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Currently viewing the tag: "dysfunction"
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People seeking shelter during tornadoes and cyclones are often called back, or delayed, by people doing normal activities, who refuse to believe the emergency is happening. These people are displaying what’s known as normalcy bias. About 70% of people in a disaster do it. Although movies show crowds screaming and panicking, most people move dazedly through normal activities in a crisis. This can be a good thing; researchers find that people who are in this state are docile and can be directed without chaos. They even tend to quiet and calm the 10-15% of people who freak out.
The downside of the bias is the fact that they tend to retard the progress of the 10-15% of people who act appropriately. The main source of delay masquerades as the need to get more data. Scientists call this “milling.” People will usually get about four opinions on what’s going on and what they should do before taking any action — even in an obvious crisis. People in emergency situations report calling out to others, asking, “What’s going on?” When someone tells them to evacuate, or to take shelter, they fail to comply and move on, asking other people the same question. -Esther Inglis-Arkell
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story using normalcy bias to create conflict.
Journaling Prompt: When do you tend to deny danger, whether it’s a tornado or something more abstract, like overdue bills? How do you act?
Art Prompt: Normalcy Bias
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Inform your audience about normalcy bias and how it reveals information about our ability to deny what is in front of us. Give your audience strategies to break through denial.
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The things that really make people fuming mad tend to be things that we can rarely speak up about without blowing the problem out of proportion. This is why people are so glad to vent their anger when anyone brings up petty offenses. They’re finally in a situation when they can express the full frustration they feel. Everyone has had experience with these kind of minor irritations, so outrage over relatively minor stuff becomes huge. That outrage, of course, doesn’t solve the problem. -Esther Inglis-Arkell
Fiction Writing Prompt: Add to your character sketch. What is your character really angry about? What are the minor annoyances that he or she talks about instead?
Journaling Prompt: What are you angry about that you can’t talk about?
Art Prompt: Outrage over Petty Offenses
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: How do you blow off the steam that builds up because you can’t effectively deal with your deepest issues? Give your audiences some strategies they can use.
Photo Credit: joshjanssen on Flickr
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The human mind can achieve fantastic things. One of them is ‘…our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance…’ – Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Source: David Ropeik, Big Think)
Fiction Writing Prompt: What is your character ignoring about his or her ignorance? Add to your character sketch.
Journaling Prompt: What areas of ignorance do you prefer to ignore in your life?
Art Prompt: Denial of Ignorance
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the psychological phenomenon of denial.
Photo Credit: jungmoon on Flickr
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Do we lose our sense of moral responsibility in a crowd? This condition is called “the diffusion of responsibility” in social science, or “the bystander effect.” The idea is that you would help a stranger if you were alone, but you are less inclined to be a good samaritan when part of a crowd. -Daniel Honan
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story or scene utilizing the bystander effect.
Journaling Prompt: Would you help a stranger if you were in a crowd of people? Why or why not?
Art Prompt: Bystander Effect
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the bystander effect and give your audience information about how they can choose to be different.
Photo Credit: ..c.m… on Flickr
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A soulmate’s value can’t be measured in dollars and cents, unless you get divorced. -Joel Travis, Blabbermouth
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story about soulmates who get divorced.
Journaling Prompt: Write about your soulmate, whether you’ve met that person or not.
Art Prompt: Divorced soulmates
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the concept of “soulmate” and whether you believe it’s a valid concept or not.
Photo Credit: dark4 on Flickr
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Prof. Aquino explains that it’s natural for people to wonder how others view them, especially when social acceptance in the workplace is often rewarded with power and financial compensation.
“However, our research shows employees should do their best to keep their interactions positive and ignore the negative. As the expression goes, kill them with kindness.”
In one of the study’s experiments, the researchers discovered that people who more readily interpret interactions with others as negative are also more likely to try to root it out through such means such as eavesdropping or spying. -Science Daily
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story about a character who kills them with kindness.
Journaling Prompt: How do you react to negativity in the workplace?
Art Prompt: Kill Them with Kindness
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about strategies for dealing with negativity in the workplace.
Photo Credit: Free for Commercial Use on Flickr
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“Then, when the itch is gone, when the vendetta is ended and there’s no one left to hate anymore, there’s nothing left inside of you but this little dried up husk of what was once a soul. And then you die, Richard. Because you’ve become the hate, and when the hate dies there’s nothing left of you.” -David Brown, The Bet
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story, scene, or poem about the effects of hatred.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you felt hatred and what happened when you held on to it.
Art Prompt: Hatred
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Inform your audience about the effects of hatred on the soul.
Photo Credit: AngelBeat on Flickr
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Be careful whom you help, Sara. They never forgive you for it. – Consuelo Saah Baehr, Best Friends
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a scene inspired by this line.
Journaling Prompt: Write about an experience you had when someone you helped got angry with you for it.
Art Prompt: Ingratitude
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the paradox of people being angry for receiving help.
Photo Credit: La Chance0925 on Flickr
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Arrogance is characterized by a pattern of behavior that demeans others in an attempt to prove competence and superiority. Silverman says this behavior is correlated with lower intelligence scores and lower self-esteem when compared to managers who are not arrogant.
…Silverman warns that “yes” replies to these other questions raise red flags and signal arrogance.
- Does your boss put his/her personal agenda ahead of the organization’s agenda?
- Does the boss discredit others’ ideas during meetings and often make them look bad?
- Does your boss reject constructive feedback?
- Does the boss exaggerate his/her superiority and make others feel inferior?
Left unchecked, arrogant leaders can be a destructive force within an organization… -Science Daily
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write about an arrogant boss through the eyes of a victim of his or her bullying.
Journaling Prompt: Write about the worst boss you have ever worked for.
Art Prompt: Arrogant Leader
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Inform your audience about how to recognize arrogant leaders and the devastation they create.
Photo Credit: Tatiana12 on Flickr
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Researchers wrote that “making amends can facilitative forgiveness, but not all amends can fully compensate for offenses.” Apology may be needed to repair damage fully, but it may be a “silent forgiveness,” while restitution without apology may lead to a “hollow forgiveness” in which the offenders are treated better but not necessarily forgiven.
“The results suggest that if transgressors seek both psychological and interpersonal forgiveness from their victims, they must pair their apologies with restitution,” they wrote. “Apparently, actions and words speak loudest in concert.” -Science Daily
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a scene between characters who have both offended against each other who struggle to find forgiveness.
Journaling Prompt: Write about your experience with forgiveness, apologies, and restitution.
Art Prompt: Forgiveness
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Inform your audience about how to apologize.
Photo Credit: Sherif Salama on Flickr
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