When and why does rudeness sometimes spread round the office?

Incivility is the mucus of the workplace. Cruel remarks, condescension and cutting people out of conversations are sufficiently low-level acts that they are rarely sanctioned formally, yet acts of rudeness still spread around an organisation “like catching a cold“, clogging up the smooth running of an organisation. But why does the sneezing start in the first place? A new article in the Journal of Applied Psychology argues that just as colds erupt when our immune system is low, so rudeness manifests when our ability to regulate our thoughts and behaviours is running thin.

A team led by Christopher Rosen from the University of Arkansas asked 70 employees, the majority female, to answer a few questions about their co-workers, and then to complete three surveys each day (morning, lunch and at the end of the afternoon) for ten days, about whether they had been rude to a co-worker since the last survey point and whether anyone had been rude to them.

At the same time as they completed each survey, Rosen also asked participants to complete the classic Stroop test of self-control – participants have to identify rapidly the ink colour of colour-denoting words (such as the word “red” written in blue ink). It takes control and concentration to recognise the ink colour and suppress the meaning of the word.

The researchers reasoned that when participants are struggling to control themselves on the Stroop test, they may also struggle to maintain courtesy towards others, and give in to the temptation to snap at and ignore them. This was borne out: lower Stroop performance was associated with a greater likelihood of acting uncivil over the following time period.

The researchers also tried to understand why rudeness elicits further rudeness, drawing on the same self-control concept. They predicted that experiencing an uncivil event would sap self-control, because it makes sudden demands on us: we have to suppress ruffled emotions, make the call as to whether to get into it with the rude person or just brush it off, and ruminate on whether the rudeness is a signifier of a wider issue or was simply irrelevant. That these thoughts and decisions have a general cost is a prediction from “ego depletion theory”, the idea that self-control is a limited resource.

Rosen’s team failed to find an effect of experiencing rudeness on Stroop performance when looking at the entire sample. But focusing on just those participants who’d earlier answered that their co-workers “do what is best for them, not what is best for the organisation” (a sign of a dog-eat-dog working environment), there was an adverse effect of experiencing rudeness on Stroop performance.

Pulling these findings together, the researchers argue that one way that rudeness perpetuates itself is by how it saps resources, the very ones that are crucial for maintaining courtesy and avoiding handling others in a shabby fashion later in the day.

What’s interesting about this is that the fundamental research undergoing the ego depletion theoryhas recently come under serious question. This doesn’t invalidate the immediate findings, but it does encourage a closer look at the meaning behind them. Can fluctuation in Stroop performance only reflect a depleting control resource, or could rudeness impair performance through distraction, or by blocking motivation? Whatever the precise action is, the research helps show why rudeness is self-perpetuating. Especially in competitive environments, it impairs our self control and makes it more likely that the better angels of our own nature will abandon us.

SOURCE:

https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/10/11/when-and-why-does-rudeness-sometimes-spread-round-the-office/(accessed 24.10.16)

Οδηγός Απόδρασης από μια Βίαιη Σχέση

http://www.antiviolence-net.eu/Odigos_apodrasis.pdf

Art can heal PTSD's invisible wounds

Trauma silences its victims, says creative arts therapist Melissa Walker, but art can help those suffering from the psychological wounds of war begin to open up and heal. In this inspiring talk, Walker describes how mask-making, in particular, allows afflicted servicemen and women reveal what haunts them — and, finally, start to let it go.

Watch talk:

http://www.ted.com/talks/melissa_walker_art_can_heal_ptsd_s_invisible_wounds

People Experiencing Anxiety See The World Differently

The research could help explain why some people are more prone to anxiety.

People experiencing high levels of anxiety actually perceive the world differently, a new study finds.


When anxious, people find it more difficult to tell the difference between things which are safe and those that are not.

People feeling anxious tend to over-generalise their emotional response to situations which are not in themselves provoking.

This could help explain why some people are more prone to anxiety.

Professor Rony Paz, who led the research, said:


“We show that in patients with anxiety, emotional experience induces plasticity in brain circuits that lasts after the experience is over.

Such plastic changes occur in primary circuits that later mediate the response to new stimuli, resulting in an inability to discriminate between the originally experienced stimulus and a new similar stimulus.

Therefore, anxiety patients respond emotionally to such new stimuli as well, resulting in anxiety even in apparently irrelevant new situations.

Importantly, they cannot control this, as it is a perceptual inability to discriminate.”

The study compared people who were generally quite anxious with control participants.


Both did a task involving gaining and losing money.

The results showed that people who were generally anxious tended to let their losses affect them more than other people.

Brain scans revealed that the amygdalas of people with anxiety reacted differently.

The amygdala is central to how emotions are processed in the brain.

Professor Paz concluded:


“Anxiety traits can be completely normal, and even beneficial evolutionarily.

Yet an emotional event, even minor sometimes, can induce brain changes that might lead to full-blown anxiety.”

The study was published in the journal Current Biology (Laufer et al., 2016).

SOURCE:

http://www.spring.org.uk/2016/03/people-experiencing-anxiety-see-the-world-differently.php(accessed 17.10.16)

Νέα έρευνα: Τα παιδιά κληρονομούν την εξυπνάδα από τη μητέρα τους

Οι ερευνητές δεν εντόπισαν κανένα πατρικό κύτταρο στον εγκεφαλικό φλοιό, όπου πραγματοποιούνται πιο προηγμένες γνωστικές λειτουργίες

Μια νέα έρευνα υποστηρίζει πως η εξυπνάδα του κάθε παιδιού κληρονομείται από τη μητέρα του και όχι από τα γονίδια του πατέρα.

Όπως υποστηρίζεται από τους ερευνητές τα γονίδια της εξυπνάδας μεταφέρονται μέσω του χρωμοσώματος Χ, το οποίο η γυναίκα διαθέτει εις διπλούν, σε αντίθεση με τον άντρα που διαθέτει ένα.


Ακόμα, οι επιστήμονες που πραγματοποίησαν την έρευνα πιστεύουν πως τα γονίδια που μεταφέρονται από τον πατέρα στο παιδί, τα οποία αφορούν τις γνωστικές λειτουργίες, είναι πιθανό να απενεργοποιηθούν.



Για τις ανάγκες τις έρευνας, οι ερευνητές επεξεργάστηκαν γενετικά ποντίκια, από τα οποία σε άλλα αύξησαν τα μητρικά γονίδια, ενώ σε άλλα αύξησαν τα πατρικά. Μετά το πέρας του πειράματος, όσα ποντίκια είχαν ενισχυθεί με περισσότερα μητρικά γονίδια διέθεταν μεγαλύτερο κεφάλι και εγκέφαλο, αλλά πιο μικρό κορμί. Αντίθετα, όσα ποντίκια είχαν ενισχυθεί με περισσότερα πατρικά γονίδια διέθεταν μεγαλύτερο κορμί, αλλά μικρότερο εγκέφαλο.

Όπως, μάλιστα, αποδείχθηκε τα κύτταρα με τα πατρικά γονίδια συσσωρεύτηκαν σε τμήματα του μεταιχμιακού συστήματος του εγκεφάλου, το οποίο αφορά σε λειτουργίες όπως το σεξ, το φαγητό και η επιθετικότητα. Οι ερευνητές, ωστόσο, δεν εντόπισαν κανένα πατρικό κύτταρο στον εγκεφαλικό φλοιό, όπου πραγματοποιούνται πιο προηγμένες γνωστικές λειτουργίες, όπως η λογική, η σκέψη και η γλώσσα και η δυνατότητα προγραμματισμού.



Ερευνητές από τη Γλασκόβη, όμως, υποστήριξαν πως οι άνθρωποι δεν έχουν τόσα κοινά στοιχεία με τα ποντίκια, ώστε να ισχύει το ίδιο, επομένως αποφάσισαν να μελετήσουν την ανθρώπινη εξυπνάδα μέσα από ένα περισσότερο ανθρωπολογικό πρίσμα. Μετά από τη μελέτη 12.686 νεαρών ατόμων με διαφορετική εκπαίδευση, φυλή και κοινωνικοοικονομική κατάσταση, μεταξύ των ηλικιών 14-22 ετών, παρατήρησαν πως και πάλι ο καλύτερος προγνωστικός δείκτης της νοημοσύνης του ατόμου ήταν το IQ της μητέρας του.

Παρ' όλα αυτά η έρευνα καθιστά επίσης σαφές πως τα γενετικά δεδομένα δεν είναι ο μόνος καθοριστικός παράγοντας της νοημοσύνης, καθώς υπολογίζεται πως μόνο το 40 με 60 τοις εκατό της νοημοσύνης είναι κληρονομικό, με το υπόλοιπο ποσοστό να επηρεάζεται από το περιβάλλον του παιδιού.





Πηγή: 

http://www.askitis.gr/psychichealth/view/%CE%BD%CE%AD%CE%B1-%CE%AD%CF%81%CE%B5%CF%85%CE%BD%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B1-%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%B9%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%AC-%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%BC%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%BD-%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%BD-%CE%B5%CE%BE%CF%85%CF%80%CE%BD%CE%AC%CE%B4%CE%B1-%CE%B1%CF%80%CF%8C-%CF%84%CE%B7-%CE%BC%CE%B7%CF%84%CE%AD%CF%81%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%82(accessed 17.10.16)