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…imagine that business experts, such as other CEOs, are asked to comment on the reputation of the chief executive of a company. They are keenly aware of whether the company has recently been thriving or failing. As we saw earlier in the case of Google, this knowledge generates a halo. The CEO of a successful company is likely to be called flexible, methodical, and decisive. Imagine that a year has passed and things have gone sour. The same executive is now described as confused, rigid, and authoritarian. Both descriptions sound right at the time: it seems almost absurd to call a successful leader rigid and confused, or a struggling leader flexible and methodical.
“Indeed, the halo effect is so powerful that you probably find yourself resisting the idea that the same person and the same behaviors appear methodical when things are going well and rigid when things are going poorly. Because of the halo effect, we get the causal relationship backward: we are prone to believe that the firm fails because its CEO is rigid, when the truth is that the CEO appears to be rigid because the firm is failing. This is how illusions of understanding are born. -Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow
Fiction Writing Prompt: Use the halo effect in a story.
Journaling Prompt: How have you experienced the halo effect in watching the news?
Art Prompt: Halo Effect
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the halo effect as it is playing out in current events.
Photo Credit: Walmart Corporate on Flickr
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The Pennsylvania Quakers initially introduced the concept of reforming criminals through time spent under confinement. The Quakers built a small prison, which was comprised of sixteen individual and fully isolated cells. This new concept was intended to achieve reform by forcing criminals to serve out their entire sentence in complete isolation and silence. The criminals were left only with a Holy Bible and the reformers believed that this would help them to achieve penance. It was from this practice that the word “penitentiary” was cast into modern society. Michael Esslinger, Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years
Writing Prompt: Create a scene where your protagonist is placed in solitary confinement and/or is brainwashed.
Journaling Prompt: Could anyone force you to change your beliefs?
Art Prompt: Solitary
Photo Credit: Dawn Endico on Flickr
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“Simply put, my newfound theory states: The minute a person comes to the erroneous conclusion that he or she controls anything at all in this life, the Universe immediately gets even with the bloody idiot.” -Marilyn Brant, According To Jane
Writing Prompt: Write a scene where your character decides he or she is in control. Then let chaos reign.
Journaling Prompt: How has the Universe shown you that you are not in control?
Art Prompt: The Illusion of Control
Photo Credit: h.koppdelaney on Flickr
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We may joke about OCD, but we all have little ritualistic behaviors that we may not even be aware of doing. Why do we do them?
Almost every human and animal activity can be divided into three parts, Prof. Eilam explains — “preparatory,” “functional,” and “confirmatory.” The functional aspect is defined by the specific actions that must occur in order to complete a task. But the preparatory and confirmatory actions, dubbed “head” and “tail” actions by the researchers, are not strictly required in order to get the job done. We complete them both before and after the central task, but they are not necessarily related to it. Individuals complete different head and tail activities for every task.
During the course of their study, Prof. Eilam and his fellow researchers watched and analyzed videotapes of people completing common tasks, such as putting on a shirt, locking a car, or making coffee, as well as basketball players completing a free-throw. In the case of basketball players, explains Prof. Eilam, all they actually need to do to complete their action is throw the ball. So why the preceding ritualistic behavior, such as bouncing the ball precisely six times?
“The routine they perform in the moments before shooting the ball is a method to focus their full concentration and control their actions.” Prof. Eilam says. It’s also an essential part of sports psychology. If players feel that completing their repetitive actions will enhance their performance, they tend to be more successful. This could include anything from locker room antics to LeBron James’ infamous pre-game chalk toss. -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Write a scene with a character using a ritualistic behavior they believe will help them be successful.
Journaling Prompt: What little habits do you use as rituals?
Art Prompt: Ritual
Photo Credit: Mr. T in DC on Flickr
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All I’m going to say is this: don’t anger the waitress!
In a new study, researchers at USC, Stanford and the Kellogg School of Management have found that individuals in roles that possess power but lack status have a tendency to engage in activities that demean others. According to the study, “The Destructive Nature of Power without Status,” the combination of some authority and little perceived status can be a toxic combination.
Social hierarchy, the study says, does not on its own generate demeaning tendencies. In other words, the idea that power always corrupts may not be entirely true. Just because someone has power or, alternatively, is in a “low status” role does not mean they will mistreat others. Rather, “power and status interact to produce effects that cannot be fully explained by studying only one or the other basis of hierarchy.”
One way to overcome this dynamic, according to the authors, is to find ways for all individuals, regardless of the status of their roles, to feel respected and valued. The authors write: “…respect assuages negative feelings about their low-status roles and leads them to treat others positively.”
Opportunities for advancement may also help. “If an individual knows he or she may gain a higher status role in the future, or earn a bonus for treating others well, that may help ameliorate their negative feelings and behavior,” Fast said. -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Write a character sketch about someone who has power but no status. How do they abuse their power?
Journaling Prompt: Have you ever abused power in order to make yourself feel better?
Art Prompt: Demeaning
Photo Credit: luigi morante on Flickr
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acquiesce verb (used without object), -esced, -esc·ing.
to assent tacitly; submit or comply silently or without protest; agree; consent: to acquiesce halfheartedly in a business transaction
to assent tacitly; submit or comply silently or without protest; agree; consent: to acquiesce halfheartedly in a business transaction
Writing Prompt: Use the word of the week in a scene or poem.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you acquiesced against your will.
Art Prompt: Acquiesce
Photo Credit: Rosemary McKevitt on Flickr
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This quote is almost prescient, isn’t it?
The best doctrine may become the worst, if imperfectly understood, erroneously interpreted, or superstitiously followed. -Anna Harriette Leonowens, “Memoirs of an English Governess at the Siamese Court – (The King and I)” [Illustrated]
Writing Prompt: Create a world where a good doctrine has gone bad.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a doctrine that you think was originally good but has been stretched by extremistes.
Art Prompt: Mind Control
Photo Credit: AZRainman on Flickr
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You’ve heard the proverb, “Fences make good neighbords.” It turns out there is more to that proverb than meets the eye.
‘People often turn to aesthetic boundaries in their environment to give them a sense that their world is ordered and structured as opposed to random and chaotic,’ writes author Keisha Cutright (University of Pennsylvania).
Cutright’s research indicates that people who feel a lack of control seek tangible boundaries, such as frames around paintings, fences around yards, or prominent borders surrounding a firm’s logo. “When individuals no longer feel in control of their lives, they seem to seek the sense of order and structure that boundaries provide — the sense that ‘there’s a place for everything and everything is in its place,’” Cutright explains.
The author also found that individuals who have other places to turn for a sense of structure had less need for physical boundaries. “Individuals who rely on God for a sense of order and structure were less likely to heighten their preference for boundaries in the face of low personal control than individuals who do not,” Cutright writes.
In a world where consumers face natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and everyday chaos at home, they will seek whatever small comfort they can. ‘In other words, don’t be alarmed if you find yourself craving thicker picture frames and a new fence for your yard. You may just need a little control in your life,’ Cutright concludes. -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Write a character sketch showing how your character feels a lack of control and how he or she tries to get it back.
Journaling Prompt: How do you respond when you feel a lack of control.
Art Prompt: Fences
Photo Credit: guzzphoto on Flickr
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The WritingReader is on vacation for a week, but while I’m gone, enjoy this visual prompt. Create whatever it inspires in you!
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Photo by mugley.
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How do men manipulate women into acting against their own best interests, even against their safety?
Researchers listened to telephone conversations between 17 accused male abusers in a Washington state detention facility and their female victims, all of whom decided to withdraw their accusations of abuse. For each of the couples, the researchers analyzed up to about three hours of phone conversations…
Typically, in the first and second conversations there is a heated argument between the couple, revolving around the event leading to the abuse charge. In these early conversations, the victim is strong, and resists the accused perpetrator’s account of what happens…
In the second stage, the perpetrator minimizes the abuse and tries to convince the victim that what happened wasn’t that serious….“The tipping point for most victims occurs when the perpetrator appeals to her sympathy, by describing how much he is suffering in jail, how depressed he is, and how much he misses her and their children,” Bonomi said.
“The perpetrator casts himself as the victim, and quite often the real victim responds by trying to soothe and comfort the abuser.”
…In the third stage, after the accused abuser has gained the sympathy of the victim, the couple bonds over their love for each other and positions themselves against others who “don’t understand them.”
The fourth stage involves the perpetrator asking the victim to recant her accusations against him and the victim complying. Finally, in the fifth stage, the couple constructs the recantation plan and develops their stories.
“They often exchange very specific instructions about what should be done and said in court. They seal their bond as a couple and see themselves as fighting together against the state, which they view as trying to keep them apart,” Bonomi said. -Science Daily
Writing Prompt: Write a scene involving psychological manipulation. (If you are interested in learning more about the psychology of the abusive relationship, read Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men
by Lundy Bancroft and The Betrayal Bond: Breaking Free of Exploitive Relationships
by Patrick Carnes.)
by Lundy Bancroft and The Betrayal Bond: Breaking Free of Exploitive Relationships
by Patrick Carnes.)
Journaling Prompt: Describe a time when you’ve been manipulated. How did that feel when it was happening? When did you become aware of what was happening?
Art Prompt: Psychological manipulation
Photo Credit: conmike12 on Flickr
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