In this column, we provoke fresh thinking and round up some of the weird, wonderful, quirky, surprising – and shocking – stories out there
By Liz Hall
Same as it ever was?
This month (8 November) sees US citizens finally take to the polls. If we don’t like the outcome, we can take comfort in what we so often cite in coaching – and know from neuroscience – nothing is written in stone; behaviour can change. As artist, songwriter, and social commentator David Byrne wrote earlier this year: “We’re malleable. We, as a species, can change the myths and narratives that we live by.” http://bit.ly/2dLzCJ7
Byrne, who was lead singer of rock band, Talking Heads, shares the fascination so many of us have with neuroscience. He’s bringing the field to life in an exhibition called The Institute Presents: Neurosociety, running from 28 October to 31 March 2017.
Visitors to Pace Gallery’s Menlo Park branch in California, US, can undergo cognitive experiments in room-size installations created by Byrne with his collaborator, Mala Gaonkar.
Water cooler
If a client struggles when embarrassed, suggest they drink cold water or iced tea.
Apparently sipping a cold drink may reduce feelings of shame, guilt and embarrassment, according to research from Western University in Canada. The study involved a number of experiments exploring how emotions and temperature go hand in hand, and how we can use this information to manage emotions. Researcher Jeff Rotman said that if we’re feeling regret or shame, we are more likely to want a glass of cold water, which may help us feel less ashamed. And if we’re somewhere warm, we may feel worse about doing something we regret than if we’re in a colder environment. The paper, ‘The warmth of our regrets: Managing regret through physiological regulation and consumption’, by Jeff D Rotman, Seung Hwan (Mark) Lee and Andrew W Perkins, was published in Journal of Consumer Psychology, September 2016 doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2016.08.008
Smart call
Want to know whether you can trust a client or a coach? Look at their smartphone. If it’s an Android not an iPhone, they’re more honest and humble, apparently.
Researchers from Lincoln and Lancaster Universities in the UK carried out two studies, one on perceptions of characteristics people associate with each smartphone brand and the second testing these stereotypes against actual traits of 530 smartphone users.
Android users were seen to be more introverted, and to have higher levels of honesty, humility, agreeableness and openness. The second study revealed that most of the stereotypes weren’t true, apart from honesty and humility.
Women were twice more likely to own an iPhone than an Android, and iPhone users thought it more important to have a high status phone than did Android users. The study was presented at the British Psychological Society Social Psychology Section annual conference in September in Cardiff.
Interrupt me!
If only ‘so and so’ wouldn’t disrupt me, I’d be so productive! You’ve heard it from clients – and probably said it yourself. But apparently breaking off from a work task to do something else can be even more disruptive than an external interruption, research suggests. A study by University of Groningen researchers suggests this is because of the brainpower needed to pause and do something different.
The researchers found pupil dilation – a well-established marker of mental effort – occurred a second earlier prior to self-interruptions, compared with external interruptions.
The study, ‘Interrupt me: External interruptions are less disruptive than self-interruptions’, was published in Computers in Human Behaviour, 63, October 2016, pp906-915. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.037
- Contributions to this slot are welcome Email: liz@coaching-at-work.com
“Beware of anyone who describes a human being as something other than human being”
George Monbiot, author of Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea and Human Life (2015)