and corners of the mouth pulled back). The submission face is designed to appease. Smiling in humans can indicate dominance. If you watch two people of different social rank, the dominant people smile more in ‘friendly situations’ but less in ‘unfriendly situations’. Another distinction has been between open and closed mouth smiles. One writer has identified 15 different smiles which she calls the: mirthless, the stretched social rictus, asymmetric, upturned, mouth-shrug, perfect, suppressed, tonsil-flasher, secret, uber-flirt, aggressive, lower-jaw jut, clencher, smug and know-all! The world’s expert, however, is Paul Ekman who has studied all facial muscles and psychological motives to understand the nature of smiles. He has a useful list: 1 The felt smile which is long and intense and shows all sign of positive feeling associated with amusement, contentment, pleasure from stimulation. 2 The fear smile and contempt smiles are misnomers because neither have to do with positive emotions, though both can have a ‘smiley mouth’ and dimples. 3 The dampened smile is a real smile where people attempt to suppress or conceal the extent of their positive emotions. 4 The miserable smile is a ‘grin and bear it’ smile indicating stoicism about negative emotions.

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5 The flirtatious smile is partly embarrassed because the person gazes/faces away from the person of interest/contact. 6 The Chaplin smile is a contorted supercilious smile that in effect smiles at smiling. Ekman also notes deliberate, but not fake smiles that send particular messages like: 1 The Qualifier smile which takes the edge off a harsh message which can ‘trap’ the recipient into returning the smile. 2 The Compliance smile is an acknowledgement that a bitter pill will be swallowed without protest. 3 The Co-ordinated smile is a polite co-operative smile showing agreement, understanding and acknowledgement. 4 The Listener Response smile simply indicates that everything heard is understood. It is an encouragement to continue. Politicians, movie-stars and media people practise smiling. So do those in the hospitality business. There are things they learn not to do: open your mouth, unless laughing, producing a sudden flash smile, and having a choreographed smile that bears no relation to what you are saying. Saying cheese produces fake smiles. People well known for smiling very little (Putin, Bronson, Thatcher) have a reputation for being tough and non-submissive, which is what they want to portray. Smiling affects a person’s reputation and those in the ‘reputation business’ know that.

references Collett, P. (2003). The Book of Tells. London: Doubleday. Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life. New York: Times Books. Vrij, A. (2000). Detecting lies and deceit. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.

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Stress: Causes and Consequences

An ever-increasing proportion of the human population dies from the so-called wear-and-tear diseases or degenerative diseases, which are primarily due to stress. (Hans Seyle, The Stress of Life, 1956) Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. (Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter, 1948)

We read a great deal about stress in society and stress at work. But is it true that there is nothing new about the idea of stress, except perhaps its acuity and chronicity? Are some people or jobs in certain sectors/industries more vulnerable to stress than others? Is work stress as inevitable as death and taxes? Is there the possibility that moderate stress is good? Is there a stress industry committed to finding stress where it really does not exist? Is stress just a current form of psychological hypochondriasis? Many definitions of stress exist: some believe stress can and should be subjectively defined (i.e. what I say about how I feel), others feel one needs an objective definition (perhaps physical measures of saliva, blood or heart beat). Some researchers believe a global definition is appropriate (there is one general thing called stress), others emphasize that stress is multidimensional (it is made up of very different features). Should you define it by the outside

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stimulus factors that cause it or rather how people respond to it? That is, if somebody does not experience something as stressful can we really call it a stressor?

the support and challenge model In most management jobs, leaders are both supported and challenged. They are supported by peers, subordinates and superiors, who also challenge them to work harder and ‘smarter’. Thus it is possible to think of the average manager in terms of support and challenge: ●●

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Much support, little challenge: Managers in this role are in the fortunate position of good technical and social support, but the fact they are under-challenged probably means that they under-perform. They may actually be stressed by boredom and monotony. Much support, much challenge: This combination tends to get the most out of managers as they are challenged by superiors, subordinates, shareholders and customers to ‘work smarter’ but are given the appropriate support to succeed. Little support, much challenge: This unfortunate, but very common, situation is a major cause of stress for any manager because he or she is challenged to work consistently hard but only offered minimal emotional, informational (feedback) and physical (equipment) support. Little support, little challenge: Managers in some bureaucracies lead a quiet and unstressed life because they are neither challenged nor supported, which usually means neither they, nor their organization, benefits. They belong to the ‘psychologically quit but physically stay’ employee.

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three components There are essential things about the make-up of the individual, firstly their personality, ability and biography. Second, there are features about the environment (job, family, organization), usually but not exclusively considered in terms of the work environment. Third, there is how the individual and the environment perceive, define but more importantly try to cope with stress, strains and pressures. 1 The Individual Some people are more stress-prone than others. By definition there are the anxious worriers (sometimes called neurotics). People with ‘negative affectivity’, namely those with a mix of anxiety, irritability, neuroticism and self-deprecation, tend to be less productive, less job satisfied and more prone to absenteeism. Another possible cause are fatalists who believe events in their lives to be a function of luck, chance, fate, God(s), powerful others or powers beyond their control, comprehension or manipulation and are said to have an expectancy of external control. Third, there is the competitive, frantic person. They bring about their own stress. 2 The Job (organization) or social environment Some jobs are more stressful than others. But why? What makes one job induce high levels of stress in all employees while another does not? ●●

Occupational demands intrinsic to the job. Some jobs are quite simply more stressful than others. The greater the extent to which the job requires a) making decisions, b) constant monitoring of machines or materials, c) repeated exchange of information with others, d) unpleasant physical conditions, and e) performing unstructured

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rather than structured tasks, the more stressful the job tends to be. Role conflict: stress results from conflicting demands. For many people at work, it is important that they engage in role juggling – rapidly switching from one role and one type of activity to another (from boss to friend, teacher to partner, law enforcer to father confessor). Role ambiguity: stress resulting from uncertainty. This can occur when people are uncertain about several matters relating to their jobs, such as the scope of their responsibilities, what is expected of them, and how to divide their time between various duties. Over- and underload stress from having too little or too much to do. Work overload can be both quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative overload stress occurs when people are asked to do more work, in a limited period, than they are able to do, whereas Qualitative overload occurs when the work is too difficult to be done in the set conditions. Quantitative underload leads to boredom that occurs when employees have too little work to do, and qualitative underload occurs when boring, routine, repetitive jobs are associated with chronic lack of mental stimulation. Responsibility for others: stress resulting from a heavy burden. Many people are (or should be) responsible for their subordinates: they have to motivate them, reward and punish them, communicate and listen to them, and so on. Considerable stress is often experienced by people when confronting the human costs of organizational policies and decisions: listening to endless complaints, mediating disputes, promoting co-operation and exercising leadership. Lack of social support: stress from being socially isolated or ignored. Having friends and supporters in times of difficulty helps managers see stressful events as less threatening and more controllable than if they had little or no support.

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psych ology 1 01 They can provide emotional, financial and information support at different times. Friends and supporters can also often suggest useful strategies for dealing with the sources of stress. Lack of participation in decisions: stress from helplessness and alienation. Many middle managers are, or feel they are, the victims of decisions made at a higher level, over which they have no control. The major cause is that managers are neither allowed to witness, nor to contribute to, important business decisions that affect their jobs.

3 Coping How does a person with stress attempt to cope? One distinction which has been made is between problem-focused coping (aimed at problem-solving or doing something to alter the source of stress) and emotion-focused coping (aimed at reducing or managing the emotional distress that is associated with, or cued by, a particular set of circumstances). Emotion-focused responses can involve denial, the positive reinterpretation of events, and the seeking out of social support. Similarly, problem-focused coping can potentially involve several distinct activities, such as planning, taking direct action, seeking assistance, screening out particular activities, and sometimes stopping acting for an extended period. One personal factor that seems to play an important role in determining resistance to stress is the familiar dimension of optimism/pessimism. Optimists are hopeful in their outlook on life, interpret a wide range of situations in a positive light and tend to expect favourable outcomes and results. Pessimists, by contrast, interpret many situations negatively, and expect unfavourable outcomes and results. Optimists are much more stress-resistant than pessimists.

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references Cooper, C., Cooper, R., Eaker, L. (1988). Living with Stress. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Siegrist, J. (2001). A theory of occupational stress. In J. Durham. (Ed.). Stress in the Workplace. London: Whurr, pp.52–66. Sonnentag, S. & Frese, M. (2003). Stress in Organizations. In W. Borman, D. Ilgen & R. Klimosk. (Eds). Handbook of Psychology. Vol. 12, pp. 454–91.

89

Subliminal Perception and Hidden ­Messages

Our mind is so fortunately equipped, that it brings us the most important bases for our thoughts without our having the least knowledge of this work of elaboration. Only the results of it become unconscious. (W. Wundt, The Unconscious before Freud, 1960) Consciousness reigns but does not govern. (Paul Valery, A Certain World, 1970)

Nearly 50 years ago an American writer called Vance Packard argued that by using subliminal cues, advertisers and marketers persuaded people to buy against their will. These cues could be very short, imperceptible visual or verbal messages that people claimed not to see or hear. Packard said that ordinary people were being cynically manipulated by advertisers who were using underhand techniques to persuade people to buy their products. But, of course, the technology could be used by religious or political bodies to sway opinion their way. The theory is that people can be emotionally and behaviourally affected by visual or vocal stimuli whose presence they do not report. They are receiving hidden messages. Whether it is called preconscious processing or unconscious perception, few psychologists dispute or would even be surprised

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by the idea that people can be affected by stimuli they claim not to have seen. What people say they saw and did see are not the same. By flashing up images and words very quickly, scientists have been able to demonstrate reliably the process called subliminal perception. But, and it is a very big but, there is very little evidence that subliminal perception then systematically and consistently influences a person’s attitudes, beliefs, choices and motives. There is, in short, little or no reliable scientific evidence that subliminal perception has any behavioural impact or longterm effect on intentions or consumer behaviour. In this sense you need not be worried about the power of subliminal messages in advertising.

But lack of evidence has never got in the way of a good theory. So down the years journalists and popular authors have argued that some, even most advertisements, contain hidden sexual images or particular brand names or messages that affect our susceptibility to those advertisements. The attention-grabbing, paranoid, but evidence-free myth goes: clever (wicked) advertisers can make you do things against your better judgement, conscious decision-making or will, by subliminal messages in (mainly television, but also radio) ads. Careful research has however suggested, as one reviewer put it, this idea is absurd or laughable and ludicrous, paranoid and preposterous. We know that advertisements use visual or vocal words or themes to encourage us to make connections between brands, products and particular behaviours and emotions. We also know that advertisements may well influence attitudes and values without people’s awareness. But this is not subliminal advertising. From the late 50s to the mid-70s books with titles like Subliminal Seduction and Media Sexploitation kept the notion alive for a public apparently happy to see wicked manipulative scientists working with greedy, cynical advertisers. Shopaholism, suicides and sexual

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disorders were all seen to be partly consequences of this conspiracy. But the evidence was lacking. However, clever salesmen did see the positive side of the public’s gullibility. They knew from their research that subliminal advertising did not work…and was anyway both illegal and illogical. But why not turn the whole thing around and openly sell the technique? Hey presto! We have subliminal auditory self-help tapes. Soon recordings were on sale that supposedly showed dramatic changes in mental and psychological health. You simply set the recording to go off while you were asleep and you could experience weight-loss, improved sexual function and ease in stopping smoking, nail-biting or fear of flying. These recordings came in various forms. Some were designed to be played while awake. But they all had those subliminally embedded messages that you could not pick up but which could change your life. Cynics of course said if you could not hear the message how do you know if they even existed? The modality changed from visual to auditory and the image of the science from wicked to helpful. Scientists got to work on this one, testing the claim that an undetectable speech signal changes any form of behaviour. It is a stronger claim that if critical messages are masked (drowned or washed out) by other sounds, the weak becomes detected, then disentangled and then comprehensible. These recordings supposedly provide a pipeline to the Id – that Freudian concept of the primitive persona which is a cauldron of seething excitement. They can, it is claimed, get to the deepest parts of our being, our primitive, unknowable, secret self. The scientists have tested these assumptions carefully. The jury is back. There is no evidence for most of these theoretically jumbled claims. This is therefore not only quackery but fraud: the advertisements have the obvious intention to deceive people who want a fast, cheap ‘cure’ involving little willpower or pain.

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Scientists might be unanimous in their evidence-based opinion that subliminal recordings make fraudulent claims, but they don’t seem too hot at getting their message across. On the other hand, the commercially savvy tape-producers have commissioned advertising agencies to design new campaigns. Using scientific jargon and imagery and the power of repetition, the aggressive campaigns have succeeded in keeping the myths alive. It is ironic that traditional advertising succeeds in selling subliminal recordings that don’t persuade. Advertisers and marketing people are clever and resourceful. They know how to manipulate our mood which can influence our behaviour while shopping. They do their best to make us recall their brand and have positive associations with it. And they are now turning to ‘brain science’ to make them even more successful. The hope for many is to find those ‘hidden persuaders’ that may actually work this time.

references Dixon, N.F. (1971). Subliminal Perception: The Nature of a Controversy. London: McGraw-Hill. Dixon, N.F. (1981). Preconscious Processing. Chichester: Wiley. Nelson, M.T. (2008). The Hidden Persuaders: Then and Now. Journal of Advertising, 37, no. 1.

90

Talent: What is it and Who has it?

There is no substitute for talent. Industry and all the virtues are of no avail. (Aldous Huxley, Point Counter Point, 1940) You have flair. It’s handed out at birth…. And as always happens in these cases. It’s always given to the very people who in my opinion do least to earn it. (Alan Ayckbourn, Joking Apart, 1979) There is no such thing as a great talent without great will-power. (H. De Balzac, La Musee Du Department, 1830) If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain; ten years, grow trees; one hundred years, grow people. (Chinese proverb)

It is difficult not to have escaped noticing that ‘talent management’ has become a fashionable, Human Resource (HR), buzz word. Yet it remains unclear what talent actually is; whether it needs special nurturing to last and what it predicts. If talent is not merely a new name for an old construct or set of constructs, what does it comprise? And how does one develop a person into a talented manager? There are various specific questions for those trying to assess and evaluate talent. Here are some issues and questions to ponder: write down all the synonyms and antonyms for talent that you can think of. Have you ever worked with, or for, a really talented person? How did you know? Describe your observations. Should you invest more or less time and money into the talent group than those not

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in the group? If the talented are in some way gifted, should we not invest more in those who, for whatever reason, are seen to have less talent? What, in your view, are the three easiest and the three hardest things involved with talent management?

definitions It is important to have a clear, specific and evidence-based definition of the concept of talent to know what to look for. Yet, despite the increasing number of books written in the area the concept remains unclear. Talent is, quite simply, not a psychological concept. One approach is to list possible synonyms for talent. These include: blessed, exceptional, experienced, flair, genius, giftedness, high potential, precocious, prodigy, superstars, wonderkids or wunderkinds. It is really only ‘giftedness’ that has any serious academic investigation. Talent implies the possibility of people becoming more than they are. Silzer and Church (2009) argue that the concept of potential (talent) is all about something existing in possibility only. Is it a singular, immutable and context independent trait or defined by, and brought out only in, certain situations. They note that high potential can be defined by role, level, breadth, record, strategic position or strategic area. They analysed 11 companies’ definitions of talent/high potential and found evidence of six/seven categories, variously defined: Cognitive: Cognitive ability/complexity, intelligence, navigates ambiguity, breadth of perspective, judgement, insightful, strategic reasoning, tactical problem solving. Personality: Dominance, sociability, stability, interpersonal, emotional intelligence, authentic, optimistic, personal maturity, respect for people, self-aware, integrity. Learning: Adaptability, versatility, learning agility, receptive to feedback, eager to learn, flexible, seeks feedback, learns from mistakes.

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Leadership: Competent, inspiring, develops others, brings out the best in people, influencing, challenges the status quo. Motivation: Drive, aspiration, engagement, initiative, energy, risk-taking, power/control, tenacity, passion for results, courage to take risks, commitment to company/impact. Performance: Leadership experiences. Other things: Technical skills, culture fit, promotability, business knowledge/acumen.

some fundamental questions From a management perspective there seems to be a number of important questions: ●●

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Attracting talent: This involves the recruitment of talented people, identifying the best methods to assess talent and finding ways to persuade talented people to join the organization. This is essentially a recruiting and selection task. The idea is aimed at making these especially (and perhaps unusually) talented people favourably disposed to your organizations such that they apply for advertised positions. Developing talent: One of the concepts associated with talent is the idea of potential to rise up the organization to ever more important and challenging jobs. For this it is thought (even) talented people require particular training, coaching or mentoring. Retaining talent: This involves keeping talented people after they have been selected. It involves understanding their particular and specific ‘package’ and training needs. They might be differently motivated than less talented groups, and the task is to find out how to keep them both happy and productive. Transferring talent: Inevitably, talented people move – they move up the organization (almost by definition);

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they move to sister companies; they may head up overseas divisions of the company. Furthermore, they leave the organization. It is important to ensure that all issues associated with out-placement, relocation and retirement are done well.

developing talented people Talented leaders mention six powerful learning experiences that they believe shaped them. ●●

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The first is early work experience. This may be a ‘part-time’ job at school, a relatively unskilled summer holiday job at university, or one of the first jobs they ever had. For some it was the unadulterated tedium or monotony which powerfully motivated them never to want to repeat it. The second factor is the experience of other people, and it is nearly always an immediate boss, but can be a colleague or one of the serious grown-ups. They are almost always remembered as either very bad or very good: both teach lessons. The third factor is short-term assignments: project work, standing in for another or interim management. Because this takes people out of their comfort zone and exposes them to issues and problems they have never before confronted, they learn quickly. Fourth, first major line assignment. This is often the first promotion, foreign posting or departmental move to a higher position. It is often frequently cited because suddenly the stakes were higher, everything more complex and novel and ambiguous. The fifth factor is hardships of various kinds. It is about attempting to cope in a crisis which may be professional or personal. It teaches the real value of things: technology, loyal staff and supportive head offices. Sixth on the list comes the management development stuff. Some remember and quote their MBA experience; far fewer

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psych ology 1 01 some specific (albeit fiendishly expensive) course. One or two quote the experience of receiving 360-degree feedback. More recall a coach, either because they were so good or so awful. This is bad news for some trainers, business school teachers and coaches.

references Dries, N. (2013). The psychology of talent management: A review and research agenda. Human Resource Management Review, 23 (272–85). MacRae, I., & Furnham, A. (2013). High Potential. London: Bloomsbury. Silzer R., & Church, A. (2009). The pearls and perils of identifying potential. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2, 377–412.

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Thinking and Learning Styles

Men suffer from thinking more than anything else. (Leo Tolstoy, Sevastopol, 1890) The human mind tends always and everywhere to think alike. (J.S. Lincoln, The Dream in the Primitive Society, 1935) How can I know what I think till I see what I say. (G. Wallis, The Art of Thought, 1945)

Psychologists have identified Thinking Styles (sometimes called Cognitive Styles) as well as Learning styles. Thinking/cognitive styles, are ways of thinking, while learning styles are ways of absorbing knowledge. The word ‘styles’ seems to imply a number of things. First, that styles seem relatively superficial at least in the sense that they can be readily observed. Second, that the acquisition of a style is relatively simple and voluntaristic. Third, that styles may have an evaluative component to them in the sense that some are ‘better’, more appropriate or more desirable than others. We know people have different strategies of, or preferences for, styles of learning as a function of their personality. ●●

Reward enhances the performance of extraverts more than introverts, whereas punishment impairs the performance of introverts more than extraverts.

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psych ology 1 01 Introverts are more susceptible than extraverts to distraction. Introverts are more affected than extraverts by response competition. Introverts take longer than extraverts to retrieve information from long-term or permanent storage, especially non-dominant information. Introverts have higher response criteria than extraverts. Extraverts show better retention-test performance than introverts at short retention intervals, but the opposite happens at long retention intervals.

learning style The theory that has received most attention in the management literature is that of Kolb. His model combines the two bipolar dimensions of cognitive growth: the active–reflective dimension and the abstract–concrete dimension. The first ranges from direct participation to detached observation, and the second ranges from dealing with tangible objects to dealing with theoretical concepts. Kolb defined a four-stage cycle of learning: it begins with the acquisition of concrete experience (CE), which gives way to reflective observation (RO) on that experience. The theorybuilding, or abstract conceptualization (AC), then occurs, which is then put to the test through active experimentation (AE). The cycle thus recommences, since the experimentation itself yields new concrete experiences. Kolb classified learning styles according to a fourfold taxonomy based on the two cognitive dimensions: ●●

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divergers reflect on specific experiences from various different perspectives. assimilators develop a theoretical framework on the basis of that reflection. convergers test the theory in practice. accommodators use the results of that testing as a basis for new learning.

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In Kolb’s model, individuals prefer to gather information either through concrete experience (ce) or abstract conceptualization (ac), and they prefer to process that information either through reflective observation (ro) or active experimentation (ae). ce includes affective learning skills, while ro involves perceptual learning skills. Four learning-style categories are possible, based upon how a person combines preferences in gathering and processing information. Accommodators combine ce and ae; divergers combine ce and ro; assimilators combine ro and ac; and convergers combine ac and ae.

cognitive style Over the years many styles have been described, though there is clearly much similarity between them. One obvious theme is the fast, superficial, abstract style vs. the slower, more detailed styles. There are hundreds of papers in this area but little agreement as to which style works best and when. Concept

Description

Field-dependency-independency

Individual dependency on a perceptual field when analysing a structure or form which is part of the field.

Levelling-sharpening

A tendency to assimilate detail rapidly and lose detail or emphasize detail and changes in new information.

Impulsivity-reflectivity

Tendency for quick, as opposed to a deliberate, response.

Divergent-convergent thinking

Narrow, focused, logical, deductive thinking rather than broad, open-ended, associational thinking to solve problems.

Holistic-serial thinking

The tendency to work through learning tasks or problem-solving incrementally or globally and assimilate detail.

Concrete random- concrete sequential

The learner learns through experience, concrete and abstraction either randomly or sequentially.

Explorers-assimilators

Individual preferences for seeking familiarity or novelty in the process of problem-solving and creativity.

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Adaptors prefer conventional, established procedures and innovators restructuring or new perspectives in problem-­ solving.

Intuitive Analytic Preference for developing understanding through reasoning and or by spontaneity or insight and learning activity which allows active participation or passive reflection.

approaches to learning (ATL) Whereas the ‘style’ literature is essentially about how different people choose to process material, the ‘approaches’ literature is clearly much more concerned with motivation and assessment. The issue is how people approach their learning task. This may be a function of how and what they are taught, which in turn could be related to the approach in the first place. It was observed that if students were given a text to read that they knew they would be examined on, some tried to understand, contextualize and comprehend the ‘big picture’ content while others focused on remembering what they thought were the ‘facts’ that they would be examined on. These two very different approaches have been called deep vs. surface approaches. To adopt the deep approach means to achieve a critical understanding and retention of concepts that are integrated into a knowledge schema and used for problem solving. The surface approach is based on a pragmatic short-term memorization of salient facts for examination or repetition. Deep

Surface

Critical

Accepting

Connected

Unconnected

Active

Passive

Interested in meaning

Reliant on role learning

Focused on arguments

Focused on formulae

Critically evidence based

Uncritical of evidence

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Integrative to previous schemes

Treating issues/facts in isolation

Linked to real life

Exam oriented

Intrinsically motivated

Extrinsically motivated

Engaged

Not fully engaged

Deep learning is about big picture, broad-view, evaluative and crucial learning. Deep learners are intrinsically motivated but also interested to apply their knowledge and seek evidence of its validity. Knowledge acquisition is thought of as both practical and enjoyable. Surface learners are detail and pragmatic focused on rote learning, memorization and course assessment and requirements. Examples and principles are confused and little effort is made to integrate the material to a wider knowledge base. Frequently the motivation is extrinsic and based more on fear of failure and success orientation.

references Furnham, A. (2012). Learning styles and approaches to learning. In Harris, Karen R; Graham, Steve; Urdan, Tim; Graham, Sandra; Royer, James M.; Zeidner, Moshe, (2012). APA Educational Psychology Handbook, (pp. 59–81). Washington, DC. Kolb, D. (1984). Experimental Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Messick, S. (Ed.). (1976). Individuality in Learning: Implications of Cognitive Styles and Creativity for Human Development. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

92

Time: Larks and Owls and Waiting Forever

The future is not what it used to be. (Anon) The present is only an imaginary dividing line between the past and the future. (E.H. Carr, What is History? 1961)

How we look at and experience time depends on many things. First, the country we come from. All travellers are very aware of the fact that people think and talk about time differently. Some countries are time-bound (Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Scandinavia), whereas others are time-blind (Spain, Portugal, Greece). Time-bound societies emphasize schedules, deadlines, time waste, time-keeping, a fast pace of life. Time-blind societies are more relaxed and casual about time. Thus what is late in one society is not necessarily so in another. As societies become more time-bound, they have a more competitive attitude to time, and so ‘fast’ is better. Hence fast-living, fast-eating, fast-tempo, manic-type work behaviour emphasizing ‘catching up’ and not being ‘left behind’. Timebound societies see time as linear, time-blind as cyclical. Time-bound societies centre work around clocks, schedules, delivery dates, agendas, deadlines. This can make for serious misunderstandings at work.

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Then there is the time-blind culture’s ability to distinguish between sacred and profane time. The former is for eating, family, sleeping. Profane time is used for everything else. Hence in Spain, meetings can easily be interrupted; time is not dedicated solely to the meeting. There is also the distinction between mono- and poly-chronic time. Time-bound societies are monochronic – they do one thing at a time. Time-blind are polychronic, happily ignoring appointments, schedules, deadlines and tolerating interruptions. There is also the issue of time-orientation: past, present and future. The British are thought to be interested more in the distant and recent past and therefore do not invest so much in the future, whereas the Germans have a longer view of the future, investing in basic research, education and training. The understanding and use of time is crucial in business. Not only does it lead to how, when, where and why work is done, but people with conflicting ideas and theories may have very different conceptions and expectations. This can lead to miscommunication and animosity. Also organizations have unique time cultures. Some do timeurgency seriously. Time is measurable. Others seem much more relaxed. Some are amnesic about the past, believing it pointless to look back. Others are obsessed with the future, paying top dollar for strategy consultants to ‘predict’ and possibly control the future. Some fine people for being late at meetings, others appear to reward them. And there are also organizations that make people literally ‘clock in and out’, checking exactly how much time they spend at work. But as with cultural differences there are also individual differences.

chronobiology This is all about differences in circadian rhythm and most people know it as morningness–eveningness. Many bodily functions

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– blood flow, oral temperature, urine chemistry – change over the day. So too does our ability to perform various tasks. There are various tests that help you determine whether you are a morning or evening person; often called larks and owls. Most of us are neither extreme cases but some people are more extreme. A strong morning type will get up much earlier (by as much as two hours), and go to bed much earlier compared to evening types. They feel much more alive and active in the morning and choose to do tasks that require concentration then. Equally they tend to feel more tired and listless in the evening while this is when evening types just come awake. We all use drugs like caffeine and alcohol at different times of day to increase, or decrease, our arousal levels. Obviously, some jobs are much better suited to morning vs. evening people.

estimators and contractors Another distinction is between the time estimator and the time contractor. To the former ‘I shall see you at 6.30’ means any time around 6.30 (i.e. 6.05, 6.45) while to the latter that is a promise or a contract. If a time estimator is married to, or works with, a time contractor all hell is frequently cut loose as their expectations and misunderstandings are challenged. Equally there are those fixated in the past, those obsessed only with the present and those looking only to the future. Remembering past experiences and lessons is valuable. Concentrating on the ‘now’ is important. Thinking about and planning for the future is good. But to be always backward looking means you miss current opportunities and to be so future oriented that you ignore current problems which impact on how you get to the future. Recently Philip Zimbardo in America identified four key approaches to time perspective.

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The ‘past–negative’ type who focuses on negative personal experiences that still have the power to upset you, causing feelings of bitterness and regret. The ‘past–positive’ type who takes a nostalgic view of the past, with a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach which may hold them back. The ‘present–hedonistic’ type who are dominated by pleasureseeking impulses, and reluctant to postpone feeling good for later gain. The ‘present–fatalistic’ type who don’t enjoy the present but feel trapped in it, unable to change the future, feeling powerlessness.

references Kreitzman, L., & Foster, D (2004). Rhythms of life: the biological clocks that control the daily lives of every living thing. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. Zimbardo, P.G. & Boyd, J.N. (2009). The time paradox: Using the new psychology of time to your advantage. New York, NY.

93

Tipping: Grateful Gratuities

There are several ways of calculating the tip after a meal. I find that the best way is to divide the bill by the height of the waiter. (Miss Piggy, Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life, 1981) Ernie: ‘Is this my bill?’ Eric: ‘Yes, sir.’ Ernie: ‘I’m terribly sorry – it looks as if I’ve got just enough money to pay for the dinner but I’ve got nothing to tip you with.’ Eric: ‘Let me add that bill up again, sir.’ (Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, The Morecambe and Wise Joke Book, 1979)

The term TIP supposedly stands for ‘To Insure Promptness’ which was derived from the eighteenth-century English tradition of giving coins with written words to publicans. It is now estimated that over $10 billion is given as tips in America to waiters/waitresses, porters, hairdressers, taxi drivers, chambermaids and a host of other ‘professionals’. What is the meaning and function of tipping? Why does it exist? Why tip taxi drivers and hairdressers but not tailors? What are the determinants of tipping? How does tipping affect the service-givers (e.g. waiters), the recipients (i.e. customers) and the relationship between the two parties? Psychologists suggest that tipping is a form of ego massage calculated to enhance the self-image of the tipper. Also, by giving a tip – above and beyond the agreed set price – the tipper can demonstrate he/she

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is not fully trapped by market forces and can be capable of voluntary, discretionary action. The tip can sometimes be seen as a result of the customer’s insecurity or anxiety. A maid or hairdresser deserves a tip through having access to the customer’s private territory or articles that may just pose a threat to the customer’s public face. The tip can buy their server’s silence because it buys loyalty or indebtedness. Psychologists stress that tipping is intrinsically motivated rather than performed for the sake of the external material or social rewards. Lynn and Grassman (1990) spelt out, in detail, the three ‘rational’ explanations for tipping: ●●

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Buying social approval with tips: following the social norms (i.e. 15 per cent tipping) is a desire for social approval or else a fear of disapproval. Buying an equitable relationship with tips: tips buy peaceof-mind by helping maintain a more equitable relationship with servers. Buying future service with tips: tips ensure better service in the future because the tit-for-tat works but only with regular customers.

In their study they found support for the first two, but not the third explanation. Despite the number of people fairly dependent on tips for their income, little research has been done until comparatively recently into their curious and wide-spreading habit. Early research summarized studies done in the 1970s, finding: 1 Most tips are around the 15 per cent American norm. 2 The percentage of the tip to total cost is an inverse power function of the number of people at the table. 3 Physically attractive and/or attractively dressed waitresses receive greater tips than less attractive waitresses. 4 Tips are bigger when paid by credit cards, relative to cash payers. 5 Tips are not related to whether alcohol is consumed.

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6 Tips increase with the number of non-task oriented ‘visits’ by waiter and waitress, but are unrelated to the customers’ ratings of service. 7 Often, but not always, males tip more than females. Some studies have focused on the server’s behaviour. 1 Whether the server touched the diner. 2 Whether the server initially squatted in their interaction with the diner as opposed to stood. 3 The size of their initial smile. 4 Whether the server introduced him/herself with their first name. 5 The number of incidental (non-task oriented) visits to the table. Other studies showed the following behaviours influenced tipping: ●●

●● ●●

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Waitresses wore make-up and a flower in their hair, and drew smiley faces on receipts. Waiters drew the sun on receipts. Wrote handwritten messages on the receipts, like ‘thank you’ or a weather forecast. Staff used large, open-mouthed smiles. Staff gave customers jokes, puzzles and facts; sweets too, if costs permit. Staff addressed customers by name, and introduced themselves. Staff mimicked customers’ body language and verbal behaviour, and touched them appropriately during interactions.

In all his many studies on tipping, Lynn is eager to replace homo economicus with homo psychologicus. Most of his many recent studies suggest that tipping for all sorts of service in many different countries is primarily driven by three things: the desire to reward

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good-quality service, to help the service providers and to personally gain social approval and status. More recently he has noted two other factors: gaining good quality service in the future as well as conforming to internalized tipping norms (or doing what is right). These studies have looked at all sorts of factors that might have a small influence on the tipping behaviour of individuals. These include: the sex and race of the server; the sex, race, age, education, income, worship frequency and alcohol consumption of the customer. Inevitably research finds that the bigger the bill, the bigger the tip. Nearly all the papers argue that the economist’s view that tipping is irrational needs to be replaced with the insights of behaviour economics to understand when, why and how much people tip.

references Furnham, A. (2015). The New Psychology of Money. London: Routledge. Lynn, M., & Grassman, A. (1990). Restaurant tipping: An examination of three ‘rational’ explanations. Journal of Economic Psychology, 11, 169–81. Lynn, M. (2015). Service gratuities and tipping: A motivational framework. Journal of Economic Psychology, 46, 74–88.

94

Tolerance of Ambiguity: Are you Afraid of Uncertainty?

Under conditions of uncertainty, people are at their most vulnerable to social influence. (Dominic Abrams, The Psychologist, 1997) I’ll give you a definite maybe. (Sam Goldwyn)

We live in an uncertain world: we know not ‘what the morrow might bring’. We also have to live with things being unclear and ambiguous. Some people are more uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity than others. The concept of Ambiguity Tolerance (TA), variously called Uncertainty Avoidance, Ambiguity Avoidance or Intolerance can be traced back nearly 70 years. It has been investigated by many different types of researchers from clinical and differential to neuro- and work psychologists. Each has tended to focus on how this variable relates to beliefs and behaviours in their area of expertise, from religious beliefs to reactions to novel products and situations. The basic concept is that people may be rated on a dimension that refers to their discomfort with, and hence attempts to avoid, ambiguity or uncertainty in many aspects of their lives.

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the history After the war, a group of American and German social scientists attempted to understand the ‘Mind of the Nazis’. They interviewed many of the major perpetrators, including Goering, to try to get an insight into ‘how they ticked’. The result of their effort was a book called The Authoritarian Personality, which looked at the personality traits and processes associated with what might euphemistically be called ‘interpersonal intolerance’. One trait that they identified was called intolerance of ambiguity. It is now called uncertainty avoidance or, more colloquially, ‘managing the grey’. This has been identified as an important interpersonal, corporate and cultural difference factor in business life. Frenkel-Brunswick (1948) defined TA as an ‘emotional and perceptual personality variable’. She set out many behavioural features of TA including resistance to reversal of apparent fluctuating stimuli; the early selection and maintenance of one solution in a perceptually ambiguous situation; inability to allow for the possibility of good and bad traits in the same person; acceptance of attitude statements representing a rigid, black-andwhite view of life; seeking for certainty; a rigid dichotomizing into fixed categories; premature closure, and remaining closed except to familiar characteristics of stimuli. Thus TA was conceived as a salient, multi-faceted predictive variable in a variety of behavioural settings. Over 60 years ago researchers tried to develop questionnaire measures of TA. The following was one developed by O’Connor in 1952. The test is scored on how much you agree or disagree with each statement. Note: some are pro- and others anti-TA. ●● ●●

There is more than one right way to do anything. It is always better to have a definite course of action than to be vacillating.

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psych ology 1 01 The best leaders give specific enough instructions so that those under them have nothing to worry about. A smart person gets his life into routine so that he is not always being bothered by petty details. Nobody can have feelings of love and hate towards the same person. It is better to keep on with the present method of doing things than to take away that which might lead to chaos. A man can be well informed even if there are many subjects upon which he does not have a definite opinion. It is better to take a chance on being a failure than to let your life get into a rut.

Another scale was developed by Budner in 1962. It was the most popularly used scale in this area for many years. Similarly, the test is scored by the extent to which you agree or disagree with these statements. Here are just six examples: ●●

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An expert who doesn’t come up with a definite answer probably doesn’t know too much. What we are used to is always preferable to what is unfamiliar. A person who leads an even, regular life in which few surprises or unexpected happenings arise, really has a lot to be grateful for. The sooner we all acquire similar values and ideas the better. Often the most interesting and stimulating people are those who don’t mind being different and original. People who insist upon a yes or no answer just don’t know how complicated things really are.

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Our need for clarity, certainty and decisiveness differs from individual to individual and country to country. Uncertainty avoidance can be considered at the national, the organizational and the individual differences level. The British can, it seems, cope with uncertainty. They are like the Indians and the Swedes and the Danes. But research indicates that other countries are rather different in this respect. The Belgians and Japanese, the Greeks and the Portuguese have a stronger need to avoid uncertainty. There are, it appears, all sorts of differences between low and high uncertainty avoidance cultures. Compared to which score highly on uncertainty avoidance, cultures with lower scores are more accepting of dissent, more tolerant of deviance, more positive to the young, less risk averse, and less happy about showing emotion. Organizations and industries can also be categorized on this dimension. Indeed, it is likely that the intolerant or uncertainty avoiding seek out (and even seek to change) organizations that ‘fit’ with their own preferences. Again, researchers who have contrasted low and high uncertainty avoiding organizations see clear differences. The more tolerant tend to exhibit less stress, live more in the present than the future, show less emotional resistance to change and tend to have more highly achievement-motivated people. Tolerant companies tend to be smaller, with a smaller generation gap and a lower average age for higher-level jobs. The ethos is that managers should be selected on ability rather than seniority, that managers need not be an expert in the field they manage and that generalists are preferable over specialists.

references Budner, S. (1962). Intolerance of ambiguity as a personality variable. Journal of Personality, 30, 29–50.

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Frenkel-Brunswick, E. (1948). Intolerance of ambiguity as an emotional and perceptual personality variable. Journal of Personality, 18, 108– 23. Furnham, A., & Marks, J. (2013). Tolerance of Ambiguity: A review of the recent literature. Psychology, 4, 717–28. Hofstede, G. (1984).Cultures’ Consequences. Beverly Hills, California: Sage.

95

Unemployment and Worklessness: It is No Fun Being Jobless

I would feel desperate if I had been without a good regular income for 20 weeks. (Margaret Thatcher, The Observer, 1984) If I was given the choice of cleaning the floor and no job at all, I would say ‘Pass me the goddam broom.’ (Sir Graham Day, The Sun, 1986) No developed country can sustain one million unemployed for long periods of time without their minds becoming infected with a desire to topple the system. (Sir Frank Price, The Observer, 1981)

Psychologists study unemployment because it tells them a lot about the benefits of work. It is when you do not have a job, and want one, that you can discover what psychological benefits we derive from work. From her work of the 1930s, Marie Jahoda (1982) developed a theory based on the idea that what produces psychological distress in the unemployed is the deprivation of the latent, as opposed to explicit, functions of work. Her theory was based on studies she did on people in Austria and England 50 years apart. Her theory was simple: 50 years ago the unemployed had no state support and experienced significant poverty. Fifty years later they received considerable state assistance in terms of health, housing and cost of living. Thus, if they are as distressed and unhappy

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as previous generations were, we cannot explain unemployment stress primarily in terms of money. That is what she found. So the question became: why is work good for you? What are the psychological benefits of work that are denied to the unemployed? She listed five: ●●

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Work structures time. Work structures the day, the week and even longer periods. The loss of a time structure can be very disorientating. A predictable pattern of work, with wellplanned ‘rhythms’, is what most people seek. Work provides regularly shared experiences. Regular contact with non-nuclear family members provides an important source of social interaction. Work provides experience of creativity, mastery and a sense of purpose. Work, even not particularly satisfying work, gives some sense of mastery or achievement. Creative activities stimulate people and provide a sense of satisfaction. A person’s contribution to producing goods or providing services forges a link between the individual and the society of which he or she is a part. Work is a source of personal status and identity. A person’s job is an important indicator of personal status in society. You are what you do. Unemployed people have lost their employment status and hence identity. Not unnaturally, there is a marked drop in self-esteem during unemployment. Work is a source of activity. All work involves some expenditure of physical or mental effort. Whereas too much activity may induce fatigue and stress, too little activity results in boredom and restlessness, particularly among extraverts. People seek to maximize the amount of activity that suits them by choosing particular jobs or tasks that fulfil their needs.

People without work complain of being listless. They say they are defined by what they are not. Many shun social occasions because

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they cannot reciprocate social gifts or gatherings owing to lack of money. Many withdraw and to the surprise of many become less, rather than more, politically active. The researchers have also documented a pattern or ‘stage wise’ theory that many people go through when they lose their job. First, many people report great shock and some denial. Then there is a stage where people might alternate between optimism and pessimism, though the latter lasts longer. Some sink into a fatalistic hopelessness while others seem to adapt to a new reality. Some get into a negative downward spiral which leads to low self-esteem, no attempts to search for jobs and depression. Others learn to look upon the experience as an opportunity. Not all jobs are good. It is possible to differentiate between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ jobs and ‘good’ and ‘bad’ unemployment in terms of nine variables that have proved discriminating in previous research. Thus it may be that if a person leaves a bad job, he/ she may adapt well to good unemployment and there are many examples of this. The point being made here is that just as not all jobs are satisfying, not all unemployment is unsatisfying. Depending on the job, the person and the society’s reaction to unemployment, it may be possible to experience beneficial aspects of unemployment.

the cost of unemployment There have been at least three serious periods of unemployment (in the developed world) in the last 100 years: the Great Depression (1929–1933); the late 70s (1978–1983) and the current period of uncertainty caused by the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. During these periods there has been large research effort by social scientists to understand the causes and consequences of unemployment on an individual, group, societal and international level. The issue of the effect of unemployment on mental and physical health has been investigated for nearly 40 years. Two schools of thought existed: some believed unemployment caused ill health, others that those in poor health were unlikely to find work. Inevitably

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there is bi-directional causality with vicious and virtuous cycles. People without work experience depression and lack of energy, which impedes their job search and therefore leads to further unemployment: a perfect vicious circle. One of the most commonly investigated issues is the consequences of unemployment on mental and physical health. Paul and Moser (2009) found clearly that unemployed persons showed more distress than employed persons. They found a significant difference for several indicator variables of mental health: distress, depression, anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms, subjective wellbeing and selfesteem. The average number of individuals with psychological problems among the unemployed was 34 per cent, compared to 16 per cent among employed individuals. Men and people with bluecollar-jobs were more distressed by unemployment than women and people with white-collar jobs. They found the negative effect of unemployment on mental health was stronger in countries with a weak level of economic development, unequal income distributions or weak unemployment protection systems compared to other countries. The literature then is pretty clear. For those without work who want it there is often a psychological cost which grows greater over time. Even if the country where one lives provides good social security provisions, the unemployed are less happy and healthy than their peers who have work.

references Jackson, P.R. & Warr, P.B. (1984). Unemployment and psychological ill-health: The moderating role of duration and age. Psychological Medicine, 14, 605–14. Jahoda, M. (1982). Employment and Unemployment: A Socialpsychological Analysis. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Jahoda, M., Lazarsfeld, P., & Zeisel, H. (1933). Marienthal: The Sociography of an Unemployed Community. London: Tavistock.

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Kelvin, P., & Jarrett, J. (1985). Social Psychological Consequences of Unemployment. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Paul, K., & Moser, K. (2009). Unemployment impairs mental health. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 74, 264–82.

96

Visual Illusion: Now you see it, Now you don’t

We don’t simply see, we look. (E.J. Gibson, Annual Review of Psychology, 1988) Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. (Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Things, 1710)

Psychologists and artists have always been interested in visual and optical illusions. They are of particular interest to visual scientists and cognitive psychologists because they give an important insight into the process of perception. That is, we better understand the process of perception and vision by seeing what illusions people experience. Seeing is a rapid, automatic, unconscious process. It is not a deliberate process, and our awareness of the process of visual perception usually comes only after it is complete – we get the finished product not the details of the process. How do we see our world? We see colour, movement and depth: we recognize objects and people and indeed there is the whole debate on whether subliminal perception occurs. At the most abstract level it is possible to distinguish three processes: the reception of the light waves by the cornea and iris; translation where this physical energy (light) is coded into neurochemical messages sent to the brain; and decoding or translation of these.

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What actually happens from the point at which information enters our senses to us perceiving what is there?

figure and ground

What we see is classified as either the object we are looking at (figure) or background. The classification of an item as a figure or ground is not an intrinsic property of the object but depends on the observer. We can always separate them from each other (figure– ground separation) although sometimes we receive ambiguous clues about what the object is and what the background is. Look at the object above: is it a vase or two faces? The figure and the ground can be reversed revealing two different pictures. There are many examples like this. One question is the difference between individuals who see different objects first.

boundaries

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One of the most important aspects of form perception is the existence of a boundary. If the visual field contains a sharp and distinct change in brightness, colour or texture, we perceive an edge, and we can ‘see’ illusory contours (lines that do not exist). In the middle of this picture (on p.427), a triangle can be seen, brighter than the rest of the picture. This follows the gestalt principle of closure, as we tend to complete incomplete forms and fill in the gaps.

gestalt principles One central feature of study is how we ‘put together’ or form complete pictures of objects from the separate pieces of information that we have. Between the wars the Gestalt psychologists studied the issue of what is called perceptual organization. They specified the law of proximity and good continuation tried to explain how we see patterns in abstract shapes. Collectively they are known as the laws of grouping and remain accurate descriptions of how we see. The Gestaltists also became particularly interested in the accuracy of what we see. They devised Gestalt psychology – a theory of form perception with laws of pragnanz that explain how we perceive. Similarity is where similar parts of a form are more likely to be perceived as belonging together; this might depend on relationships of form, colour, size or brightness. The Proximity principle holds that surfaces or edges close together are more likely to be part of the same object than those far apart. Others include continuity, common-fate and symmetry.

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the ponzo and muller-lyer illusions

It has been argued that these illusions can be explained by assuming that previous knowledge of three-dimensional objects is misapplied to these two dimensional patterns. In the Ponzo illusion (A) the two horizontal lines are exactly the same length even though the lower line appears to be much shorter. This is because the linear perspective created by the converging lines of the rail track suggests the top line is further away. If it has the same retinal size but is further away it must be bigger – our perceptual system is mistakenly taking distance into account. The Muller-Lyer illusion (B) has a similar explanation. The left line looks like the outside corners of a building, while the right line looks like the ‘inside’ corners. These inside corners are, in a sense, further away than the outside ones, so the right line is perceived as further away and, using the same logic as the Ponzo illusion, as it has the same retinal size it is perceived as longer. These show that perception is influenced by factors other than stimulus – in this case, perceived distance and previous experience.

constancies When objects move close or far away, under different lights or turn around, we tend not to see them as different or changing but remaining the same object. There are different types of constancy processes – shape, size, colour, brightness – which can help explain visual illusions.

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Pick up this book. Hold it upright and facing you. It is (just) a rectangle. Now flip it over first through a vertical plane, then horizontal. It is no longer the same shape but you see the book as remaining the same. This is shape constancy. Similarly, when we see an elephant or person walking away, or car driving away from us, it does not appear to be getting smaller though the image on a retina quite clearly is.

culture and the carpentered world Imagine you grew up in an environment where there were no straight lines: no square houses, straight roads, long poles or traditional oblong tables. Your houses were round as were your fields. Your paths were twisting and turning. Would you still be ‘fooled’ by visual illusions? If you have never seen a straight road or railway track would you experience the Ponzo illusion? And if yes, if you had never seen the corner of a room or house would you experience the Muller-Lyer illusion?

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Various studies have been done with rural African and Aboriginal Groups to test ideas about how learning and experience influences our experience of illusions. One study compared urban and rural Africans who looked with one eye at a trapezoid shape called ‘Ames window revolving’ (see previous page). As predicted the rural group saw it oscillating around 180 degrees. Another study found that Zulus from South Africa saw the Ponzo illusion to a greater extent than White South Africans, possibly due to their greater experience of wide open spaces. Our personal and cultural experiences may make us more or less likely to see visual illusions.

references Gregory, R.L. (1997). ‘Visual illusions classified’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 1 (5): 190–4. Purves, D., Lotto, R.B., & Nundy, S. (2002). ‘Why We See What We Do’. American Scientist. 90 (3): 236–42.

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Vocational Choice and Guidance: What Job are you Best Suited to?

Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. (Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, 1920)

What are you going to do when you grow up? Are you suited to your current job? In what sort of job would you be most happy and productive? Vocational psychology concerns the reasons why people choose various vocations, the wisdom of those choices and the possibilities of giving them the best possible kind of advice, as to what to do, when and why. Many factors constrain job choices: ability, age, education, as well as social, economic and political factors. Many jobs are not available to individuals or competition for them is very strong. Quite simply, you cannot always get the job you want or are best suited to. The fundamental purpose of vocational guidance is to help people make appropriate vocational choices and adjustment: to find out what you are good at, and love doing. This can facilitate the efficient and cost-effective functioning of organizations by the appropriate exploitation of individual assets and abilities. Obviously because there are striking individual differences in ability, aptitude, needs, personality and interests, and job differences

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in the demands they make in terms of personal attributes and skills, people will do better in jobs for which their abilities are suited than in those vocations where their skills are incongruous. Vocational (career) psychology focuses on people thinking about careers, preparing for the occupations of their choice and where appropriate, changing jobs or even leaving the world of paid work for things like ‘early’ retirement. Occupational choice is determined by many factors, including socio-economic status, ethnicity, gender, intelligence, aptitudes and interests, as well as the community from which people come. Vocational psychologists help people explore their long-range personal and professional goals, look at personal strengths and weaknesses, as well as environmental threats and opportunities to examine salient and suitable career alternatives. Vocational guidance is one of the oldest areas of applied psychology. Many organizations are becoming aware of the career development of employees. Over time it is quite common for people to be promoted in rank or level (concomitant changes in responsibilities and skills), or move horizontally or laterally (with functional or technical changes). These lead to significant changes, which the individual might or might not be able to cope with. There have been two relatively simple models for vocational guidance.

First, the simple two-dimensional person–things, ideas–data grid. Where are you on this? Interested more in people than

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technology, interested more in ideas and concepts than data? A people–data person might be suited to a job in HR or in psychology. A things–data person is very different: happier perhaps in IT or accounts. Without doubt the most important theory and test in this area is that of Holland who suggested that there are only six types of jobs and six types of people who fit them. This is the Hexagon on page 433. Within a person or environment, some pairs of ‘types’ are more closely related than others. The relationship within (which yields a measure of consistency) and between (which yields a measure of congruency) personality types or environments can be ordered according to a hexagonal model, in which distances within and between the personality profiles and job codes are inversely proportional to the theoretical relationships between them. The types are ordered in a particular manner: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional (RIASEC). The letters are listed in rank order, so that the type listed first is the type the person most resembles. As a useful and approximate way of showing the degrees of relatedness among the six types, they are arranged at the vertices of a hexagon, such that the closest are the most similar. Thus, the investigative and artistic types are similar and hence closer together, because both are concerned with intellectual pursuits, although in different ways: the investigative type is more methodological and data orientated, the artistic type more spontaneous. By contrast, the investigative type who is relatively asocial and analytical differs most from the self-confident and persuasive enterprising type. Similarly, the spontaneous, disorderly and creative artistic type contrasts sharply with the self-controlled, conforming and unimaginative conventional type. The idea is all about fitting the round peg to the round whole: finding the most appropriate job given a person’s values, preferences and attitudes. Holland’s model is without doubt the most sophisticated and investigated in the whole of vocational psychology. Various aspects of the theory have been tested, including its current relevance and cross-cultural applications.

Values

Life Goals

Traits

Investigative

Analytical

Intellectual

Curious

Scholarly

Open

Broad Interests

Inventing valuable product.

Theoretical contribution to science.

Intellectual Logical Ambitious Wisdom

Realistic

Hardheaded

Unassuming

Practical

Dogmatic

Natural

Uninsightful

Inventing apparatus or equipment.

Becoming outstanding athlete.

Freedom Intellectual Ambitious Self-controlled Docility

Equality Imaginative Courageous World of beauty

Publishing stories. Original painting. Musical composition.

Becoming famous in performing arts.

Creative

Sensitive

Intuitive

Imaginative

Nonconforming

Open

Artistic

personality types and salient characteristics

Equality Self-respect Helpful Forgiving

Making sacrifices for others. Competent teacher or therapist.

Helping others.

Extroverted

Persuasive

Sociable

Understanding

Friendly

Agreeable

Social

Expert in finance and commerce.

Methodical

Practical-minded

Inhibited

Unimaginative

Conservative

Conforming

Conventional

Freedom Ambitious (-) Forgiving (-) Helpful

(-) Imaginative (-) Forgiving

Expert in finance Producing a lot of and commerce. work. Being well liked and well dressed.

Being community leader.

Energetic

Power-seeking

Enthusiastic

Adventurous

Dominant

Extroverted

Enterprising

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Science

Math Ability Research Ability

Mechanical Ability

Self-Ratings

Most com- Mechanics petent in

Scientific

Technical

Aptitudes

Arts

Artistic Ability

Arts

Madame Curie T. S. Eliot Charles Darwin Pablo Picasso

Thomas Edison Admiral Byrd

Identifications

Artistic

Investigative

Realistic

Human Relations

Service Oriented

Social & Educational Leadership & Sales Interpersonal

Jane Addams Albert Schweitzer

Social

Conventional

Leadership

Leadership & Sales Social & Educational Business & Clerical Interpersonal

Business

Clerical Ability

Business and Clerical

Henry Ford Bernard Baruch Andrew Carnegie John D. Rockefeller

Enterprising

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The brilliance of the RIASEC model is that it allows you to evaluate jobs and people in the same terminology. It is the most tested of all the theories in the area. With the development of new technology some tasks and jobs are disappearing, while others are appearing. This means the world of vocational guidance has to keep up both by taking account of new ways of assessing people but also being very aware as to what jobs there are today.

references Furnham, A. & Walsh, J. (1991). The consequences of person– environment incongruence: absenteeism, frustration and stress. Journal of Social Psychology 131, 187–204. Furnham, A. & Schaeffer, R. (1984). Person–environment fit, job satisfaction and mental health. Journal of Occupational Psychology 57, 295–307. Holland, J. (1973). Making vocational choices: a theory of careers. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Prentice-Hall. Holland, J. (1985). The self-directed search. Odessa, Florida: Psychological Assessment Resources.

98

Work Ethic: The Benefits of Hard Work

A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune’s inequality exhibits under the sun. (Thomas Carlyle, Chartism, 1870) The work ethic disappeared from our industrial vocabulary. Skiving has taken its place. (Leslie Tolley, Daily Telegraph, 1979) I think coming to work every day is a holiday. (John Elliot, Business Review Weekly, 1989)

Over 100 years ago, Max Weber, a German polymath, argued that Protestantism was associated with wealth and success. He turned the economic determinism of Marx on its head: religious beliefs drive economics, not the other way around. He maintained that certain beliefs held by Protestants lead to wealth accumulation. They were: all work is good and ultimately for God’s glory (Doctrine of Calling); the signs of God’s grace can be seen in this world and its monetary success; the rich are the chosen (Doctrine of Predestination); wealth is to be amassed and invested but not spent (Doctrine of Asceticism) and we are all responsible for our own actions and must be rational in decision making, not relying on religious dogma (Doctrine of Sanctification). These religious beliefs, he argued, drove the Protestants to become more enterprising, capitalist and wealthy.

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His thesis has been challenged many times. Many really resist the Protestant element and there are many papers arguing that those from other faiths also encourage hard work. So we can have a Buddhist, or Islamic or Jewish work ethic. Niall Ferguson argued recently that the rise of the west had six important features but that it was the work ethic that made them work. They were competition, science, property rights, medicine, the consumer society and the work ethic: a moral framework and mode of activity derivable from (among other sources) Protestant Christianity, which provides the glue for the dynamic and potentially unstable society created. The Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) places a universal taboo on idleness, and industriousness is considered a religious ideal; waste is a vice and frugality a virtue; complacency and failure are outlawed and sinful, and ambition and success are taken as sure signs of God’s favour; the universal sign of sin is poverty, and the crowning sign of God’s favour is wealth. At the heart of the PWE are these typical beliefs: People have an obligation to fill their lives with hard work, effort and even drudgery, which are to be valued for their own sake; physical pleasures and enjoyments are to be shunned; an ascetic existence of disciplined routine and rigour is the only acceptable way to live. All workers should have a dependable attendance record, with low absenteeism and tardiness. Workers should be highly hard-working and productive, and take pride in their work. Employees should have feelings of (total) commitment and loyalty to their profession, their company and their work group. Workers should be achievement-orientated and should constantly strive for promotion and advancement because highstatus jobs with prestige and the respect of others are important indicators of a ‘good’ person.

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People should acquire wealth through honest labour and retain it through thrift and wise investments. Frugality is desirable; extravagance and waste should be avoided.

It is an ideology for the spirit of enterprise. Because pessimistic Calvinists were so concerned with scarcity, they stressed the need for productive work to bring about surpluses. They encouraged the propensity to save: the maximization of productivity and minimization of consumption were ethically important and saving seemed a most useful solution. More importantly they stressed the importance of education, reading and skills acquisition.

measuring the work ethic Psychologists have devised various measures of the PWE. They argue that the work ethic is a constellation of attitudes and beliefs pertaining to work behaviour. The work ethic construct is: (a) is multidimensional; (b) pertains to work and work-related activity in general, not specific to any particular job (yet may generalize to domains other than work, school, hobbies, etc.); (c) is learned; (d) refers to attitudes and beliefs (not necessarily behaviour); (e) is a motivational construct reflected in behaviour; and (f ) is secular, not necessarily tied to any one set of religious beliefs. A recent measure has different dimensions and around 80 questions to get a total score. However, like lots of questionnaires it taps into various dimensions that are at the essence of the work ethic. Centrality of Work: The importance of work for its own sake. Work being the focus of one’s life. Self-Reliance: Stressing the importance of striving for independence and self-containment.

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Hard Work: Emphasizing the virtuousness and benefits of continual hard work. Leisure: Beliefs in more leisure and the benefits of non-work activities. Morality/Ethics: Stressing the importance of justice, and fairness in dealing with others. Delay of Gratification: Orientation to the future and waiting for later rewards. Wasted Time: Using time constructively and being efficient.

young people today For well over a century the idea of the PWE has been debated hotly. Was Weber right? Is it still true today? Is there a decline in PWE beliefs among young people? It has been suggested for years that the younger generation have lost their taste for hard work. They are, it is said, not disciplined, reliable or money conscious which is at the heart of all our ills. Idle, feckless and entitled the young have, some claim, been spoilt and molly-coddled. But a very interesting recent study has recently been published online in the Journal of Business and Psychology. The American authors examined the data from 105 studies testing the simple idea that the data would show that Baby Boomers would hold work ethic beliefs and values more than Generation Xers who in turn would defend them more than millennials. They found the effects of generational membership on workplace behaviour are not as strong as suggested by commonly held stereotypes. The few careful evidence-based studies on the different beliefs and behaviours have tended to suggest that generational differences are not as extensive as claimed by many. The reason is that attitudes and values are shaped by many things like ability, personality and education.

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references Furnham, A. (1996). The Protestant Work Ethic. London: Whurr. Miller, M., Woehr, D. & Hudspeth, N. (2002). The meaning and measurement of work ethic. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 60, 451–89. Van Hoorn, A., & Maseland, R. (2013). Does the Protestant work ethic exist? Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization, 91, 1–12. Zabel, K., Biermeyer-Hanson, B., Baltes, B., Early, B., & Shephard, A. (2017). Generational differences in work ethic: fact and fiction? Journal of Business and Psychology, 32, 301–15.

99

Work Motivation

Work is the best antidote to sorrow my dear Watson. (Arthur Conan Doyle, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, 1920) Where there is no desire, there will be no industry. (John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, 1690) Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty. (Voltaire, Candide, 1750)

The question most bosses want to know the answer to is: What drives employees to do or not do all sorts of things at work? What accounts for their tastes and reactions to others? Why do they spend so much time and effort in certain activities? Why do they crave power or recognition to such a degree? Why are some people just more motivated, more hungry, more involved than others? Motivation is what activates and drives behaviour. The word comes from the same Latin root as motion: it literally means  to move people. Motives help us regulate our behaviours, ensure our survival and find solutions when we are knocked back. People usually want to know the answer to various specific questions:

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Where do drivers/needs/motives come from? Do drivers (motives) change (much) over time? Do people have mixed (even contradictory) motives / drivers? Are motives/drivers conscious or unconscious? What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?

One of the most oft-cited motivation theorists is David McClelland. He identified three major motives or drivers: The need for affiliation: needing to be liked, included and accepted by others. An individual with a high need for affiliation is likely to be a team player, good at customer services and have a wide circle of friends. They like to co-operate. A strong need for affiliation and the drive to be liked can affect a person’s behaviours adversely, prompting them to make unwise decisions to increase their popularity. They crave acceptance and are very susceptible to flattery. They may also react badly if they perceive themselves to have been excluded or under-valued. The need for power: needing to influence, lead and dominate others and make an impact in society as a whole. Some people have a need for personal power or power over others. This is a need for control and domination. Others have a need for institutional power. Power can be intoxicating: it is a major driver in politicians and business people. The need for achievement: needing to achieve, excel and succeed at everything. Usually those with a high need for achievement set challenging but realistic goals for themselves. This type of person prefers to work alone or with other high achievers. They do not need praise or recognition. Achievement of the task is their reward. Competitive sportsmen and successful businessmen are often driven by this motive.

two factor theory Over 50 years ago a group of psychologists lead by Herzberg were to develop a theory of great consequence. Two-factor

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theory states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction. The researchers found that job characteristics related to what an individual does at work have the capacity to gratify specific needs such as achievement, competency and personal worth, leading to happiness and satisfaction. However, the absence of these specific job characteristics did not appear to lead to unhappiness and dissatisfaction. However, dissatisfaction resulted from other very specific factors like company policies, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations on the job and working conditions. Two-factor theory then distinguishes between: ●●

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Motivating Factors such as challenging work, recognition for one’s achievement, being given responsibility, opportunity to do something meaningful, involvement in decision making, sense of importance to an organization. These together give positive satisfaction, arising from intrinsic conditions of the job itself, such as recognition, achievement or personal growth. Hygiene Factors such as job security, salary, fringe benefits, work conditions, good pay, paid insurance, vacations paradoxically do not give positive satisfaction or motivation, though dissatisfaction results from their absence. The term ‘hygiene’ is used in the sense that these are maintenance factors. These are extrinsic to the work itself, and include aspects such as company policies, supervisory practices or wages/salary.

According to Herzberg (1966), hygiene factors are what causes dissatisfaction among employees in a workplace. In order to remove dissatisfaction in a work environment, these hygiene factors must be eliminated. There are several ways that this can be done but some of the most important ways to decrease dissatisfaction would be to pay reasonable wages, ensure employees’ job security and to create a positive culture in the workplace. Herzberg

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and his team rank-ordered the following hygiene factors from highest to lowest importance: company policy, supervision, employee’s relationship with their boss, work conditions, salary and relationships with peers. Herzberg distinguished between work-related actions because you have to, which is classed as ‘movement’; but if you perform a work-related action because you want to then that is classed as ‘motivation’. Most importantly Herzberg thought it was important to eliminate job dissatisfaction before going on to creating conditions for job satisfaction because it would work against each other. Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us turned out to be a best seller. He acknowledges as a science journalist that most of the ideas are not his but mainly derived from selfdetermination theory developed by Deci and Ryan. The book made the message clear: carrot-and-stick motivation does not work anymore. Pink (2011) proposes that businesses should adopt a revised approach to motivation which fits more closely with modern jobs and businesses, one based on self-determination theory. Human beings have an innate drive to be autonomous, self-determined and connected to one another, and that when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives. Organizations should focus on these drives when managing their human capital by creating settings which focus on our innate need to direct our own lives (autonomy), to learn and create new things (mastery, and to do better by ourselves and our world (purpose). The three components of the theory with appropriate recommendations are: Autonomy & Empowerment – Provide employees with autonomy over some (or all) of the four main aspects of work: When they do it (time), how they do it (technique), whom they do it with (team), what they do (task). Mastery & Competence – Provide ‘Goldilocks tasks’ which are neither overly difficult nor overly simple, create an environment where mastery is possible. 

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Purpose – Communicate the purpose, place equal emphasis, use purpose-oriented words.

references Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (2008). Self-determination Theory: A macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 49(3), 182–85. Herzberg, F. (1966). Work and the nature of man. Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishers. McClelland, D.C. (1965). Toward a Theory of Motive Acquisition. American Psychologist. 20: 321–33. Pink, D. (2011). Drive. New York: Riverside Books.

100

Workaholism

We live in the age of the overworked and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid. (Oscar Wilde, The Critic and the Artist, 1897) Overwork, n. A dangerous disorder affecting high public functionaries who want to go fishing. (Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary, 1906)

Workaholism, like alcoholism, is a very unhealthy addiction. But unlike other forms of addiction, which are held in contempt, workaholism is frequently lauded, praised, expected and even demanded. Signs of this ‘syndrome’ included boasting of long working hours, invidious comparisons between self and others on the amount of work achieved, inability to refuse requests for work, and general competitiveness: The workaholic’s way of life is considered in America to be one and the same time: (a) a religious virtue, (b) a form of patriotism, (c) the way to win friends and influence people, (d) the way to be healthy and wise. Therefore the workaholic, plagued though he is, is unlikely to change. Why? Because he is short of paragon of virtue... he is the one chosen as ‘the most likely to succeed’.

Oates (1971) listed five types of workaholic:

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Dyed-in-the-wool – with five major characteristics: high standards of professionalism, tendency to perfectionism, vigorous intolerance of incompetence, overcommitment to institutions and organizations, considerable talent with marketable skills. Converted – a person who has given up the above but may behave like a workaholic on occasions for the rewards of money or prestige. Situational – workaholism not for psychological or prestige reasons but necessity within an organization. Pseudo-workaholic – someone who may look on occasion as a workaholic but has none of the commitment and dedication of a true dyed-in-the-wool character. Escapist as a workaholic – these are people who remain in the office simply to avoid going home or taking part in social relationships.

Machlowitz (1980), who is known for her work in this area, has defined workaholics as people whose desire to work long and hard is intrinsic and whose work habits almost always exceed the prescriptions of the job they do and the expectations of the people with whom, or for whom, they work. According to Machlowitz all true workaholics are intense, energetic, competitive and driven but also have strong self-doubts. They prefer labour to leisure and can – and do – work anytime and anywhere. They tend to make the most of their time and blur the distinctions between business and pleasure. All workaholics have these traits, but may be subdivided into four distinct types. ●●

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The dedicated workaholic. These are quintessentially the single-minded, one-dimensional workaholics frequently described by laypeople and journalists. They shun leisure and are often humourless and brusque. The integrated workaholic. This type does integrate outside features into their work. Thus, although work is

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psych ology 1 01 ‘everything’, it does sometimes include extracurricular interests. The diffuse workaholic. This type has numerous interests, connections and pursuits which are far more scattered than those of the integrated workaholic. Furthermore they may change jobs fairly frequently in pursuit of their ends. The intense workaholic. This type approaches leisure (frequently competitive sport) with the same passion, pace and intensity as work. They become as preoccupied by leisure as work.

To some extent it is thought that workaholism is an obsessive– compulsive neurosis characterized by sharp, narrowed, focused attention, endless activity, ritualistic behaviours, and a ‘strong desire to be in control’. It is perhaps linked to perfectionism, pathological ambition, even the OCD personality disorder. Machlowitz offered a number of reasons why workaholics shun vacations and time-off: they have never had a good experience of holidays either because they have expected too much or chose the wrong type; as their jobs are their passion they do not feel that they need to get away from it all; traditional forms of recreation seem like a waste of time and incomprehensible to them; the preparation for and anxiety that precedes taking a holiday are more trouble than they are worth; and, finally, workaholics are afraid that they would lose complete control of their jobs if they left for a holiday. However, many workaholics do report being remarkably satisfied and content with their lives. Machlowitz found little difference between workaholic men and women’s source of joy and frustration. These were fourfold: whether the workaholic did their share of household duties in their home life; whether their job offered them autonomy control, and variety; whether the job needed the workaholic’s ‘particular’ skills and working styles; whether the workaholics felt healthy and fit for work. Though they appear to never feel successful, many non-frustrated workaholics do report happiness. Finally, Machlowitz offered some advice

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for workaholics, maximizing the pleasures and minimizing the pressures of that particular lifestyle: ●● ●●

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Find the job that fits – that exercises one’s skills and abilities. Find the place that fits – that provides the most convivial environment. Find the pace that fits – that allows one to work at the most desirable speed. Create challenges in your work – to deal with pressures effectively. Diversify each day – because of short attention spans. Make sure that every day is different – to improve levels of stimulation. Use your time; don’t let it use you – establish your own circadian rhythm and plan your day around it. Don’t deliberate excessively on decisions that don’t warrant the attention. Let others do things for you – learn how to delegate. Work alone or hire only other workaholics – to prevent intolerance and impatience with others. Become a mentor, teacher, guide and counsellor to others. Make sure you make time for what matters to you – such as your family, leisure pursuits. Get professional help – if you have a job, home or health crisis as a function of your life.

references Furnham, A. (1990). The Protestant Work Ethic. London: Routledge. Machlowitz, M. (1980). Workaholics. New York: Mentor. Oates, W. (1971). Confessions of a Workaholic: The Facts about Work Addiction. New York: World Publishing Co.

101

Workplace Deviance

Crime isn’t a disease. It’s a symptom. (Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, 1940) Work expands to fit the time available for its completion. (C. Northcote Parkinson, Parkinson’s Law, 1958)

People steal stuff at work. They take part in ‘the unauthorized appropriation of company property for personal use, unrelated to the job’. They steal from their employer, their boss and their customers. It is all too common and can be costly. We have a range of words to disguise the issue: pilfering and shrinkage, nicking and liberating stuff. There is a long list of what are called ‘counterwork behaviours’ (CWBs). CWBs include: ●● ●●

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Antisocial behaviour: usually restricted to the workplace. Blue-collar crime: everything from theft, property destruction and record fabrication to fighting and gambling by semi-skilled, often non-salaried staff. Counterproductive workplace behaviour: any behaviour at work that goes counter to the short and long-term interests and success of all stakeholders in an organization.

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Dysfunctional work behaviour: intentional, unhealthy behaviour that is injurious to particular individuals who do it either to themselves or to others. Employee deviance: unauthorized but intended acts that damage property, production or reputations. Employee misconduct: the misuse of resources, from absenteeism to accepting backhanders. Non-performance at work: both not performing that which is required, while also performing acts not at all desirable. Occupational aggressive crime deviance: negative, illegal, injurious and devious behaviours conducted in the workplace. Organizational misbehaviour: behaviour that violates societal and organizational norms. Organizational retaliative behaviours: this is deliberate organizational behaviour based on perceptions of unfairness by disgruntled employees. ‘Political’ behaviour: self-serving, non-sanctioned, often illegitimate behaviour aimed at people both inside and outside of the organization. Unconventional work practices: simply odd and unusual, but more like illegal and disruptive, behaviours. Workplace aggression, hostility, obstructionism: personally injurious behaviours at work. Unethical workplace behaviour: behaviour that deliberately and obviously infringes the accepted ethical/moral code.

Academics have tried to classify these misbehaviours into various categories: intrapersonal (drink and drugs), interpersonal (physical and verbal aggression), production (absenteeism, lateness), property (theft, sabotage, vandalism) and political (whistle-blowing and deception).

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cheats at work In a series of books and papers the anthropologist Gerald Mars showed that much cheating at work was a consequence of how jobs were organized. His initial focus was on the sorts of ‘rewards’ people get at work. These he divided into three categories: official, formal rewards, both legal (wages, overtime) and illegal (prostitution, selling drugs); unofficial, informal, legal (perks, tips) and illegal (pilfering, short-changing) rewards; and alternative, legal, social economy rewards (barter) and illegal rewards (moonlighting). Mars noted four types of cheats at work. First Hawks, who thrive in occupations that emphasize individuality, autonomy and competition. The control that members have over others is greater than the individual’s own control. Occupations for hawks emphasize entrepreneurial behaviour, where the individual’s freedom to transact on his own terms is highly valued. Hawks are individualists, inventors, small businessmen. They are hungrily ‘on the make’. Hawks are typically entrepreneurial managers, owner-businessmen, successful academics, pundits, the prima donnas among salesmen and the more independent professionals and journalists. Hawkish entrepreneurial activity is also found in waiters, fairground buskers and owner taxi drivers. They are loners, individualists. Second, Donkeys are characterized by both isolation and subordination. Donkeys are in the paradoxical position of being either or both powerless and powerful. They are powerless if they passively accept the constraints they face. They can also be extremely disruptive, at least for a time. Resentment at the job’s impositions on the employee is common and the most typical response is to change jobs. Other forms of ‘withdrawal from work’, such as sickness and absenteeism, are also higher than normal. Third, Wolves, who thrive in those ‘traditional’, rapidly disappearing working-class occupations, such as mining. Wolves are found in occupations based on groups with interdependent and stratified roles, for example garbage collection crews, aeroplane

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crews and stratified groups who both live and work in ‘total institutions’ such as prisons, hospitals, oil rigs and some hotels. Where workers do live in, or close to, the premises in which they work, group activities in one area are reinforced by cohesion in others. Such groups then come to possess considerable control over the resources of their individual members. Once they join such groups, individuals tend to stay as members. Fourth, Vultures. Vultures are found in jobs that offer autonomy and freedom to transact, but this freedom is subject to an overarching bureaucratic control that treats workers collectively, and employs them in units. Workers in these occupations are members of a group of co-workers for some purposes only and they can act individually and competitively for others. They are not as free from constraint as hawks, but neither are they as constrained as donkeys. The group is also not as intrusive and controlling as the wolf packs.

so what to do First, let people know how uncommon it is. It is not the norm: everybody is not at it. It is a minority who fiddle like this. Give some statistics. Thieves, for that is what they are, are the exception and a group that will not be tolerated. Second, explain the consequences of being caught with some ‘case studies’, but do not go over the top. Spell out the first warning to sacking sequences. Beware the possibility of unintended consequences where making the punishment so severe that it simply makes people take bigger risks with the amounts they claim. Third, explain the systems and methodology by which people are caught. Let them know that there are reliable and fair methods in place that will show up those trying to beat the system. Fourth, conduct a few in-house programmes where employees at all levels discuss the company’s code of ethics and how, when and why fraudsters should be dealt with. Get all people involved: let them know the fraudsters are costing everyone who works for the company.

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Fifth, review compensation and benefit programmes that look at internal and external equity meaning how people ‘stack up’ against others in the organization as well as those working in similar jobs in different organizations. Don’t allow expense fraud to be seen as a way of reconciling proper pay differentials. Some supervisors turn a blind eye to it because they feel unable to reward staff in ways they think equitable and just.

references Furnham, A. & Taylor, J. (2011). Bad Apples. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan Greenberg, J. (1993). Stealing in the name of justice: Informational and interpersonal moderators of theft reactions to underpayment inequity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 54, 81–103. Mars, G. (1984). Cheats at Work. London: Unwin.

Index

abnormality – agreed upon criteria  274–5 accident proneness  5–8, 166, 208 age and experience  6–7 intelligence  6 personality traits  7–8 psychological influences  6 risk taking behaviour  6 ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)  208, 240 adjustment disorder  144 Adler, Alfred  61 adolescence  29, 152, 153, 157, 239, 241, 295, 297, 361, 362 advertising  94, 201, 375–8, 394, 395–6, 397 affective disorders  28–9 aging and development, myths about  261 agoraphobia  28, 29 alcohol  9–12, 79, 143, 194, 366 age and abuse  10 in history  9 prone occupations  10 social conventions and laws  10 as social stimulant  9, 10 substance abuse criteria  10–12 alternative medicines  14–17 common user attributes  17 compared to orthodox medicine  14–15 models of medical thinking  15 reasons for using  16–17 research into  15–16

altruism and caring  19–22, 161 bystander effect  21–2 context and decisions  21–2 cooperative behaviour  21 coping with negative feelings  20 cultural biases  20 feel good: do good factor  20 kin selection  21 rural vs. urban helpfulness  21 search for altruistic personality  20 ambiguity tolerance  415–19 attempts to test  417–18 cultural differences  417, 419 history of research  417–18 uncertainty avoidance  417 workplace/organizational  417, 419 amenorrhea  151 American Dental Association  191 American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders  295, 324–5 (DSM-I)  290 (DSM-III-R)  292, 325 (DSM-IV)  11–12, 142–3, 151, 225–7, 238, 291 (DSM-V)  239–40, 316, 325 anality and obsessive-compulsive disorder  23–6 obsessive-compulsive disorder  25–6, 28–9 toilet training  23–5 androgyny  79 anorexia nervosa  150, 151–4

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anti-depressants  144 antisocial personality disorder  208, 297, 315, 316 anxiety  27–30, 58, 311, 312, 328–9, 333, 347 affective disorders  28–30 symptoms  28 trait and state anxiety defined  27 see also defence mechanisms and coping art preferences/aesthetic preference  31–3 abstract  32 art judgement  33 personality types  32, 33 traditional/representational  32 Asperger’s syndrome  48–9 assessment and selection, staff  35–8 impression management and selfdeception  36 Lie Scales  36 observation data  37 personal history/biography  38 physiological evidence  38 self-report  36 test performance  37–8 astrology and graphology  40–3, 196 Barnum/Forer effect  41, 42–3 personality tests  42–3 Polyanna principle  42–3 positive generalizations  41 attraction and beauty  44–6 evolutionary psychology  45–6, 178–9 in the eye of the beholder  44 health and fertility  45, 179 mathematical proportions  44 audio-only/radio media  103–4 audio-visual media  103–4 authoritarianism  332, 417 autism, Asperger’s and schizoid people  47–50, 171 Asperger’s syndrome  48–9 autism spectrum  48, 240 high-functioning autism  48 language difficulties  47, 48 schizoid personality disorder  49–50 avoidant personality disorder  298

bad decision making see group-think: bad decision making bargain hunters  249 Barnum effect  41, 42–3 beauty see attraction and beauty behavioural changes see changing behaviour; cognitive dissonance behavioural economics  51–5 anchoring and confirmation bias  53 Belsky & Gilovich’s principles to ponder  54–5 decision paralysis  52 endowment effect  53 investing with the herd  53–4, 55 mental accounting  52 money illusion and bigness bias  53 overconfident investing  53, 54 response to losses and gains  52, 54 behaviourism and behaviour therapies  56–9 classical and physiological  57 cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)  58–9 philosophies  56–7 self-efficacy and self-regulation  58 social learning theory  57–8 bereavement  240–1 the Bible  9 binge eating  241 biological psychologists  141 bipolar episodes and disorder  122, 143, 198, 208, 240 birth order  60–3 dethronement concept  61 first-born children  61, 62–3 middle children  62 only children  62 youngest children  61, 62–3 body language  1, 63–8 coded in verbal language  64–5 controllability of  67 ease of decoding  67–8 eye contact  65 lying and deceit  230, 231–2 misleading statements  65–8 power of  66–7 as symbolic expression  65–6 see also smiles/smiling

i ndex borderline personality disorder  208, 297 brain and perception, myths about  260–1 brainstorming  69–73 alternative ‘brainwriting’ method  72 cognitive stimulation  72 creative thinking  70–2 electronic groups  72 evaluation apprehension  72–3 guidelines  69–70 poorly structured tasks  71–2 well-structured tasks  70 brainwashing and cults  74–7 eight characteristics  74–5 introduction of sacred creeds  74, 75 mind-controlling techniques  75 personal exit costs  76 psychological appeal of  75–6, 77 receptive individuals and transitional states  77 what makes them dangerous  76 brainwriting  72 bulimia nervosa  150 business coaching see coaching business shock  126 bystander effect  21–2 Calvinists  440 canned laughter  201 catatonic schizophrenia  351–2 changing behaviour  78–81 change-readiness markers  81 changing intelligence  80 personal change in employers  80–1 plaster vs. plastic hypotheses  79–80 Seligman’s  10 facts about change  79 see also cognitive dissonance character strengths and virtues  83–6 list of strengths  84 list of virtues  85 psychological health/life satisfaction  85 strengths in the workplace  86 childhood androgyny  79 bipolar disorder  240 birth order  60–3 ego, super-ego and id  174 familial love  177

459

growth vs. fixed mindset  246 learning about money  247 memories/illusions  138 penis envy  175 personality disorders  295, 297 phobias  312 psychopathy  316 psychosexual development  174–5 PTSD in children  241, 324 resilience  342 self-esteem  366 sex difference studies  371 smiling  385 suggestions for a happier life  187 toilet training  23–5 trauma  79 visuals and memory  105 see also parenting style and attachment China, ancient  147 chronic illness  16, 17 chronobiology/circadian rhythm  409–10 classification, mental health  238–42 see also American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic Manual (DSM-IV) classification of musical types  256 clinical psychology  273–6 clusters, personality disorder  298 coaching  88–91 choosing a business coach  89–90 comparison with counselling and therapy  88–9, 90 four factors to successful  90–1 cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)  58–9 cognitive dissonance  92–5 after decisions  94 arousal and reduction  93 behaviour-follows-attitudes vs. attitudesfollows-behaviour  92–3 derogation of victims  94 insufficient justification effect  93 paradoxes of  94 selling and persuasion  95 cognitive processing  104 hallucinations and  141 music and  255 sex differences  373 cognitive psychologists  5, 141, 312

460

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cognitive stimulation and brainstorming  72 cognitive styles see thinking styles cold reading  96–8 common sense vs. psychological science  99–101 communication, media of audio only/radio  103–4, 105 audio-visual/television  103–4 caveats to radio(print(television rule  105–6 children’s memories  105 emails  105–6 print/newspapers  103–5 complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)  14–17 confidence see self-esteem conformity see obedience and conformity conmen  96–8 conscience see guilt conscientiousness  108–10, 161 and art judgement  33 difference between sexes  108, 110 educational and career achievements  108, 110 eight parts of  108–9 and emotional stability  110 and intelligence  110 consciousness, myths about  262 consequentialism  252 conservatism  32, 333 conspiracy/cover-up theories  111–14 characteristics of  112 combatting  113–14 common arguments  111–12 as monological belief system  113 psychological characteristics of theorists  113 consumer behaviour see advertising; shopping cooperative behaviour  21 counselling  144, 145 see also psychotherapy counterwork behaviours  452–3 country and culture differences, corporate  115–18 achievement vs. ascription orientation  117

culturally comparable corporate dimensions  115–17 high power–low power distance  115 individualism vs. communitarianism  116, 117 indulgence and restraint  116 internal vs. external orientation  118 long-term vs. short-term orientation  116 masculinity–femininity  116 neutral vs. affective orientation  117 past vs. present/future orientation  118 sequential vs. synchronic orientation  118 specific vs. diffuse orientation  117 uncertainty avoidance  116 universalism vs. particularism  117 creative thinking  70–1 creativity  119–22 common phases of creative process  121 creative people  120 criteria for judging  119–20 in different creative areas  121–2 mental illness and  122 what is it?  120 criminal behaviour  166, 194, 263, 315, 381, 452, 453 criminal profiling  336 cross-cultural psychology  115–18 cults see brainwashing and cults culture shock  123–6 defining  123–4 related experiences  126 ways to lessen  125 Dark Triad  127–30 characters in work  130 Machiavellianism  128 narcissists  127–8 overlapping characteristics  129 psychopathy  128–9 Darwin, Charles  385 Darwinian psychology  21 deep vs. surface learning  406–7 defence mechanisms and coping  132–6 Freudian psychology  132–3, 135–6 gender differences  135–6

i ndex immature mechanisms  133–4 mature mechanisms  133, 134–5 neurotic defences  133, 134 pathological mechanism  133 delirium tremors, alcohol-related  140 delusions  137–9 defined  137 erotomanic  138 grandiose  138 jealousy  138–9 persecutory/paranoia  137, 139 somatic  139 deontology  252 dependent personality disorder  298 depression  27, 58, 142–5, 171, 241, 266, 366, 423, 424 diagnosis of  142–3 treatment of  144–5 types of  143–4 dethronement concept, birth order  61 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders see American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders diet and nutrition  144 dieting  79 disorganized schizophrenia  351–2 disruptive mood – dysregulation disorder  240 dissonance see cognitive dissonance dreams/dreaming  146–9, 199, 312 interpretation of  147–8 rapid eye movement (REM)  148–9 teeth falling out  147 types of dream  146–7 unconscious desires  147–8, 149 drug abuse  139, 140, 143, 194, 208 drug testing  195 dysthymic disorder  143 eating disorders  150–4, 366, 367 anorexia nervosa  150, 151–4 biological theories  152 bulimia nervosa  150–1 causes  151–4 family systems theory  151–2 feminist theory  153

461

physiological factors  153 socio-cultural theory  152–3 types of  150 education/schooling  108, 110, 166, 217, 218, 237, 246, 366 egalitarianism  251–2 ego, super-ego and id  174, 199, 396 electronic brainstorming groups  72 emails  105–6 emotional instability and accident proneness  7 emotional intelligence  155–8, 266, 267 defined  156 development of  157 measuring  157–8 sensitivity and flexibility  155 and technical training  156–7 emotional regulation and music  255 emotions and motivation, myths about  262 empathy  17, 49, 127, 128, 265, 266, 267, 314, 315 see altruism and caring; emotional intelligence endowment effect  53 engagement and drive at work see work, engagement and drive erotomanic delusions  138 ethics see morality and ethics; work ethic ethnicity and eye contact  171 evaluation apprehension  72 evolutionary psychology and beauty  45–6 evolutionary theory  178–9 extraversion and introversion  163–7, 170–1 biological inheritance  164, 165 disadvantages of extraversion  165–6 Jungian theory  163 learning styles  403–4 Myers Briggs Type Inventory  163 sensation seeking  166–7 extroversion and accident proneness  7 eye contact  65, 168–71 blindness  171 factors influencing amount of  169–71 looking up  168 police and security  171 pupil dilation  169

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fever induced hallucinations  140 first-born children  61, 62–3 flashbacks  140 see also post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) flow state see happiness, flow and joy Flynn effect  217–18 Forer/Barnum effect  41, 42–3 fortune-telling  96–8 free association  173, 312 freedom and money  249 Freud, Sigmund  23, 135, 147–8, 149, 172–5 basic assumptions of Freudian psychology  173 ego, super-ego and id  174, 199, 396 free association  173 Freudian slips  174 humour  199 penis envy  175 psychosexual development  174–5 unlocking the unconscious  172–3 Freudian psychology  20, 23–5, 65–6, 132–3, 135–6, 140, 172–5, 362, 396 friendship  176–9 different types of love  177–8 mate selection  178–9 opposites and similarities  177 Galton, Francis  60–1 gamblers  94, 250 gaze see eye contact gender differences see sex differences generalized anxiety disorder  28–9 genetics  21, 208, 312 Gestalt principles  428 grandiose delusions  138 graphology see astrology and graphology gratification, postponement see impulsivity and postponement gratification gratitude and happiness  186 Greeks, ancient  44, 147 group-think: bad decision making  180–4 potential consequences  181–2 promoting successful group decisions  183–4 steps to prevent  182–3

US government  180 warning signs  181 guilt and body language  67 and kindness  20 psychopaths’ lack of  314, 315, 316, 318 hallucinations  139–40 causes  139, 140–1 drug use  139, 140 fever induced  140 mental illness  139, 140 nature of  139, 140 physical illness  140 sensory specific problems  140 happiness, flow and joy  1, 185–7, 252, 450 points made by the Positive Psychology Centre, PSU  186–7 subjective wellbeing  185–6 suggestions for a happier life  187 Hawthorne effect  189–90 health psychology  189 herbalism  16 heterosexuality  79 heuristics  260 hidden messages see subliminal perception high-functioning autism  48 histrionic personality disorder  298 hoarding  241 Hogan Development Survey  224–7 holistic medical thinking  15 homosexuality  79 honesty/integrity at work  193–6 interviews and biographical research  195–6 testing  193–6 see also work deviance horoscopes, belief in  40–3 hostility and helpful behaviour  20 Human Relations movement  190 Hume, David  44 humour, jokes and laughter  198–201 advertising  201 canned laughter  201 Freud  199 joke techniques  199

i ndex sex and aggression  199, 200 social effects  200–1 types of  200 id see ego, super-ego and id illusions  137–8 visual/optical  426–31 impression management  36, 203–6 identifying liars  205–6 ipsative tests  204 lie tests  203–4 types of lie  204–5 impulsivity and postponement of gratification  207–9 characteristics  207–8 dysfunctional impulsivity  209 functional impulsivity  208–9 reward vs. punishment cues  208 inconsistency see cognitive dissonance inkblots and projective techniques  196, 210–13 free drawings  211 inkblots  210–11 object interpretation  211 sentence completion  211 thematic apperception test  211–13 insufficient justification effect  93 integrational medical thinking  15 intelligence and IQ  214–18, 261 Flynn effect/are we getting brighter?  217–18 IQ scores  215, 216 nature of intelligence  215–16, 217 tests  214–15, 216 see also mindset change International Classification of Diseases (ICD)  238–9 interviews, job  36–7, 195–6, 227–8 see assessment and selection; honesty/ integrity at work; impression management introversion see extraversion and introversion invasion shock  126 jealousy  138–9 Johari Window  363 jokes see humour, jokes and laughter

463

joy see happiness, flow and joy Jung, Carl  148 justice in the workplace  219–22 consequence of perceived injustice  219–20 distributive justice  220 interpersonal justice  221 procedural justice  220–1 restorative vs. retributive  221–2 kindness see altruism and caring laughter see humour, jokes and laughter law and psychology, myths about  263 leadership failure  223–8 employee compliance  224 failure and derailment  223–4 Hogan Development Survey  225–7 how do poor leaders get selected? 227 indicators of a suitable/unsuitable leader  228 organizational culture  224 sub-clinical or dark-side explanations  224–7 learning styles  403–5 approaches to learning (ATL)  406–7 Lie Scales  36 lie tests  203–4 lie, types of  204–5 lighting and work productivity  189–90 Little Albert experiment  313 loss aversion  52, 54 love, different types of  177–8 low mood see depression lying and deceit  67–8, 147, 203–6, 229–33 body language  230, 231–2 facial expressions  231 non-verbal indicators  229–30, 231 and smiling  384–5 types of ‘tells’  232–3 verbal indicators  230–1 see also honesty/integrity at work; impression management Machiavellianism  128, 130 major depressive episode and disorder  143

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Major Neurocognitive Disorder  241 Maslow’s motivational theory  355–8 mate selection  178–9 medical check-ups, employee  38 medication  14–17, 59, 144 see also placebo effect/Hawthorne effect memory, myths about  261 men accident proneness  7 aesthetic preference  32 and altruism  20 attraction and beauty  45–6 autism spectrum disorder  48 and conscientiousness  108, 110 defence mechanisms  135–6 as laughter-getters  201 low childhood self-esteem  366 mate selection  178–9 and mental illness  144 organizational networks  271–2 personality disorders  296 shopping habits  381–2 smiling  385 unemployment  424 workaholism  450 mental accounting  52 mental health classification  238–42 culture biases  242 DSM-IV  238, 239, 240 DSM-V updates  239–41 International Classification of Diseases (ICD)  238–9 Word Health Organization (WHO)  238 see also American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders mental health, ideal  276 mental health literacy  235–7 people with highest levels  237 recognition rates  236 test yourself  235–6 mental illness and creativity  122 and hallucinations  139, 140 myths about  263

people least likely to seek help  144 see also mental health literacy; individual disorders by name Mesopotamia  9 metacognition  141 middle-born children  62 Mild Neurocognitive Disorder  241 Milgram obedience experiment  279–80 mind over matter  190–1 mindset change  243 in children  246 intelligence - fixed vs. growth mindset  244–6 mindset quiz  244–5 reduced plasticity  243 talent myth  244 in the workplace  246 miserly behaviour  24, 26, 249 money  24–5, 26, 51–5, 247–50 dreams and fairy tales  248 and emotions  248, 250 and freedom  249 ignorance about  247, 259 and love  249 parental influence  247 pathological types  249–50 and power  248 as security  248 selling financial products  250 tipping  412–15 monological belief systems  113 mood disorders and medical conditions  143 morality and ethics  251–3 egalitarianism  251–2 medical resource allocation  251–3 role of ethics committees  253 utilitarianism  251–2 motivation, assessing  36–7 motivation, work see work motivation Muller-Lyer illusion  429 music  255–8 classification of types  256 cognitive processes  255 as distraction  255 emotional regulation  255

i ndex mood and shopping  257–8 telephone ‘hold’  258 in the workplace  256–7 Myers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI)  163 myths and psychology  259–63 causes of misconception  260 myths about brain and perception  260–1 myths about consciousness  262 myths about development and aging  261 myths about emotions and motivation  262 myths about intelligence and learning  261–2 myths about interpersonal relationship  262 myths about memory  261 myths about mental illness  263 myths about personality  262–3 myths about psychological treatment  263 myths about psychology and the law  263 narcissism/Narcissistic Personality Disorder  127–8, 130, 227, 265–8, 298, 368 characteristics of  265–6 fragile self-esteem  267, 368 grandiose and vulnerable narcissism  267 lack of empathy and emotional intelligence  266, 267 over-estimation of abilities  266–7 as pathological self-awareness  361, 362 in the workplace  267–8 Nazis  417 negativistic syndrome  291 networks and networking  269–72 expressive vs. instrumental ties  272 gender differences  271–2 informal workplace interactions  270 key network roles  270–1 multiplex relations  272 organizational network analysis (ONA)  270–1 sociometry  270

465

neuroticism  27, 350, 390 newspapers/print and communication  103–5 nightmares  147–8 nocebo effect  191 non-verbal communication see body language; smiles/smiling normality and sanity  273–6 abnormality criteria  274–5 ideal mental health  276 normality vs. abnormality  273–4 problems with definitions  275–6 nutrition  217 obedience and conformity  277–80 conformity experiments  278–9 differences between  277–8 factors that affect obedience  280 influences on conformity levels  278–9 Milgram obedience experiment  279, 280 observational learning  57 obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)  25–6, 28–9, 298, 450 office politics  282–5 key features of  282–3 reasons for  282 skills of politically savvy employees  283–5 only children  62 openness and art preference  32 optical illusions  426–31 optimism  79, 80, 187–8, 392 organizational network analysis  270–1 overconfident investing  53 panic disorder  28–9, 79 paranoia/persecutory delusions  137, 138, 171, 297 paranoid schizophrenia  352 parenting anorexia nervosa and family systems theory  151–2 attitude to money  247 birth order  62 children’s self-esteem  366 familial love  177 growth vs. fixed mindset  246

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increasing intelligence  218 toilet training  23–5 parenting style and attachment  286–9 authoritarian parents  287, 288–9 authoritative parents  287, 288, 289 child-centred vs. parent-centred  286 controlling vs. undemanding  286 influence on child, adolescent and adult behaviour  288 neglecting parents  289 permissive parenting  287–8, 289 rigid controlling parents  289 passive aggressive personality disorder (PAPD)  290–3 appearance in DSM manuals  290–1 characteristics of  291–3 leisurely style  292–3 negativistic syndrome  291 Pavlov, Ivan  57 penis envy  175 perfectionism  25, 109, 151 personality disorders  208, 295–9, 314–15 clusters  298 DSM diagnostic criteria  295–7 as employees/colleagues  299 enduring patterns of behaviour  296–7 expressing and understanding emotions  299 personality traits  296 types of  297–8 view of psychologists and psychiatrists  295–6 personality tests and theory  42, 79–80, 196, 300–4 HR survey of tests  300–1 selecting a personality test  302 twelve myths about  302–4 vocational choice  434–5 persuasion  95, 96–8, 306–9 authority figures  308 commitment and consistency  307 influence of scarcity  308–9 liking the persuader  309 principle of reciprocity  306–7 social proof  307–8 pessimism  392, 440 phantom limbs  140

pharmaceutical medical thinking  15 phobias  27, 29, 310–13 academic viewpoints  311–12 behavioural viewpoint  311 biochemical viewpoint  312 categories of  310 cognitive viewpoint  312 cultural viewpoint  312 desensitization  310, 311, 312 flooding  310–11, 312 genetic viewpoint  312 Little Albert experiment  313 psychoanalytic viewpoint  311 symptoms and responses  311 picture interpretation test  211–13 placebo effect/Hawthorne effect  15–16, 189–92 adverse effects  191 human treatment of individuals  189–90, 192 randomized, double-blind control trials  192 research  190–1 types of pill and injections  191–2 what works best?  191–2 who responds?  191 work productivity levels  189–90 Polyanna principle  42–3 polygraph/lie detector tests  195 Ponzo illusion  429, 431 positive psychology  83–6, 186–7 post-decision rationalization  94 post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)  28–9, 30, 140, 241, 323–6 9/11 witness case study  323–4 DSM entries  324–5 prevalence associated trauma types  325–6 postpartum depression  144 power and money  248 power, need for  444 premenstrual dysphoric disorder  241 pro-social behaviour  19 procrastination  109 production blocking  72 profiling, personality see remote personality profiling

i ndex projective tests see inkblots and projective techniques Protestantism  438–40 psycho-mythology see myths and psychology psychobiography  336 psychological science, criticism of  100 psychometric tests see personality tests and theory psychopaths  128–9, 130, 199, 227, 251, 314–18 antisocial personality disorder (APD)  315, 316 compared to sociopaths  315 defined  314, 315 lack of guilt and empathy  314, 315, 316, 318 popular descriptions  317–18 types of  315–16 in the workplace  315, 316–17 psychoses  350 psychotherapy  144, 319–22 aversive therapy  321 cognitive therapy  321–2 schemas  321–2 talk therapy  319 types of  319–21 vicious vs. virtuous cycles  322 puberty  152, 153 psychoanalysts  311, 312, 353 queuing  327–30 British approaches to  327–8 cause of anger  327 psychological laws and observations  328–9 queue jumping  329–30 race culture shock  126 racism and prejudice  331–5, 366 authoritarianism  332 conservatism  333 contact hypothesis  334–5 intergroup behaviour  331–2, 333–4 interpersonal behaviour  332–3 social categorization  333–4 radio communication  103–4, 105

467

rapid eye movement (REM)  148–9 re-professionalization/re-licensing shock  126 reading and communication  103–5 reframing/reinterpreting events  321 religions  9, 438–40 remote personality profiling  336–40 algorithm approach  338 criminal profiling and psychobiography  226 six elements of  339–40 thematic approach  338 typological approach  338 resilience  187, 341–4 component parts  341–2 development of  342–4 self-regulation  341 stoicism  342 retirement  345–9 different reactions to  347–8 metaphors  346–7 push-pull factors  345–6 types of retirees  348–9 reverse culture shock  126 risk taking behaviour  6, 129, 166, 366 rural vs. urban helpfulness  21 satire  200 schizoid personality disorder  49–50, 297 schizophrenia  122, 139, 140, 171, 350–3 as an unhelpful term  350 common misconceptions  351 models of cause and cure  352–3 schizotypy  350 seriousness of  351 subtypes  351–2 symptoms  351 seasonal affective disorder  144 security and money  248 self-actualisation  355–8 characteristics of  356–7 deprivation and gratification  358 Maslow’s motivational theory  355–8 open-ended need structure  358 self-awareness  360–3, 368 advantages of  361 experiences as a source of  360–1

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Johari Window  363 self-other agreement  361 sub-clinical narcissism  361 ways to increase  362 self-determination theory  161–2, 446–7 self-efficacy and social learning  58 self-esteem  265, 267, 365–8, 423 genuine vs. false  367 impact of low  365–7 narcissism  368 negative side of high  366, 367 perceived causal power of low  365 self-presentation see impression management self-regulation  58, 341 selfishness  19 selling and persuasion  95, 96–8 see also advertising; shopping sense of humour see humour, jokes and laughter sensory problems and hallucinations  140 separation anxiety  29 sex and advertising  375–8 advertisement recall  376, 377 consumer intentions  376, 377 contextual programme effects  376–7 programme-induced involvement  377–8 sex differences  370–4 childhood studies  371 examples of  373, 374 gender similarity theory  373–4 maximizers vs. minimizers stand-points  372–3 meta-analyses findings  373–4 nature-nurture debate  371, 372 occupational choices  371, 372 popular vs. scientific writers  371–2 see also men; women sex-role socialization  179 sexual and aggressive instincts  173, 199 sexual dysfunction  79 sexuality, changing  79 shopping  379–83 demographic differences  381–2 methods of collecting data  380 and music  257–8, 381 myths about supermarket layout  379

pathologies  381–2 signage  380, 381 six hedonic motives  382 time and money spent in stores  380–1 sleep deprivation  76, 139 smiles/smiling  384–7 biological consequences  386 cultural differences  385 fake  384, 385 and image  387 lying  384–5 mirroring  385–6 science of  385 types of  384, 386–7 social anxiety disorder  29–30 social categorization  333–4 social learning theory  57–8, 373 social loafing  72 social phobia  311 social psychiatry  234 social psychology  5, 95, 365 social skills see emotional intelligence sociocultural theory  373 sociometry  270 sociopaths  315 somatic delusions  139 spectrum, autism  48 speech patterns  229–30 spendthrifts  24, 249 staff assessment and selection  35–8 star signs  40–3 state anxiety  27–8 stealing  381, 452 stoicism  341 stress  28–9, 341, 388–92 defining  388–9 management support and challenge model  389 optimists and pessimists  392 personality factors  390 problem and emotion focused coping strategies  392 three component parts  390–2 workplace or social environment factors  390–2 sub-clinical narcissism  361 subliminal perception  394–7, 426

i ndex advertising  394, 395–6, 397 evidence of influence  395, 396 self-help tapes  396 substance-induced mood disorder  143 suicide  366 super-ego see ego, super-ego and id talent definitions  399–400 evaluating  398–9 learning experiences  401–2 perception in the workplace  399–400 workplace management perspective  400–1 talking cures  58–9, 144, 319 teenagers see adolescence television  103–4 thematic apperception test  211–13 thinking and learning styles  403–7 approaches to learning (ATL)  406–7 different cognitive styles  405–6 different learning styles  403–5 time, experience of  408–11 chronobiology  409–10 estimators and contractors  410 importance of past and future  410–11 mono- and poly-chronic time  409 organizational time cultures  409 sacred and profane time  409 time-bound vs. time blind societies  408–9 tipping  412–15 reasons behind  412–13, 414–15 research and findings  413–15 toilet training  23–5 tolerance of ambiguity see ambiguity tolerance tone in emails  106 trait anxiety  27 tycoons  249 uncertainty avoidance  116, 415–19 unemployment  421–4 good and bad jobs  423 impact on mental and physical health  423–4 psychological benefits of work  421

469

response to losing a job  423 root of psychological distress  421–2 social withdrawal  422–3 utilitarianism  251–2 verbal communication and body language  64–5 violent behaviour  194, 366, 453 visual/optical illusions  426–31 Ames window revolving  431 boundaries  427–8 constancies  429–30 cultural influences  430–1 figure and ground  427 Gestalt principles  428 Ponzo and Muller-Lyer illusion  429, 431 process of seeing  426 vocational choice/vocational psychology  432–7 constraints  432 employee career development  433–4 guidance  432 personality tests  434–7 RIASEC model  434–7 wealth and happiness  186 Weber, Max  438 women aesthetic preference  32 altruism  20 anorexia nervosa  151–2, 153 attraction and beauty  45–6, 169 autism spectrum disorder  48 defence mechanism  135–6 glass ceiling  371 laughter and attraction  201 level of mental health literacy  237 mate selection  178–9 menstruation  6, 151, 153 organizational networks  271–2 penis envy  175 personality disorders  296 PTSD and rape victims  326 school performance  108 shopping habits  381–2 smiling  385

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unemployment  424 workaholism  450 work engagement/drive  159–62 drive at work  161–2 employee/manager relationships  161 engagement with work  160–1 job involvement  159, 160 job satisfaction and productivity  159–60 organizational commitment  160 see also work motivation work ethic  438–41 Calvinists  440 decline of  441 measuring  440–1 Protestantism  438–40 work motivation  442–7 job satisfaction and dissatisfaction  446 motivating vs. hygiene factors  445–6

motives and drivers  444 self-determination theory  446–7 see also work engagement/drive work productivity, Hawthorne effect and  189–90 workaholism  448–51 advice for workaholics  450–1 attitude to holidays  450 as obsessive-compulsive neurosis  450 types of workaholic  449–50 workplace deviance  452–6 cheats at work  454–5 counterwork behaviours  452–3 how to deal with  455–6 rewards at work  454 stealing from work  452 World Health Organisation (WHO)  238 youngest children  61, 62–3