Pop psychology

Horwitz, Andrew, (2000). Coercion, Pop-Psychology, and Judicial Moralizing Some Proposals for Curbing Judicial Abuse of Probation Conditions. 57... 

One thing the psychiatrists did notice, this was a depression which drove nobody to suicide. The other constants were the slow decline in efficiency at work, increased lethargy, a rise in use of tranquilizer and stimulant programs. Pop psychology commentators took to calling it the rise of the why-bother psychosis. 

The basic purpose of this book is outlined in this chapter to explore the human dynamics of occupational health and safety, and to show how they can be managed to significantly improve safety performance. The principles and practical procedures you will leant are not based on common sense nor intuition, but rather on reliable scientific investigation. Many recommendations seem counter to "pop psychology" and traditional approaches to safety. So keep an open mind while you read about the psychology of safety. 

I have heard or read a number of psychology-related statements from motivational speakers and consultants that sound like good common sense but in fact contradict scientific knowledge. Some of these statements appear so many times in the pop psychology literature that they are accepted as basic truths, when in fact they cannot be substantiated with objective evidence. Consider, for example, the following 15 myths which are commonly stated but make no sense. 

It is a good thing this frequent pop psychology statement is rmtrue, or we could not motivate others to choose the safe way of doing something when the at-risk alternative is more comfortable, efficient, convenient, or perhaps habitual. In Section 4 of this Handbook,... 

This rmfounded statement is related to the previous pop psychology myth, and is frequently used by safety professionals to criticize all applications of incentives to improve safety performance ( ause, 2000). A popular book entitled Punished by Rewards (Kohn, 1993) has been read by too many safety professionals. Now, this myth is getting dispersed at safety conferences and in safety magazines. 

Many pop psychology self-help books, audiotapes, and motivational speeches give minimal if any attention to behavior-based approaches to personal achievement. "Behavioral... 

The principles and procedures are not based on conunon sense nor intuition, but rather on reliable scientific investigation. Some will contradict conunon folklore in pop psychology and require shifts in traditional approaches to the management of organizational safety. Approach this material with an open mind. Be ready to relinquish fads, fancies, and folklore for innovations based on xmpopular but research-supported theory. 

The key principles of humanism found in mosf pop psychology approaches to increase personal achievement are... 

Think about it. When people ask us why we did something, we are apt to say, "1 wanted to do it," or "I was told to do it," or "1 needed to do it." These explanations sound as if the cause of our behavior comes before we act. This perspective is supported by numerous "pop psychology" self-help books and audiotapes that say people motivate themselves with positive self-affirmations or optimistic thinking and enthusiastic expectations. In other words, behavior is caused by some external request, order, or signal or by an internal force, drive, desire, or need. 

Pop psychology often asserts that people cannot be motivated by others, only by themselves from witiiin. This self-motivation is typically referred to as "intrinsic motivation" and is a prominent theme in popular books by Deming (1993), Covey (1989), and Kohn (1993). It is also tiie theme of the classic best seller by Peale (1952). 

Most applied behavioral scientists view "intrinsic motivation" differently from the description used in pop psychology books (for example, Kohn, 1993). The behavior-based perspective is supported by research and our everyday experience. Plus, it is objective, practical, and useful for developing situations and programs to motivate behavior change. 

Deming told us he felt "so bad" about his attempt to reward Debbie. Later, he tried to find Debbie s last name so he could contact her and apologize for his "terrible mistake." He was so sure he had depreciated Debbie s "intrinsic" motivation by his attempt to give her an "extrinsic" reward. Deming used this story to explain the wide-spread pop psychology notion that motivation only comes from within a person, and that any attempts to increase it with extrinsic rewards will only decrease a person s "intrinsic" motivation. 

You have probably noticed by now that I get quite disturbed when I read or hear pop psychology based on xmfounded intuition or common sense. Many statements I have read or heard relating to the psychology of safety sound good but are incorrect. Profound knowledge comes from rigorous research and theory development, and often runs counter to common sense. 

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