The Psychologist December 2017

the

the psychologist

psychologist december 2017

december 2017

Nasty or nice?

Elena Lemonaki and Patrick Leman consider overt and insidious forms of sexism

www.thepsychologist.org.uk

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10/11/2017 15:37

the

the psychologist

psychologist december 2017

december 2017

contact The British Psychological Society 48 Princess Road East Leicester LE1 7DR 0116 254 9568 mail@bps.org.uk www.bps.org.uk the psychologist and research digest www.thepsychologist.org.uk www.bps.org.uk/digest www.jobsinpsychology.co.uk psychologist@bps.org.uk Twitter: @psychmag Download our iOS/Android apps advertising Reach 50,000+ psychologists at very reasonable rates.

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Nasty or nice?

Elena Lemonaki and Patrick Leman consider overt and insidious forms of sexism

www.thepsychologist.org.uk

The Psychologist is the magazine of The British Psychological Society It provides a forum for communication, discussion and controversy among all members of the Society, and aims to fulfil the main object of the Royal Charter, ‘to promote the advancement and diffusion of a knowledge of psychology pure and applied’

The Psychologist needs you!

We rely on your submissions throughout the publication, and in return we help you to get your message across to a large and diverse audience.

For details of all the available options, plus our policies and what to do if you feel these have not been followed, see www.thepsychologist.org.uk/contribute The main message, though, is simply to engage with us.

Contact the editor Dr Jon Sutton on jon.sutton@bps.org.uk, tweet us on @psychmag or call / write to us at the Society’s Leicester office.

Managing Editor Jon Sutton Assistant Editor Peter Dillon-Hooper Production Mike Thompson Journalist Ella Rhodes Editorial Assistant Debbie Gordon Research Digest Christian Jarrett (editor), Alex Fradera, Emma Young

Associate Editors Articles Michael Burnett, Paul Curran, Harriet Gross, Rebecca Knibb, Adrian Needs, Paul Redford, Sophie Scott, Mark Wetherell, Jill Wilkinson Conferences Alana James History of Psychology Alison Torn Interviews Gail Kinman Culture Kate Johnstone, Sally Marlow Books Emily Hutchinson, Rebecca Stack International panel Vaughan Bell, Uta Frith, Alex Haslam, Elizabeth Loftus, Asifa Majid The Psychologist and Digest Editorial Advisory Committee Catherine Loveday (Chair), Phil Banyard, Emma Beard, Harriet Gross, Kimberley Hill, Rowena Hill, Peter Olusoga, Richard Stephens, Miles Thomas

10/11/2017 14:50

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psychologist december 2017

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02 Letters

Hidden

hashtags;

mental

health in

sport; and more 12 News

Children

and war;

Nobel

Prize;

research;

and more

22 ‘There was no standardised treatment for people who set deliberate fires’ Theresa Gannon on her journey to impact

28 The coddling campus Craig Harper believes the road to (political) hell is paved with good intentions

34 Nasty or nice?

Elena Lemonaki and Patrick Leman consider overt and insidious forms of sexism

40 Talking failure in therapy and beyond A conversation between Miranda Wolpert and Tony Rousmaniere

46 ‘There’s this conspiracy of

silence around how science

really works’

We meet Marcus Munafò

52 ‘We must not look away’ Rachel Happer on her role as Head of the National Confidential Forum 56 Jobs in psychology

62 One on one With Society award winner Anne Cooke

66 Books What to read if you’re losing faith in humanity 72 Culture

76 Looking back

Jan Noyes on Conwy Lloyd Morgan 80 A to Z

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There’s a great Brain Pickings piece on fostering a fearless culture (see tinyurl.com/ahwhoops), which beings with a quote from the wonderful author Neil Gaiman: ‘Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before.’ It moves on to Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull’s advice: ‘If you aren’t experiencing failure, then you are making a far worse mistake: You are being driven by the desire to avoid it. And, for leaders especially, this strategy – trying to avoid failure by out-thinking it – dooms you to fail.’

Failure crops up in Miranda Wolpert and Tony Rousmaniere’s conversation on therapy, and Marcus Munafò on open science and replication. ‘Failure is an almost daily part of being a scientist’, Munafò warns.

As we come to the end of our first year with the ‘new style’ Psychologist, your feedback would be as welcome as ever.

If we’ve made mistakes in 2017, in print and online, we hope they have at least been new, glorious and amazing ones!

Dr Jon Sutton Managing Editor @psychmag

10/11/2017 14:50

Hearing the hidden hashtags

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I write to you with curiosity, concern and questions about an issue I have recently happened upon. Whilst researching with colleagues for a presentation on young people’s mental health conversations on social media, I stumbled across some of the communities of secret hashtags on Instagram. As most will know, the now ubiquitous ‘hashtag’ is very much a part of the daily conversation, particularly amongst young people aged 13–17. As I explored these hashtags, clicking link to link, image to image, I soon found myself transported deeper and deeper into a hidden-in-plain-sight community of young people sharing experiences of a range of mental health issues. #Ana, #Sue, #Deb, #Cat, #Mysecretfamily and #Annie, are just a few of the hidden conversation keys I came across. If you are unfamiliar with these hashtags, they translate as Anorexia, Suicide, Depression, Self-harm, Self-injury, Anxiety, and Mental Illness, and were accompanied by visceral images of self-injury, extreme weight loss and morbid image content. They seem to serve as keys for people to seek out and unlock these hidden communities and share their experiences with others. Why are they here? What do they represent?

How did I find them? These were some of the questions I asked myself as I stumbled through images that even now I can bring to mind.

I am aware that these communities have been explored to some degree before. A 2016 paper

by Megan Moreno and colleagues considered the use of these and other ‘secret’ hashtags and their role in conversations about mental health. They suggested that these terms appeared as a direct response to attempts to moderate or remove mental health or self-harm related content over fears that it might negatively affect those who view it. It is true that Instagram itself has taken steps to block certain hashtags and continuously monitors and updates its ‘banned terms’ lists. Indeed, I am conscious that the terms listed above are by now all out of date.

Yet it seems clear that these attempts to moderate and police are ineffective. Some readers may remember the pro-anorexia movement that came to light in 2012 with terms such as #proana and #thinspiration. Instagram banned 17 search terms it deemed as promoting anorexia, and users searching those terms were met with a blank screen. However, this simply led

to the emergence of new communities built up around approximately 250 lexical variants, including #thinspoooo and #thyghgapp (see tinyurl.com/thyghgapp), designed to circumvent the ban.

As I read these and other studies and as I reflected on this apparent need for young people to share and discuss ‘mental health difficulties’ in forums like this, I was left wondering what my role and the role of psychology was in this? Was I simply to become another moderator, policing and shutting down conversations deemed too ‘dangerous’ or ‘risky’? Should I be participating in the conversations themselves, offer support, advice and attempt to combat some of the misinformation that appears rife in the comments boxes? I was struck, however, that to do that I would need to start speaking the language of ‘young people’ and finding ways to join them where they live their digital lives. My questions to readers then are: How do we do this? How to we step outside of the current narrative and evolve in these ever-changing times? If young people are reluctant to step out of the web and come to us, how can we bring support to them? They clearly want to talk, so how do we listen?

Hugo Maximillian Metcalfe Trainee Psychologist at Large Hertfordshire

10/11/2017 14:51

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Tim Sanders/www.timonline.info

Research in psychology is constantly looking at ways to improve our understanding of mental health, and one area that I believe needs addressing is the problematic use of social media sites in adolescents.

Social media has been around since the early 2000s, meaning millennials have had social media throughout their lives, but how detrimental is this to their mental health? Have we fuelled the negative self-esteem, social anxiety and lack of social identity through the ‘clicks’ and ‘swipes’ of a screen, at one of the most crucial times of a person’s life, essentially telling them they are not ‘good enough’ in society? The irony that it is named ‘social’ media, yet it could make a person feel very alienated from others.

Many mental health problems have been linked to social media, including depression, sleep disturbance and eating concerns.

How often do you see people glued to their phones, scrolling, swiping, clicking? But what is it about these social media sites that is so appealing, especially to the younger generation? Should this be classed as an addiction, now that links have been made to how detrimental their use can be?

A ’least restrictive’ approach on some acute adolescent mental health wards is to allow the use of mobile phones whilst supplying the ward with wi-fi, but surely allowing this is not beneficial. Young people can go to bed at night and stay on their phones until early hours of the morning, reversing their sleeping pattern and spending hours on social media without any boundaries. From their beds they have an endless amount of harmful content at their fingertips.

Hashtags are seen as a fun way of linking specific themes or content to others around the world, however when that hashtag is #selfharm or #anorexia, this can become problematic. There are no monitors on these social media sites, just a link that appears if

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you do research hashtags such as these that will advise you to seek help. The pictures that come up are endless displays of self-harm or anorexia, and could be suggested as promoting mental health problems.

A recent trend was #bluewhale, where teenagers were pressured into engaging in self-harming behaviours and after 50 days to end their life, which resulted in the deaths of many teenager worldwide (Upadhyaya, 2017). These are extreme ways that social media can influence young people; however, it was through improper steps and failings of being monitored that this was the end result.

So who is responsible? Maybe we all are. Is it up to the mental health practitioners to help adolescents understand and educate them on the implications of the use of social media? Could we combine online behaviours of young people into assessments? Maybe we need to encourage parents to know more about what their child is doing online and to understand the dangers of social media sites (Costello & Ramo, 2017). Going forward, I feel that more research needs to be done in this area as it is occurring more often, along with more measures put in place to stop these issues before they become even more damaging. This short letter only covers a few issues of social media use in adolescents, however more and more we are finding the negative impact it has, so maybe it is something to be addressed in the near future.

Alex Smith Assistant Psychologist Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust References Costello, C. & Ramo, D. (2017). Social media and substance use: What should we be recommending to teens and their parents?

Journal of Adolescent Health, 60(1), 629–630.

Upadhyaya, V. (2017). What is Blue Whale Challenge and why is it harmful for teenagers.

Retrieved 8 November 2017 from tinyurl.com/y7eyjqdn

Responding to first responders In the August issue there were two important topics implicitly linked: ‘Responding to the Grenfell Tower fire’, and ‘The hidden costs of working when sick’. I felt obliged to make representations as an experienced police officer, educator and member of the British Psychological Society.

The picture you used emphasised the fire service, showing one or two of the other key emergency service workers and possibly members of the community nearby. The emergency services are coping under daily pressures, and I am confident the public understand and sympathise.

Yet horrific and traumatic events are a regular occurrence in my line of work: recently I have experienced violent extremist attack, suicide and fatal traffic accident. To date, I have received very little support or intervention in order to make attempts at mental recovery from these extraordinary tragedies, and any I have received has been at my own behest.

Despite being resilient and able to ‘self-treat’, any incident involving our public services brings their suffering clearly into focus. It is now time to act, rather than moot ideas and interventions: get in there, show off your abilities and provide the necessary support. Psychologists can do no harm in approaching public and emergency services in order to offer or propose useful services and interventions. You are the experts and have a duty!

Name and address supplied

10/11/2017 14:51

Should elite performance come second?

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I read ‘When winners need help’ with great interest. The piece highlighted an important topic in elite sport, and raised the prospect of further discussing mental health and mental illness in elite athletes amongst a variety of disciplines in psychology.

Shakiba Moghadam’s letter in the November issue (‘Female boxers and mental health’) only reinforces a need to further address the stigma that shrouds mental illness in elite sport and often prevents athletes from getting the professional help they may need.

Although Larkin et al.’s piece touched upon the lives of elite athletes and the hardships they may encounter with respect to mental illness, the lives of many other actors involved in the arenas of elite sport went unnoticed. Coaches, medical

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personnel, staff members, referees: they all play vital roles in elite sport, yet their mental health is rarely thought of or explored. Larkin and colleagues have started a muchneeded conversation about mental health and illness in elite sport, but one that needs to go further.

I encourage readers to examine work on stress and burnout amongst elite level coaches, mental health problems amongst support staff, and abuse amongst referees. Frankly, there’s nothing wrong with our going even further and examining alcohol consumption and addictive gambling behaviours amongst fans and spectators. The list of mental health problems is long, and the actors are many.

Dealing with mental illness in elite sport is extremely challenging

mentioned in this article, however mental health literacy is not considered. This is the knowledge and beliefs about mental health that aid the recognition, management and prevention of mental health disorders. Mental health literacy components consider knowledge of help-seeking options and treatments available, as well as knowledge of self-help strategies. Training programmes improving mental health literacy have been shown to increase knowledge of mental disorders, help-seeking behaviour, and confidence and empowerment in providing support to others. Good mental health literacy facilitates positive help-seeking behaviours by identifying early signs of mental disorders, and reduces stigma.

Perhaps by increasing the mental health literacy of elite athletes and coaches, as well as support staff such as sport psychologists, we could reduce stigma, increase help-seeking and adherence to treatment, facilitating the development of positive mental health and wellbeing of our athletes.

Melissa Coyle Faculty of Sport, Health & Wellbeing Plymouth Marjon University Getty Images

I want to congratulate Derek Larkin and colleagues for raising awareness of mental health in elite sport (‘When winners need help’, August 2017). They highlight a range of complex issues, such as pressure, expectation to perform and succeed, and career termination, all of which can impact upon an individual’s mental health.

Research in mental health in elite athletes is growing, yet it is still in its infancy; researchers so far have considered the benefits of sports participation on mental health and the prevalence rates of mental health amongst athletes. One question to consider: Are we putting elite performance before the health of our athletes?

One of the key points the article identifies is the specific social pressures elite athletes are exposed to. In a 2017 article in Psychology of Sport and Exercise I co-authored, we considered the particular social context elite divers are exposed to and how they conceptualise and perceive mental health. Risk factors and unique stressors found within diving and its environment in relation to the possible development of negative mental health were body image, high risk of injury, and pressure to perform at the elite level. There were some perceptions of putting elite performance above the health and mental wellbeing of the divers.

Larkin et al. prompt us to consider whether it possible to protect elite athletes from ‘undue risk’. Or is it a case of increasing athletes’ awareness of mental health disorders and effectively supporting them through the help-seeking process? Knowledge is key here. Lack of mental health knowledge generates challenges to obtaining mental health care and possible underreporting of prevalence rates of mental health disorders. Health literacy is briefly

and creating supportive and inclusive environments where people will feel they are able to disclose their problems without shame and seek support will be a monumental task. We’re dealing with a complex environment where we need to work to shift people’s attitudes about mental illness. In order to help make that happen, we need to recognise that in the world of elite sport, everyone’s mental health matters and needs to be discussed, from fans to athletes and everyone in between.

Paul Gorczynski Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth

10/11/2017 14:51

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Car-dependency – built in to the system?

What the authors Stephen Skippon and Nick Reed (‘The future of transport?’, August 2017) may be referring to in the context of machine learning is supervised machine learning. The question of who will do the supervising or, more pertinently, when will it stop, may be added to Dr Lindsay’s ‘Driverless vehicle problems’ (Letters, October 2017).

In addition, to obtain competitive advantage, car manufacturers have not been blameless in the past and have been discovered gaming the system.

When Dr Skippon and Dr Reed write of the huge costs, for society, of driving, including deaths, there is a temptation to think that autonomous vehicles (AVs) will make everything right. However, we will still need roads to be built and maintained, new power stations to generate energy, raw materials extracted from the earth (perhaps from ocean depths), and some of the materials

required are rare.

We have happily colluded with industry and commerce to transform a simple means of transport into a technically sophisticated, highspeed, air-conditioned safety cage, and in the process precipitated great changes, some good, some bad.

There is no reason to believe that the forces that delivered our cardependent society will not equally apply to AVs and perpetuate a system that may not be sustainable.

Maybe this is a good time to take stock, especially since the future seems to promise radical changes in work. Schools and hospitals have been closed, retail moved to outof-town shopping centres, factories built in industrial zones, and so on; in other words, car dependency has been built in to our way of life, and change, if we want it, will require the cooperation of many disciplines.

David Brew Lisburn

Hot topics: We want to better reflect and promote debate in psychology.

For more on how we’re looking to evolve, follow us on Twitter @psychmag and also see www.thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/hot-topics-marvellous-mundane.

For a specific topic we’re keen to explore, see www.thepsychologist.bps.org. uk/how-can-european-psychology-thrive-beyond-brexit Deadline for letters for the January print edition is Friday 24 November 2017.

Email letters to psychologist@bps.org.uk with the subject ‘Letter to the editor’.

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president’s letter As the end of 2017 approaches, it seems fitting to look back over a year that, for our Society, has seen a number of important events and initiatives.

On the policy front we have: launched our new impact statement, followed up by our core policy objectives, in particular the focus on prevention; focused our work on psychological support for children and young people; launched a report on psychology and work; engaged policy and communications consultants at Westminster; and established an All Party Parliamentary Group for Psychology.

We have held events and organised symposia both here and at the European Congress of Psychology, which have emphasised good science and scientific integrity. We have launched new Practice Guidelines that provide a set of shared guidelines for practice for all applied psychologists.

Our Declaration on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion has laid the foundations for a Society that is open and welcoming to all. We have collaborated with European and international colleagues, and are proud to be hosting 2018’s European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations’ European Semester.

Our directors and staff teams have worked hard to deliver the infrastructure, such as conferences and events, qualifications and standards, communications and web, facilities management, and meeting support, without which none of this would happen.

Within the Society, we have encountered some big challenges along the way, and we know we can do a lot more to deliver the impact and benefit our members want to see. We have developed proposals for our Structural Review and held a series of roadshows to garner member feedback, outlined our proposal for a Senate at the General Assembly of our Representative Council and tested the debating model. We have begun a programme of organisational culture change across the Society.

Our Senior Management Team are making this visible to you, and you will notice a real difference.

The process of appointment of our new Chief Executive is in full swing. It’s a significant leadership role, to embed a culture of continuous improvement and high performance, play a key ambassadorial role both nationally and internationally maximising impact and influence, develop relationships with key stakeholders, and be focused on our membership.

Our Society has much to do and much to be proud of. I wish you a joyful and relaxing festive season.

Nicola Gale is President of the British Psychological Society. Contact her at PresidentsOffice@bps.org.uk

10/11/2017 14:51

Child victims of war and disaster W

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hen war erupts and disasters hit communities, children and young people are often deeply vulnerable. They can become displaced, and in the chaos many are subject to horrific abuse – even by some who are sent to help them. The Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society brought together aid workers, a lawyer and NGO-founder, and psychologists at a London conference to better understand how we can help to protect some of the most vulnerable children in the world.

Céline Bardet, who has worked as a war crimes lawyer in Bosnia and for the UN, has set up We Are Not Weapons of War – the first NGO dedicated to tackling sexual crimes and violence during conflicts. While there have been few comprehensive studies on the issue, we know that sexual violence affects girls and boys. Bardet said using rape and sexual violence was a cheap, silent tool that affected whole communities and families with the trauma and stigma it brings. It is only in recent times, however, that rape has been taken into consideration as a war crime and as an element of genocide.

Sexual violence against men and boys during conflicts is an under-explored area, given the stigma that comes with attacks. Director of the All Survivors Project, Charu Hogg, has been researching sexual violence against men and boys in conflict to better understand and define an often unspoken crime. The project, based in the UCLA School of Law, has carried out research projects

in Sri Lanka and Bosnia and Herzegovina to help build understanding of the prevalence and typologies of these crimes and responses to them.

Hogg said there were key times when boys were particularly vulnerable to sexual violence during conflict.

When men and boys, particularly boys aged between 12 and 15, are detained during conflict they are particularly at risk. Young boys may also be recruited for sexual slavery, for example by ISIS and in Afghanistan. Other vulnerable times are in the midst of ground hostilities and armed attacks. Boys, who are often encouraged to escape alone from war zones, are also vulnerable when fleeing the aftermath of violence and conflict. While stigma and shame affect all genders when reporting sexual violence, Hogg said that its effects on men and boys’ feelings of masculinity adds another level of complexity.

Dr Noreen Tehrani, Chair of the Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Section, has worked alongside Save the Children to find out what it takes to work in war zones and major disaster areas. She screened 240 staff and found extremely high levels of PTSD, burnout and compassion fatigue, but also very high levels of compassion satisfaction, or what people gained from the job.

Those who coped best with the extraordinary demands of humanitarian work felt their jobs were meaningful, important and mattered to them, and they understood that their role was part of a bigger picture of helping people. Those who had appropriate resources

13/11/2017 11:20

the psychologist december 2017 news

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This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to a man who brought the ‘nudge’ into popular parlance and bridged the gap between psychology and the economy. Behavioural economist Professor Richard Thaler (University of Chicago) dubbed the ‘father of behavioural economics’ has spent his career encouraging economists to accept that humans are irrational – but predictably so.

Also author of two bestselling books, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics and Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness, Thaler has challenged the standard economic assumption that people operating within the economy are rational and selfish. As he told National Public Radio last year, many economic models assume people are rational, unemotional and self-controlled, but people behave in ways that defy economic logic; however, there are patterns to their irrationality: ‘I believe that for the last 50 or 60 years, economists have devoted themselves to studying fictional creatures… They might as well be studying unicorns.’

Thaler has helped explain, through theories of limited rationality, how people simplify financial decision-making by creating separate accounts in their minds, focusing on the narrow impact of each individual decision rather than its overall effect.

He has also shown that our human aversion to loss means people value the same item more highly when they own it compared to when they don’t – a phenomenon called the endowment effect.

His theoretical and experimental

Illustration: Niklas Elmehed.

Copyright: Nobel Media AB 2017

Getty Images

and capacity also showed more resilience in these roles. Tehrani said screening was extremely important for staff, and organisations such as Save the Children should consider ways to make its employees aware of trauma and secondary trauma, finding ways to enhance their resilience.

Save the Children’s Director of Child Safeguarding Steve Reeves works to protect those in the charity’s programmes, both in the UK and overseas. He said safeguarding within large organisations spread across the globe was a huge challenge; and given inadequate legislation and weak child protection in many countries, rates of abuse by staff at present are also likely to be underestimated. Save the Children has carried out research in areas where emergencies have happened, speaking to its own staff, those in other NGOs, community groups, parents and children. Some spoke of being threatened by abusers, with one saying an abusive staff member had threatened to remove an NGO’s support if they reported him. One 11-year-old girl in the Middle East, when asked what she would do if something bad happened, said she would tell no one or her parents would have her killed.

Reeves said organisations must realise that these abuses are underreported, and that they need to create better systems for children and families to report crimes by aid agencies in places where traditional ways of reporting aren’t trusted. er

A Nobel nudge

research on fairness has also been influential. Thaler showed how consumers’ fairness concerns may stop firms from raising prices in periods of high demand, but not in times of rising costs. He and his colleagues devised the dictator game, an experimental tool that has been used in numerous studies to measure attitudes to fairness in different groups of people around the world.

Thaler has also shed new light on self-control – or our lack of it.

He showed how to analyse selfcontrol problems using a plannerdoer model, similar to the frameworks psychologists and neuroscientists use to describe the internal tension between long-term planning and short-term doing.

Giving in to temptation in the short term is one of the reasons our longterm goals fail; however, Thaler has also shown in his applied work that nudge techniques can improve selfcontrol in situations where we plan for the long term.

And how is Thaler planning to spend the nine million Swedish kronor prize money? ‘As irrationally as possible,’ he said. er

News online: Find more news at www.thepsychologist.org.uk/reports, including: Professor Gail Kinman with a report from a joint event by the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology and the Society of Occupational Medicine; and a preview of the Society’s Psychology4Students and Psychology4Graduates events. For much more of the latest peer-reviewed research, digested, see www.bps.org.uk/digest Do you have a potential news story? Email us on psychologist@bps.org.uk or tweet @psychmag.

13/11/2017 11:20

Turing Fellowships for psychologists In a wonderful collision of the old and new a cognitive psychologist will use machine-learning techniques to trace psychological traits through history. Professor Thomas Hills (University of Warwick) has recently been elected a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute where he will explore how generations of people thought and felt.

Founded in 2015 and based in the British Library, the Alan Turing Institute brings together data scientists from all fields to tackle challenges ranging from engineering, high-performance computing and cyber-security to smart cities, health, the economy and data ethics. Its Fellows are encouraged to work collaboratively and across disciplines, and Hills said his election to the Institute would give him academic freedom to explore an unusual area.

‘My work with the institute

Professor Thomas Hills combines humanities, economics, history, psychology and statistics to create a historical view of psychological patterns over the last 200 years. It’s very exploratory, but the fellowship gives one a sense of academic and intellectual freedom

to explore some pretty big ideas with the other Turing Fellows.’

Hills’s methods combine machine learning with psychological theories as well as economic theories and econometrics. ‘My short-term goals are to ask what historical patterns we can make sense of as cognitive psychologists. That could be about anything – we’ve got projects on risk, sex, death and money, and we’re trying to understand how people thought about these things in a given historical time. But the longer-term goal here is asking whether we can integrate these ideas together in ways that will give us a more coherent sense of what it was like to be a person in a particular time. What influenced the way people felt, such as government policies, epidemics, or economic production, and how did this in turn lead to different outcomes in the future, such as war

‘The crisis is here, the crisis is now’ A letter to The Independent imploring the government to address the crisis in mental health services has been signed on behalf of the British Psychological Society by President Nicola Gale. Also signed by 11 other mental health organisations, including the UK Council for Psychotherapy and Young Mind, the letter calls on the government to increase investment in mental health services and ring-fence mental health funding ahead of the autumn budget.

The letter, which also emphasises the importance of investment in mental illness prevention, says that

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a majority of children and adults with mental health problems will not receive the help they need if the status quo remains. It decries the government’s targets for mental healthcare as ‘unambitious’ – by 2020 it is aiming for 25 per cent of adults and 35 per cent of children to have access to talking therapies.

While the government has repeated its pledge of an extra £1 billion funding for mental health services each year the letter’s authors state this amount falls short of what is needed. Worryingly the letter also states that Freedom of Information requests have revealed more than half of Clinical Commissioning Groups are planning to reduce the amount spent on mental health. It reads: ‘We cannot go on with such unambitious targets, or simply accept a situation where promises of extra funding don’t actually materialise at the front line. If the Government is actually to deliver parity of esteem, the Chancellor needs to invest in and ring-fence the mental health budget to ensure any money promised genuinely reaches those it is intended to help. The crisis is here, the crisis is now.’

The Independent published the following response to the letter from the Department of Health: ‘We are investing more in mental health than ever before – with spending at a record £11.6bn this year… The benefits of record funding can already be seen in areas such as mental health support in A&E, 24/7 crisis services and perinatal, and this trend is set to continue thanks to investment of a further £1bn by 2020/21.’

13/11/2017 11:20

the psychologist december 2017 news

Pretending to be Batman

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Do homework or reach over there for the iPad and dive into a world of games? It’s the ever-present dilemma facing young children today. Here’s a simple technique that could tip the balance a little in favour of the homework. Psychologists have reported in Child Development that when four- to six-year-olds pretended to be Batman while they were doing a boring but important task, it helped them to resist distraction and stay more focused.

Rachel White and her colleagues, including Angela Duckworth (famous for her work on ‘grit’) recruited 180 kids and had them take some basic psych tests assessing their mental control, memory and empathy.

Next the researchers asked them to complete a boring, slow but supposedly important 10-minute computer task. The children were encouraged to stay on task, but they were told they could take a break whenever they wanted and go play a game on a nearby iPad. Some of the children were assigned to a ‘self-immersed condition’, akin to a control group, and before and during the task were told to reflect on how they were doing, asking themselves ‘Am I working hard?’. Other children were asked to reflect from a third-person perspective, asking themselves ‘Is [insert child’s name] working hard?’.

Finally, the rest of the kids were asked to imagine they were either Batman, Bob the Builder, Rapunzel or Dora the Explorer and to ask themselves ‘Is Batman [etc.] working hard?’. Children in this last condition were given a relevant prop to help, such as Batman’s cape.

Across age groups, and apparently unrelated to their personal scores on mental control, memory or empathy, those in the Batman condition spent the most time on task (about 55 per cent for the six-year-olds; about 32 per cent for the four-year-olds). The children in the self-immersed condition spent the least time on task (about 35 per cent of the time for the sixyear-olds; just over 20 per cent for

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and changes in ingroup/outgroup thinking.’

Hills has previously explored the evolution of American English using similar techniques to analyse all kinds of texts, including presidential speeches, newspapers and magazines. Describing this work, he said: ‘You can look at the history of American English and quantify it in relationship to how concrete the language is that people were using. That allows you to see how American English has changed dramatically over the last 200 years and has become a much more concrete language where people are talking about real, tangible stuff. The language has changed in all kinds of ways, and you can easily see it if you read something written by Henry James or Hawthorne. It’s a very different type of writing.’

Hills and his team are working towards validating their models and algorithms, using an index of subjective wellbeing created in an earlier project: ‘From the early 1970s there’s been the Eurobarometer, an indicator of people’s subjective wellbeing in different nations, so we can test that against our index. You can also say, OK, it would be really odd if people had really positive feelings during the world wars and you’d question your index, but in fact the lowest points and most dramatic changes in our index happen in world wars. In the 1920s, sure enough, you can see people’s subjective wellbeing by our index is extremely high, but of course this immediately tanks right after the Great Depression starts.

It makes sense by the numbers and it makes sense intuitively, so what can we do next? We can ask does it correlate with GDP or longevity or democratisation.’

Professor Zoe Kourtzi, Chair of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge, is another of this year’s new Turing Fellows.

She is working to develop predictive models of individual health based on machine-learning approaches that use multivariate and longitudinal studies. er

the four-year-olds) and those in the third-person condition performed in between.

White and her team think pretending to be a popular fictional character works at least partly because it creates a feeling of self-distance from the task, which is known to help people resist immediate distractions and prioritise longer-term goals. The trouble is, there are so many other aspects to the Batman condition that could have led to its apparent benefits – perhaps it simply made the boring task more fun, or maybe the children identified with their fictional character and assumed some of his or her qualities.

‘Regardless of the origins of the benefits [of the Batman condition] seen here, it is important to note that pretending to be another character had large effects on children’s perseverance,’ the researchers said.

They note that the great American psychologist William James observed how ‘voluntarily bringing back the wandering attention over and over again is the very root of judgment, character and will’, but that he also lamented how difficult it is to teach this life skill. The researchers concluded that ‘perseverance can be taught through role play, a skill that is accessible to even very young children’. Adults too may be wondering if this is something they could try – at the very least it could provide an excuse for wearing a Batman cape to the office.

Dr Christian Jarrett for the Research Digest… See tinyurl.com/yclvm638

13/11/2017 11:20

Eliminating the false divide

Mark Brown

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As a profession, psychologists have gone through some polarising experiences of late. One could be forgiven for observing that pockets of disharmony exist despite the challenges; however, this September conference, ‘Creativity in co-production’ at the King’s Centre in Norwich, was not one of these.

Organised by the British Psychological Society’s Division of Clinical Psychology, this conference showcased practical projects co-produced by psychologists and ‘experts by experience’; a distinction that was soon to be dispensed with by compère Mark Brown (mental health activist and founder of the e-magazine 1:4). This is the first event of its kind within the East of England Branch of the Division of Clinical Psychology, and it was clear from the outset that any preconceptions regarding those who identified themselves as academics and practitioners, and those with lived experience, were going to be tested.

In his opening speech, Brown set the tone by observing that none of us is immune to mental distress. This event was to be about eliminating the false divide between experts by training and experts by experience and would emphasise the collaborative nature of ‘mental health stuff’. It offered no illusions as to the ‘romantic’ nature of co-production, however: it is hard and messy work, and is by no means a panacea for all ills in a joint health and social care agenda.

Co-production rejects the notion that one party can make all the important decisions on behalf of another.

Enlightenment comes with the realisation that whatever your acquired expertise may be, professionally or experientially, you become increasingly aware of how much you don’t know.

This was beautifully illustrated by Debbie Debbage and Wendy Franks’ work on ‘Pregnant women’s mental health’, through which Wendy gained her PhD. ‘Don’t ever do a PhD,’ she counselled, ‘it’s horrible.’ The duo’s refreshingly frank account of what they had learned from the co-production about each other, and the process itself, rather than from their research results, was, as Debbie quipped about herself, ‘once heard, never forgotten’. Her brief chronicle of her own postnatal depression and her confession that she ‘didn’t understand a word Wendy said at first’, were at times no less poignant than Wendy’s description of her struggles as a psychologist to obtain funding for participatory research.

I guess that’s the point. Whether it’s about overcoming the hurdles of doing research and hearing the raw stories, or about struggling to relate to your newborn child,

these are all formative experiences, and any attempt to differentiate between the person who is being paid and one who isn’t fails to take into account that great leveller – the emotional experience of it all.

Mark Brown cautioned, however, against succumbing to the ‘Mills and Boon’ romance of it all and losing sight of the obstacles to co-production, of which there are many.

In Nick Yeates and Katherine Gilmartin’s presentation on ‘Finding a voice’, the power differential was handled sensitively and reflectively by Nick, who, faced with an illustration of a disembodied angry-looking washing machine about to impale the head of a distraught depiction of Katherine on screen, declared, ‘I know my wife feels like this when she has to do four loads of washing a day.’ You really did get the impression that he cared about and understood the difference between his position and hers. And co-production is different from the therapist–patient relationship, yet Katherine’s comment that finally getting to exhibit her work made her realise that she was ‘moving from one scary edge to another’ gave one the impression that she might also have been talking about going into therapy.

The thorny issue of who owns the co-production process was explored by Sarah Hand, Paul Fisher, Alasdair Munro and Michael Elliot (in the absence of Berris Ripley) in their talk on ‘The art of recovery’.

Alasdair recounted how he got through the initial discomfort raised by the idea that the project was not just there to tick boxes about professional development, and was inspired by the local Headway charity producing and displaying on its walls an array of art that said so much about the experience of its clients. He set up the art display project at the Colman Hospital in Norwich to decorate the sterile walls of the centre, determined that this would not involve a single piece of Blu Tack but be a proud and professionally framed venture. As Sarah commented, ‘It focuses and broadens [the experience] at the same time.’

This initiative has given rise to further projects in Norwich city centre, one of which is the planned UEA sculpture. Not all projects need huge funding: Mairi Emerson-Smith, for example, operating within the paediatric health setting in South Essex, has developed an interactive diabetes platform on Facebook in order to reach as many young people as possible.

The morning session concluded with a contribution by creative artist and rapper MC Will (Will Randall), who drew on his own personal journey for a rap entitled ‘Keep Calm and Talk About It’.

I was struck not only by the determination of the professionals (who clearly had issues of organisational accountability to contend with) but also by the dogged commitment of the experts by experience to see those professionals through projects without allowing them to give up. This event showcased successful projects that can be openly discussed and out of which real friendships

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the psychologist december 2017 news

have been forged. Many projects, by contrast, fall by the wayside because at some point the participants come to the realisation that ‘you can’t get there from here’ and give up, exasperated perhaps by rules and regulations that were originally created with the intent of precluding potential harm.

As Peter Cairns said, to some extent you have to ‘jump in [to co-production], not knowing what will happen’. A collaboration of his in Great Yarmouth highlighted how many NHS and voluntary sector staff are running on empty when trying to address complex needs of others.

Following lunch, the afternoon session offered participants the choice between five workshops covering different aspects of the co-creation process. In Workshop 1, Esmee Henstra and Rebecca Rollinson demonstrated how journalling can be used to explore some core themes around co-production. Workshop 2, delivered by Richard Evans and Oz Osbourne, explored how shared interests as well as hidden talents can be discovered

through developing the skill of face-to-face conversation.

Verity Smith and Anastacia Tohill, who led Workshop 3, used stop-motion animation to explore approaches to meaningful co-production. Workshop 4, led by Laura Marrows and Lin Stevenson, focused on collaboration, communication, creativity and co-production through the creation of paper sculptures. Meanwhile in Workshop 5, rapper MC Will and Dr Danny Taggart explored creative collaboration through hip-hop.

The audience seemed deeply involved in the morning and afternoon presentations, not only reflecting on the relationships around co-production but also being unafraid to confront how it can all go wrong. Someone even put their hand up and asked, ‘Why do it, then?’ From the front of the room came the answer: ‘It’s a long game, but when you win it, it’s amazing.’

Danny Taggart, from the University of Essex, summed it up like this: ‘Co-production is a dynamic, relational way of working that enhances the quality of services and our lives. We should not think that it is a luxurious extra to be “added on” to existing provision. In times of economic austerity and cuts to welfare budgets and mental health services it is essential that we form coalitions to highlight the needs of marginalised groups in our society. Coproduction seen this way is a key bond between public services and the people we are paid to serve and, for the most disadvantaged of us, an important lifeline in a time of increasing isolation.’

Dr Jo Wilson works for Essex Partnership University NHS Trust

Interdisciplinary funding opportunity Interdisciplinary research teams are being called on to apply for part of a £50 million fund to explore the prevention of non-communicable diseases. The UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP), comprising the Medical Research Council, the NHS, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Cancer Research UK and others, aims to create new approaches to tackling such diseases, improving the health of the population as a whole and reducing health inequality.

The UKPRP presents itself as a new model of public health funding that will encourage interdisciplinary research teams to develop, implement and evaluate these preventative approaches. It states that any funded research should be co-produced with policy-makers, practitioners, health providers, the third sector and the public. It is looking for projects that will tackle so-called ‘upstream’ determinants of non-communicable diseases, including the built and natural environment, employment, education, welfare, transport, health and social care, and local and central government policies. The partnership will cover physical health as well as mental health and wellbeing.

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Initially the UKPRP will fund two types of project – consortium and network awards. The consortium awards will provide £4 to £7 million for five years for novel groups of partners – including businesses where appropriate.

The groups should represent a range of academic disciplines and undertake interdisciplinary research addressing a specific challenge in the primary prevention of non-communicable diseases. They should also involve users (i.e. policy-makers, practitioners and the public) in their research strategies. The UKPRP said: ‘The thinking behind consortia is that drawing together teams of experts from different disciplines and sectors, and including users, should enable researchers to capitalise on a range of expertise to develop novel research into high-quality interventions that can deliver change at a population level.’ Network awards will provide £100,000 a year for up to four years to successful groups. Networks will consist of a community of researchers and users addressing a broad prevention research challenge. er To apply for funding see tinyurl.com/yau3smxa.

Applications close on 18 January 2018 at 4pm.

13/11/2017 11:20

Research digest

The women who made psychology

Witnessing an act of rudeness in the morning can darken your experience of the rest of the day. Participants who watched a video in the morning that depicted an act of incivility tended to report seeing more rudeness at work that day, and their own work performance also suffered. People with less confidence seemed especially sensitive to these effects.

(Journal of Applied Psychology) We have poor ‘meta-cognitive awareness’ of shifts in our own beliefs, according to a study of students’ beliefs about smacking. Students who read a text that contradicted their original position tended to change their beliefs in the direction of the text, but they seemed largely oblivious to the change. Asked to recall their original position, their memory of it was closer to their new position than their original take.

(Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology) Instead of trying to avoid the placebo effect, seeing it as a ‘nuisance variable with mysterious impact’ we should instead find ways to amplify its benefits, according to researchers at Stanford University. They found that the placebo effect (in this case, the beneficial effects of an inert cream on an allergic reaction) was greater when expectations were raised by a female physician who appeared likeable and competent, as opposed to cold and incompetent (Health Psychology)

By Dr Christian Jarrett. These studies were covered, along with many more, by him, Dr Alex Fradera and Emma Young on our Research Digest at www.bps.org.uk/digest 18

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Sophie Bryant

Beatrice Edgell

Women make up a majority of members of the British Psychological Society (BPS), women have been instrumental in shaping what psychology is today, and women may be the face of the subject for many decades to come. Yet inequality remains steadfast. The History of Psychology Centre’s seventh annual Stories of Psychology event traced the history of women within psychology and celebrated 30 years of the Psychology of Women Section.

Sophie Bryant, Beatrice Edgell, Alice Woods, Caroline Graveson, Mary Smith, Nina Taylor, May Smith, Helen Verrall, Nellie Carey, Jessie Murray, Julia Turner, Jane Reaney, Laura Brackenbury, Ida Saxby, Susan Isaacs and Victoria Hazlitt – these were the first female members of the BPS. The Society, founded in 1901, was unusual for a scientific society in the early 20th century in that it allowed women to join. Emerita Professor Elizabeth Valentine (Royal Holloway, University of London) told a tale of the era using the experiences of these first 16 members all elected between 1901 and 1918.

Valentine said these women had strategies for dealing with the discrimination and segregation of the time.

Some were members of suffragist movements, many gained an extraordinary number of qualifications, described as ‘quiet but deliberate overqualification’, which was often accompanied by quiet modesty. In this era women had to be not just better than men, but truly outstanding, to overcome the many societal barriers that stood in their way.

Their research, and many of them actively published papers, was in a diverse array of areas, from research methods and memory to vision, and industrial and developmental psychology. Around half achieved doctorates later in their careers.

Despite the many barriers these women persisted, and the pioneers in the field were not restricted to the more ‘feminine’ parts of psychology.

Professor Jan Burns (Canterbury Christ Church University) traced the fascinating history of the Society’s Psychology of Women Section.

Started by a group of passionate and concerned feminist psychologists in 1987, the Section now has one of the largest memberships in the Society. Burns, one of its founders, spoke of the frustration of getting the group off the ground, with many Society members concerned by its feminist aims.

Since that time the group has continued to flourish and is proposing a name change to the Psychology of Women and Equalities Section to better represent its political position and its move to face towards women outside academia, to single mothers, minority ethnic groups and those living in poverty. Burns said inequality remains the world’s biggest issue, and within academia there is still a pay gap, and only a small minority of women who get the top jobs in the field.

Professor Katherine Johnson later posed questions to psychotherapist, writer and social critic Susie Orbach, who set up the Women’s Therapy Centre in 1976 New York alongside her friend Luise Eichenbaum, and wrote Fat is a Feminist Issue. She spoke first about setting up the centre and how it acted as a cross-cultural, cross-ethnicity place for women to be listened to and talk. However, Orbach said, we are in much more trouble now in terms of equality. Regarding body image, she said it was normalised for people to be troubled by their bodies, and many take for granted that they will be troubled by them for life. She said it was vital for us to realise how precious human beings are, and how early damage can be done to people. Another important area of focus, Orbach said, was on how we can learn to accept others without resorting to fundamentalist modes of thought out of fear. er

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the psychologist december 2017 news

Check the stereotypes out Stereotype threat is one of those social psychology concepts that has managed to break out of the academic world and into everyday conversation: the idea that a fear of conforming to stereotypes – for example, that girls struggle at maths – can make those stereotypes self-fulfilling, thanks to the adverse effect of anxiety and excessive self-consciousness on performance.

A recent review suggested that stereotype threat has a robust but small- to medium-sized effect on performance, but a meta-analysis suggests that publication bias may be a problem in this literature, inflating the apparent size of the effect. Also, the majority of the work has been done in laboratory conditions, which may not reflect what happens in the wider world. So when a field study comes along, it’s worth paying attention to, and a paper published as a pre-print at PsyArXiv from Tom Stafford at the University of Sheffield looks at a domain involving high pressure, clear success criteria, and a presupposition that’s it’s more a guy thing: chess.

The handy thing about chess is that we have so much solid data: vast databases of matches, and effective ranking systems that allow accurate predictions of who is likely to win upcoming matches. To date, lab-based studies have suggested that women playing chess do suffer from stereotype threat, so Stafford’s question is: What does that look like in real play?

To find out, he explored a dataset of youngish (average age 32) players ranked officially by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, including 150,000 men and 16,000 women, and the outcomes of over five million games.

The average man had a higher ranking – 2070 versus 1978 – meaning plenty of the games would put the women players in a challenging situation, which is where stereotype threat is most likely to manifest. And yet the data showed that whether playing a stronger, matched or weaker player, women performed better when playing a man than they did a woman. In other words, the data revealed exactly the opposite pattern of performance to that predicted by the concept of stereotype threat.

Stafford looked closer at the data, to see whether the expected threat effect emerged under certain conditions, such as among younger and less experienced players; for older players who conceivably grew up around more sexist assumptions; or for players from national leagues where women are even more in the minority. Nothing changed the pattern: women perform better when playing men.

Nor was there evidence that stereotype threat triggered women to drop the ball on matches they were well placed to win. Looking at matches where one player had a rating 500 or more points above the other, Stafford found that female favourites were upset by men in 3.5 per cent of cases, but female underdogs beat the male favourite even more often, in 3.7 per cent of cases.

Stafford notes that another factor that increases the likelihood of stereotype effect is when the task attempted is unfamiliar, and this isn’t the case here: the women

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players had years of experience. Still, the data didn’t merely show no effect, but a reversed one, so there seems to be some sort of gender-related psychological process exerting an effect. Perhaps in domains where women are skilled and self-confident, anticipating a stereotyperelated challenge actually sharpens their focus to buckle down. Or, says Stafford, maybe it’s an issue of male under-performance, whether ‘male underestimation of female opponents, misplaced chivalry, or “choking” due the ego-threat of being beaten by a women’.

This isn’t the first field investigation of stereotype threat to show different effects from laboratory studies.

For example, Thomas Wei’s investigation of children’s maths performance found that gender primes before the task actually led girls to do better than normal. Findings like these don’t prove that stereotype threat is nonexistent in every situation, but they do suggest it is not as ubiquitous or straightforward as some have claimed.

Just as with many phenomena in our rich, complex real world, gendered assumptions about performance may not have the same influence in every situation.

Dr Alex Fradera for the Research Digest www.bps.org.uk/digest Read the article: tinyurl.com/y93vtjvd

13/11/2017 11:20

Theresa Gannon ‘There was no standardised treatment for people who set deliberate fires’ Professor Theresa Gannon (University of Kent) on her journey to impact.

As told to Ella Rhodes

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I got into psychology through chance really. I applied to university for English, teacher training, law, and psychology because that’s what all my A-levels were in and I couldn’t choose which to do. When I went to Birmingham University it looked amazing and, I just thought, ‘Yeah, okay, I’ll do psychology.’ That was when things really kicked off for me.

In my third year I had a lecture on paedophilia and cognitive distortions. I’d never ever thought about amalgamating psychology with forensic issues. I’d never thought about how you could use psychology to understand or rehabilitate people who had offended sexually, and that was it for me.

I’ve always liked things that were a bit off the beaten track and not the norm – it’s quite surprising for some people, but I just find it fascinating. I applied to do a PhD at the University of Sussex on the cognitive distortions of people who have molested children. My first experience of research wasn’t very positive because unfortunately my supervisor left for health reasons and I didn’t get allocated a forensic supervisor. I was really left to do my own thing and ended up going round prisons without any supervision or anyone to guide me, so I had to navigate the process myself.

It was a very difficult experience – I remember my first interview with someone who had sexually offended against children and really not knowing how to deal with some of the things that he was saying.

I just didn’t have someone to say, ‘Watch out for this, make sure you do this, or when you’re working with forensic populations you should think about this’, so I was really in the dark. In prisons nothing’s controlled, everything’s loud, and prisoners ask all sorts of questions that back then I didn’t feel equipped to deal with.

I ended up applying for a postdoc in New Zealand before I finished my PhD in the area of sexual offending. I moved out there and finished my PhD and was fortunate enough to work with Tony Ward, who

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the psychologist december 2017 impact

On the basis of those findings we set about is a leading academic in sexual offending. He was a fantastic mentor, and he taught me a lot about creating developing a theory of deliberate firesetting for adults.

At that time there were only two theories on firesetting: something new when you see an opportunity. He’s a one was looking at adolescents and another looked at creative person and has developed a lot of theories in adults but was based only on the literature for males sexual offending. I learned a lot under his mentorship. and didn’t really look at mental health problems. It I worked with him for a few years, then came back to also assumed everyone who sets a fire has to have a the UK with quite a lot of newfound confidence about how to look for gaps in the literature and how to create fire interest, but we knew clinically that wasn’t the case. Sometimes you’ll get someone who comes into something new. I also had a lot of knowledge about hospital or prison, they’ve misused fire but they’re not sexual offending more broadly. particularly interested in it, they’re just interested in it After beginning work at the University of Kent, as a tool.

I gained my practitioner status so began working with With colleagues we looked at all the literature forensic populations conducting risk assessments and on firesetting with some of the early results of the treatment within sexual offending. I went to see a man research and developed a new comprehensive theory in the hospital where I was working and was asked of firesetting based on the male and female firesetting to do an assessment on his sexual offending. It was literatures. We used all the strengths of the previous a really straightforward case; I gave him a treatment theories, and all the contemporary research evidence plan, and then I went and looked at his case in more and clinical evidence and produced the M-TTAF detail. I walked away quite troubled because he had a (Multi-Trajectory Theory of Adult Firesetting). Based lot of arson in his history. When I looked more closely, on that, and a few other studies, I realised no one had treated him I then developed a standardised for any of the arson. So I decided to “We found people treatment programme for have a look at the reoffending rates firesetters. I wanted to test whether of people who commit arson and who had set a fire had it could be effective in reducing looked at whether there were any specific psychological those factors that we found to be treatment programmes for it. I’m characteristics” related to firesetting. using the legal term arson here, but I set about developing the typically people in my field use the treatment programme, I developed term deliberate firesetting. one with my colleague Lona Lockerbie in the hospital When I looked at it, the reoffending rates for setting and one by myself in the prison setting; they’re someone who commits arson were the same as those essentially sister programmes. We piloted them in the for sexual offenders—around 16 per cent—but there mental health and prison setting pretty much alongside was no standardised treatment for people who set each other. The ESRC funded the prison evaluation, deliberate fires. So I came away from that situation and we transferred prisoners who had set deliberate thinking something should really be done on this. fires into HMP Swaleside and HMP Elmley, gave them I conducted a review on the literature looking at this programme, which was added as part of their the characteristics of people who have set deliberate sentence plan, and compared these men to firesetters in fires. I went away and published the review and other parts of the country where the treatment wasn’t thought I should apply for a grant to really look at available. We gave them questionnaires at the start and the characteristics of these people. I wrote a funding end of the programme then three to four months after. bid for the ESRC to look into whether we could What we were looking at was fire interest variables, distinguish these people from other types of offender, fire factors, anger, self-esteem, relationship issues or and whether or not they needed specialist treatment. communication problems – those things the literature I got the funding and went to the National Offender told us were going to be important for people who Management Service to ask if I could go into prisons set fires. We found the deliberate firesetters who went and do this. They were really supportive. through our programme showed significant decreases I conducted my first study with colleagues looking in their interest in serious fires and identification at men in prison who have set a fire vs. men in prison with fire as well as an increase in perceived fire-safety who have never set a fire, matching them on certain awareness. They also showed significant improvements characteristics to make sure they were comparable. on their anger regulation and their offence-supportive It was all based on self-report questionnaire measures. attitudes compared with people who never went We found people who had set a fire had specific through the programme. Those improvements were psychological characteristics, which were having an stable three to four months after the programme. interest in serious fires like house fires and big hotels, Before this treatment there were in-house identifying more with fire and seeing it as part of their programmes for people who set fires but no personality, normalising firesetting, and having much standardised treatment. The programme is CBT-based lower levels of fire safety awareness skills and selfand semi-structured with some psychotherapeutic esteem. We also found that men who had set fires had elements. The participants meet as a group along higher levels of anger rumination and provocation with a lead psychology practitioner with one or two from perceived wrongs.

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assistants, who might be multidisciplinary. We look at trying to alter the cognitions that have led to a firesetting offence and try to develop new patterns of behaviour. We look through things like relationships, social skills, healthy thinking, fire interest and safety, how to cope with an urge to fireset, and how to decrease the association between setting a fire and pleasure.

We also bring in fire safety officers, who talk about fire safety awareness. Most importantly, perhaps, we seek to change some of those key patterns of thinking that have developed over the years by getting individuals to test out their beliefs in a supportive setting. So, for example, I might be dealing with a person who has set a fire who now strongly believes they can control any fires they set. I might have a fire I’ve always liked psychology and I’ve always liked safety officer say they can’t, but the person might not research. I like to see research having an impact in believe that. So we get the person who has offended some way on people’s lives, and I think in clinicalwith fire to make predictions. We might show a video forensic psychology you can often get that from being of a front room fire and get them to predict how long a practitioner, but it’s a little bit rarer to see research it will take for the fire safety officers on the film to in action having an impact. It’s great, I felt there was a extinguish the fire. They might say two minutes. Then need there, and the feedback I’ve had affirms there was. we get them to watch the film after making those I hope other people will go off and look at this predictions and see that it actually took eight minutes. population, there are many more things to be done We also look at coping skills, for them, and you need lots of because often poor coping occurs people with different skills. I was “We look through things in the lead-up to firesetting – it’s really fortunate to have a fantastic a way of coping for many. And, team around me or none of this like relationships, social we look at all these things and would’ve happened. So often those skills, healthy thinking, how they were playing out in the teams get talked about just as ‘the fire interest and safety, lead-up to the firesetting and get team’. From the NHS and prison treatment recipients to develop a how to cope with an urge side there were so many people firesetting management plan that involved in this. Without them the to fireset, and how to outlines how their firesetting came firesetting project wouldn’t have got decrease the association off the ground. about.

At the start of the pilot many On the NHS side, people who between setting a fire of the participants were reluctant had a really important impact on and pleasure.” to do it, but we found when they making it work were Dr Lona finished the programme they Lockerbie and Dr Nichola Tyler. On were sending us letters about how the prison side of things important positive it had been for them; and even people within team members were Dr Caoilte Ó Ciardha, Dr Emma the prison were asking if we were bringing it back.

Alleyne, Dr Magali Barnoux, Helen Butler, Tamsin We have now trained around 400 people in the UK to Lovell, Aparna Kapoor, Tracey Tosevin, Harriet Danby, provide the new treatment and it’s been run in many Katarina Mozova and Elizabeth Spruin. forensic hospitals around the country now. We’ve also We’re still training people on the treatment started training professionals in Australia, America, programme, and my colleague Nichola Tyler and I have Canada, Belgium and Portugal, so they can provide been training everyone, but the demand has become this new treatment for people in their countries. That’s more than we can offer. So we’re trying to look at ways what led us to get the ESRC Impact in Society Award of developing our training so more people can get in 2016, and we made a film about the development trained efficiently. We’ve also begun using a different of the programme and our work on firesetting. Often strand of research looking at undetected firesetters when you make this type of film with offending and training the fire service on what we’ve learned populations no one wants their face shown on film. about these people. Things keep bringing me back to But actually, one of our clients who’d gone through the the topic of firesetting; one of the things I’m thinking treatment programme was so positive about it he said about now is developing a risk assessment alongside he’d be shown on film and wanted to talk about it. So the treatment package. his testimony is there on film about how he found the programme.

Professor Gannon’s work features on 24

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the British Psychological Society’s Impact Portal.

See www.bps.org.uk/impact

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NottiNgham 2018

The British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham 2–4 May

Moving Psychology Forward Confirmed Keynotes Professor John Antonakis, University of Lausanne Professor Brian Nosek, Centre for Open Science Professor Cathy Creswell, University of Reading Professor Stephen Reicher, University of St Andrews

Registration Early rates are available until 7 March 2018.

‘BPS Annual Conference is a fixture in my annual calendar. As well as topical keynotes and a wide range of papers that relate to clinical practice and teaching, there are lots of opportunities to catch up with colleagues on what is going on in the Society, and see what’s new on the exhibition stands.’

Nicola Gale, BPS President.

Follow us @BPSConferences using #bpsconf.

Credit: John Wright, johnwrightart.blogspot.co.uk

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The coddling campus Craig A. Harper believes the road to (political) hell is paved with good intentions…

Should we be allowed to express controversial or offensive ideas, even when we know that they could cause upset to some who are exposed to them?

It’s an issue of particular concern to academics and public intellectuals all around the Western world right now.

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he freedom to express controversial opinions or explore sensitive topics, such as the scientific basis of gender or the links between ideological or religious doctrines and violent extremism, has become an increasingly debated public issue. When thinking about this trend, I ask two questions: Why is this happening? and What does it tell us about our psychological development?

In this piece, I focus on how these debates about ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ opinions to express begin in academic activist movements, and are typically allowed to thrive on university campuses. In doing so, I look at how our current generation of students have been raised, and outline how a potentially fruitful new personality construct – ‘offence sensitivity’ – can help us to understand the psychological forces that are driving our increasingly polarised political landscape. Further, I examine our own practice as psychologists in fostering these ideas and allowing them to come to fruition. My overarching aim is to map some emerging trends in North American http://marcelinaamelia.com

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whose viewpoints are considered offensive or upsetting are at best asked to modify their language, or at worst prohibited from speaking at all) and ‘trigger warnings’ (where students are required to be warned about any potentially upsetting material – typically around sexual violence and mental illness – before this Defining the problem material is presented). While the enactment of trigger Commentators have been raising concerns about warnings is not in itself necessarily a bad thing (I warn potential infringements on freedom of expression for students before I show images relating to my research a number of years now. While clearly there are some or teaching on controversial topics like paedophilia, occasions where free speech is lawfully and rightfully predominantly as a way to focus their attention on curtailed under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act the topic at hand rather than on the novelty of having 1998 (e.g. the incitement of violence, or libel), the naked cartoons projected on to the screen in front of concerns raised have focused on the idea of so-called them), the argument being made is that ‘safe spaces’ go ‘politically incorrect’ topics being formally and against some of the core principles of higher education informally censored.

– openness to, and exploration of, new ideas in the There is no institutional context where this has pursuit of new and objective knowledge. been more hotly debated than in higher education.

The majority of these Spiked classifications were High-profile social media posts have drawn attention driven or in some way influenced by the ratings to controversial views expressed by several academics attributed to student unions. Let’s not pretend, though, being met by fierce opposition. In our own field, that these trends are purely student-driven. Inbar these trends have been most clearly observed in the and Lammers (2012) reported that only around 5 Canadian context. In 2015 we saw the dismissal of Dr per cent of social and personality psychologists are Kenneth Zucker from the Center for Mental Health politically conservative (both as and Addiction’s Child Youth and a broad descriptor and in relation Family Gender Identity Clinic in “…the argument being to appraisals of specific policy Toronto. By any standard Dr Zucker made is that ‘safe spaces’ positions). Noted psychologist is an international authority on the Jonathan Haidt has discussed the development of gender identity: go against some of the same concern, and his Heterodox he has authored more than 100 core principles of higher Academy, in these pages. peer-reviewed publications, edited education – openness to, Our ‘liberal lean’ is potentially the prestigious journal Archives damaging in two areas. First, as of Sexual Behavior, and headed and exploration of, new we’re reviewing others’ work we up the group responsible for ideas in the pursuit of new may intuitively appraise it more producing the ‘Gender Dysphoria’ and objective knowledge” favourably if it corresponds to entry in the DSM-5. However, his our worldview. Second, if we resistance to the ‘gender affirmative’ are speaking to students about a approach – the practice where body of research that uniformly supports a particular transgendered children are actively encouraged to political argument (e.g. that stereotype threat, rather live as their identified gender as opposed to being than personal choice, drives gender-based differences offered therapeutic input to explore the sources of in STEM subjects: Shapiro & Williams, 2012), this potential gender-based identity issues – led some to inevitably feeds into students’ perceptions about not label his practice as ‘reparative therapy’. Similarly, Dr just how the world is, but also what they should do to Jordan Peterson (University of Toronto) has also faced change it. backlash and protests at speaking events after his refusal to use gender-neutral pronouns in his classes.

A respected clinical psychologist, Dr Peterson objected to what he saw as the forced use of such terms through Historical and cultural antecedents In her 2008 book A Nation of Wimps Hara Estroff the Ontario-based Bill C-16, which expands hate crime laws to explicitly encompass gender identity and Marano begins to reveal some of the historical roots of the current campus-based striving for ‘safety’. Marano gender expression. explains how parents have, over the past 20 years, What about on our own shores? The online become more and more concerned with protecting magazine Spiked.com commissions an annual review their children from external harms. This trend is also of freedom of speech on British university campuses. discussed by Erica Burman in the latest edition of The results for 2017 should serve as a wake-up call.

Deconstructing Developmental Psychology. From my Of the 115 universities ranked, just seven were given own research, it’s clear that this shift may stem in part the green light on Spiked’s traffic light system; and from high-profile scandals involving serious (typically 73 received a red rating, meaning that they were violent and sexual) offences against children (e.g. the judged as overtly hostile to the principle of freedom Megan Kanka case in the US, and the Sarah Payne case of expression. Examples of formal policies include in the UK). those related to so-called ‘safe spaces’ (where speakers academia, and to provide some suggestions for reducing their effects before they take too firm a hold on our own practice in the UK.

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Has this approach to protecting children from external harm translated into a tendency to try to protect them from any form of (physical or psychological) discomfort? In a 2014 paper located within the sociological literature, Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning argued that young people’s emerging dependence on rules and structure (typically from parents as they grow up) as a source of certainty gives rise to a propensity to look to external agents to settle minor disputes. In this context, a sense of victimhood (as is a common theme in campus-based politics: Haidt, 2016) becomes virtuous – if you are a victim, you have a right to be protected, and your aggressor should be punished for their actions.

That being said, what is classified as ‘aggression’ is now also a topic of debate. The emergence of so-called ‘micro-aggressions’ (Sue et al., 2007) has begun to dilute what is classified under this label. Using this framework, subtle snubs, slights and insults that are perceived to implicitly communicate some degree of hostility or derogation are considered to be acts of aggression. Scott Lilienfeld’s recent review of this area of work highlights a number of shortcomings, not least the fact that perceived micro-aggressions are just that – perceived on the part of the receiver.

Add to these ideas a cultural shift that is affecting the current generation of students: the ubiquity of online social media.

With 88 per cent of young people Key sources regularly using Facebook, according to the Pew Research Center, social Bakshy, E., Messing, S. & Adamic, L.A. relationships are now increasingly (2015). Exposure to ideologically diverse being formed and maintained news and opinion on Facebook. Science, online. More specifically, around 60 348, 1130–1132. del Vicario, M., Vivaldo, G., Bessi, A. et per cent of these young people use al. (2016). Echo chambers: Emotional Facebook as their primary source contagion and group polarization on of news. While it’s great that people Facebook. Scientific Reports, 6, 37825. have access to more information, Haidt, J. (2016). Why concepts creep to this trend makes it easier than the left. Psychological Inquiry, 27, 40–45. ever for people to become part of Inbar, Y. & Lammers, J. (2012).

Political diversity in social and so-called ‘echo chambers’, where personality psychology. Perspectives on entire online social networks can be Psychological Science, 7, 496–503. constructed around pure ideological Lilienfeld, S.O. (2017). principles and viewpoints (Bakshy Microaggressions: Strong claims, et al., 2015). Instead of needing an inadequate evidence. Perspectives on external agent such as a parent or Psychological Science, 12, 138-169.

Lukianoff, G. & Haidt, J. (2015, teacher to arbitrate interpersonal or September). The coddling of the ideological conflict, young people American mind. The Atlantic. Available can now simply click a button to at www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ ‘unfriend’ people with whom they archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-thehave such disagreements with. american-mind/399356 The presence of these online Marano, H.E. (2008). A nation of wimps: The high cost of invasive parenting. New echo chambers gives rise to an York: Broadway Books. emerging personality construct Massey, C.R. (1992). Hate speech, that I’m currently researching – cultural diversity, and the foundational offence sensitivity. Due to a lack paradigms of free expression. UCLA Law of political variety in our modern Review, 40, 103–197. social networks, we are not learning Full list available in online/app version. the truth about who our political outgroups are, or how to deal with

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ideological disagreement. Naturally, this builds barriers to constructive political and intergroup relations.

Existing social psychological frameworks serve as a useful analogy for these phenomena. Gordon Allport’s seminal intergroup contact hypothesis asserted that stereotypes and prejudice can be broken down through exposure to outgroup members. Without such contact, stereotypes are allowed to flourish, and perceptions (rather than realities) guide our judgements. However, with repeated exposure, automatic responses to outgroups can be broken down and replaced with new appraisals that are based on knowing these individuals.

Applying this framework to our existing political climate, we can see how liberals view ‘rightwing’ viewpoints as being inherently xenophobic in nature (due to particular media portrayals and accompanying self-perpetuating online discussions), while conservatives view ‘left-wing’ opinions as being grounded in a lack of national pride and emotional hysteria.

Opposing opinions thus become viewed and appraised through the lens of these stereotypes.

Further, members of the ingroup are also aware of the stereotypes held about them by the other side, in line with stereotype threat theory (for a review, see Schmader et al., 2008). Both sides end up in a state of hypervigilance when negotiating contradictory opinions. In turn, this leads ingroups to feel like these viewpoints are personal attacks, and facilitates hostile responses being enacted.

Personal and social effects I believe that our current cohorts of students have been raised in a social environment where protection from potential harm has been the order of the day.

While this is certainly a good thing – particularly when considering the adverse psychological effects of experiencing physical, emotional or sexual abuse (Springer et al., 2003) – this protectionist trend may have permeated into a sense of entitlement to be free from any form of discomfort.

At the most fundamental level, it has been observed that this entitlement, coupled with the enactment of policies to prevent being confronted by events, information or any other stimuli that have the potential to trigger an adverse emotional response, is directly at odds with recommended practices to build psychological resilience and prevent mental ill health (Lukianoff & Haidt, 2015). Using a classical conditioning paradigm, the use of gradual exposure to potentially triggering stimuli forms a part of trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy and is a recommended treatment option for post-traumatic stress disorder in the NICE clinical guidance.

What this means is that by ‘coddling’ those calling for safe spaces, we risk making their sensitivity to such stimuli worse. While these effects may not emerge in the short-term (if university campuses are sanitised of such triggering stimuli, then emotional distress will

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the psychologist december 2017 opinion

‘I’ve always been interested in politics. As a teenager I was a committed “progressive”, and could not understand the views of those who disagreed with me on issues such as the welfare state, immigration and criminal justice reform.

All this changed when I read Jonathan Haidt’s 2012 book The Righteous Mind. After reading this book, I became committed to understanding the psychology behind different worldviews and ideologies.

I’m now certain that intellectual diversity is vital to social progress and constructive debate, which is the reason I am a member of the Heterodox Academy, and encourage my students to consider issues from a range of different positions.’

of political orientation, where those at the far-left and far-right are psychologically closer to each other than they are to those in the political centre (see Jean-Pierre Faye’s 2002 book The Center of Politics). From this hypothesised model, we can see how offence sensitivity, through a combination of ideological investment and hostile attributions of those expressing differing viewpoints, can contribute to increasing levels of political polarisation at a macro societal level.

not be triggered by these issues), this ‘vindictive protectiveness’ (Lukianoff & Haidt, 2015) prevents students from developing the requisite level of psychological resilience to be able to confront such triggers when they emerge into the wider world.

Over time, repeated and reinforced emotional appraisals of individuals from different ideological standpoints become automatic and intuitive – consistent with Gawronski and The way forward?

Bodenhausen’s (2011) associativeWith these arguably damaging propositional model of attitudes. effects of offence sensitivity at both As our social networks become the personal and societal level, increasingly ideologically pure, our I would argue that it is appropriate encounters with those who may to build psychological resilience have different viewpoints becomes into the university experience at more restricted. Thus when these every possible level. Rather than contrary opinions are encountered, fostering a climate of political they are met by automatic negative orthodoxy, it may be a positive appraisals – both in terms of the move to provide students with content of these opinions and of the opportunity to engage in the individuals expressing them. constructive (and potentially Such emotional states then spread uncomfortable) political debates. via ‘contagion’ (see del Vicario et Advancing this change is the al., 2016).

Craig A. Harper reason that many academics I contend that, viscerally, is at Nottingham Trent (myself included) have joined opinions that fundamentally University the Heterodox Academy – an challenge our view of how the craig.harper@ntu.ac.uk organisation that promotes the world ought to be – particularly idea of viewpoint diversity in in relation to issues such as constitutional rights and intergroup relations involving university classrooms. The aim of this movement is to expose students to a range of different opinions, and societal minorities – lead to feelings of offence, which to encourage them to think about issues and debate in turn contribute to hostile attributions and punitive people from different ideological persuasions. After all, responses being enacted towards those who express the whole point of gaining a university education is to contrary opinions. With this in mind, the prevalence broaden your horizons – not to simply embrace and severity of offence sensitivity may be found to a homogeneous view of the world. vary within and between groups. Those who are more We tend to follow American trends around 18 central to an ideological group may express such months after they take hold across the Atlantic. With sensitivities in a more pronounced way than those this in mind, would it not be sensible to be proactive who are more peripheral. Similarly, we might also and begin to safeguard our institutions against such see differences in the effects of offence sensitivity as movements now? This might mean offending some a function of how extremely it manifests. For instance, students in the short term. However, by presenting a it might be reasonable to predict that increased levels range of viewpoints in lecture halls and seminar rooms, of offence sensitivity would be linked to more hostile we can together help to better prepare our students for attributions being made about those who express life in the ‘real world’, where people might not be as contrary opinions, with this in turn being associated accommodating of personal feelings when expressing with increased support for censorship (so-called their opinions as those in a more academic setting. ‘cultural authoritarianism’: Massey, 1992).

Further, we can help to develop graduates with the We might therefore expect offence sensitivity to potential to effectively communicate (and negotiate) peak at the extremities of the political spectrum, due with actors on both sides of the political spectrum, and to the level of emotional and moral investment that who have the ability to have a real influence on the these individuals have in their ideological worldview. policy landscape as they develop through their careers.

This prediction is in line with the horseshoe model

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Sexism affects our judgements, behaviour and psychological wellbeing… but how it’s expressed is important too.

We take a closer look at the negative consequences and societal context of both openly nasty and more ostensibly ‘nice’ sexism.

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the psychologist december 2017 sexism Ana Rosa Louis www.destroymodernart.com

Nasty or nice?

Elena Lemonaki and Patrick Leman consider overt and insidious forms of sexism

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the form of demeaning and degrading comments and galitarian norms are typically behaviours) in public spaces, universities, workplaces. endorsed in most modern Western Hostile sexism is more likely to be identified as a form democracies, and it could be argued of discrimination than benevolent sexism and can that expressions of sexist beliefs decrease emotions relating to collective self-confidence, and attitudes have been driven thereby undermining women’s assertive, competitive ‘underground’. As a result, subtle inclinations towards men (Lemonaki et al., 2015). forms of sexism (e.g. a belief in the Perhaps hostile sexism is on the increase? In a virtue of women exhibiting ‘feminine’ nationally representative survey, preceding the recent qualities) can often appear superficially benign, and thus are more likely than more blatant forms of sexism US presidential election, Carly Wayne and political science colleagues wrote in the Washington Post that to go unnoticed and remain unchallenged. But does hostile sexism was one of the strongest predictors that mean we no longer need to be alert to overt of support for a candidate. In fact, these elections sexism? In this article we outline the characteristics illustrated how hostile sexism sometimes remains and consequences of different forms of sexism, and unchallenged, is excused or even accepted, after argue that psychologists and others must still consider recordings of Donald Trump’s derogatory remarks all forms of discrimination and how they connect with towards women were made public. the broader societal and moral (It is worth remembering that sexist context.

“Exposure to benevolent attitudes towards women may be Much recent research has sexism undermines held by, endorsed or ignored by explored the insidious dangers both sexes; many American women of ‘benevolent sexism’ (sexist or women’s decisions to voted for Donald Trump!) discriminatory behaviour that challenge the gender The situation is arguably is presented in a positive way) status quo…” better, but not much better, in and how it contributes to the the UK. Although we currently maintenance of gender inequality. have a woman Prime Minister According to Peter Glick and Susan Fiske, benevolent sexism consists of subjectively and First Minister of Scotland, women in the UK still earn on average 9.4 per cent less than men (Scott, positive paternalist beliefs that are sexist ‘in terms of 2017), and the BBC reported last year that only viewing women stereotypically and in restricted roles’ 24 per cent of professors in British universities are (1996, p.491). Benevolent sexism casts women as nice but also weak, and therefore in need of being cherished women (Coughlan, 2016). And where do we stand in psychology? Although we, in the British Psychological and protected. For instance, a benevolent explanation Society, currently have a woman President, and for why there are more female than male nurses could although the majority of psychology students are run along the lines that women are more nurturing women, the proportion of women professors (and and compassionate than men, so are better suited to probably their salaries) does not reflect that. There is the role. Exposure to benevolent sexism undermines evidence of bias in research too. Adam Brown and Jin women’s decisions to challenge the gender status quo, Goh examined the gender of first authors in two major by decreasing their engagement in collective action, journals across 10 years (2004–2013), citations to or less directly by increasing system justification – these articles, and the gender of award recipients given explaining or excusing sexist beliefs because these are by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology justified by social systems and structures.

(2000–2016). They found that although women and Benevolent sexism has been the focus of much men are represented near equally in the field (based on recent research, but it is worth remembering that more membership demographics), only 34 per cent of first overt and aggressive ‘hostile sexism’ is still evident authors in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in cultures that ostensibly endorse an egalitarian and 44 per cent of first authors in Personality and ideology. Laura Bates documents the stories of women Social Psychology Bulletin were women. Moreover, from the UK and from around the world reporting articles authored by men were cited more than those their daily encounters with explicit sexism (e.g. in

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authored by women, and only 25 per cent of the award recipients were women. There must at least be a suspicion that the same pattern plays out across journals in the field; it is probably worth investigating.

Gender stereotypes and ‘nasty’ women Back to the rest of the world… Research by Peter Glick and colleagues has described how traditional female ‘subtypes’ (e.g. housewives/homemakers, mothers) are typically seen as consistent with traditional gender roles, and tend to be ascribed positive characteristics and to elicit favourable evaluations and benevolent, paternalistic reactions. By contrast, non-traditional female subtypes (e.g. career women/businesswomen, feminists) are viewed as violating traditional gender roles, and tend to evoke negative evaluations and hostile, aggressive responses.

The presence of gender stereotypes pervades our lives. According to Alice Eagly and Steven Karau’s role congruity theory of prejudice, perceived incongruity between female gender roles and leadership roles leads to two forms of prejudice towards female leaders (or potential leaders). First, by comparison with men, women are evaluated less favourably with respect to their potential to take on leadership positions because leadership ability is more stereotypical of Key sources men than women. Second, the actual behaviour of women leaders Barreto, M. & Ellemers, N. (2005). The is evaluated less favourably than burden of benevolent sexism: How that of male leaders because such it contributes to the maintenance of behaviour is perceived as less gender inequalities. European Journal of desirable in women than in men.

Social Psychology, 35, 633–642.

Becker, J.C. & Wright, S.C. (2011). Yet In a similar vein, Laurie Rudman another dark side of chivalry. Journal of and colleagues have shown that Personality and Social Psychology, 101, the display of agentic traits and 62–77. behaviour by women (consistent Dardenne, B., Dumont, M. & Bollier, T. with the requirements of the (2007). Insidious dangers of benevolent leader role), is viewed as violating sexism: Consequences for women’s performance. Journal of Personality and the stereotypic prescriptions of Social Psychology, 93, 764–779. ‘feminine niceness’ and can result Glick, P. & Fiske, S.T. (1996). The in discrimination against agentic Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: female candidates for a managerial Differentiating hostile and benevolent role. Thus a display of agency by sexism. Journal of Personality and Social women can increase their perceived Psychology, 70, 491–512.

Glick, P., Fiske, S.T., Mladinic, A. et competence, but does so at the al. (2000). Beyond prejudice as simple expense of their perceived likeability antipathy: Hostile and benevolent (‘the backlash effect’), leading to sexism across cultures. Journal of perceptions of female leaders or Personality and Social Psychology, 79, potential leaders as ‘nasty’.

763–775.

Lemonaki, E., Manstead, A.S.R. & Maio, G.R. (2015). Hostile sexism (de) motivates women’s social competition intentions: The contradictory role of emotions. British Journal of Social Psychology, 54, 483–499.

Full list available in online/app version.

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Hostile and benevolent sexism Glick and Fiske call sexism ‘a special case of prejudice marked by a deep ambivalence, rather than a uniform antipathy, toward women’ (1996, p.491). This ambivalence stems from two kinds

of complementary but opposite (in terms of their evaluative implications) sexist beliefs toward women: hostile and benevolent sexism. Hostile sexism fits Allport’s classic definition of prejudice as antipathy, and typical conceptualisations of sexism as a unitary hostility toward women. It comprises negative and competitive beliefs, maintaining that women use sexuality or feminist ideology as a means to control men and achieve status. Glick’s research has shown that across nations, average scores on measures of hostile and benevolent sexism are positively correlated and predict national indices of gender inequality in power (i.e. the extent to which women are represented in high-status jobs in business and government) and resources (i.e. women’s level of education, standard of living), supporting the notion that they constitute complementary ideologies in support of gender inequality.

Both hostile and benevolent sexism trade on gender stereotypes. They are grounded in the same fundamental beliefs about women (e.g. that women are less competent and capable than men, and therefore less suitable for taking on high-status positions) and serve to justify men’s dominance, and therefore maintain gender inequality. However, compared to benevolent sexism, hostile sexism is a more explicit and conflictual route to inequality.

Specifically, hostile sexism justifies men’s fit (and women’s lack of fit) to high-status roles by asserting men’s superior competence and power.

Benevolent sexism also justifies men’s privileged position in the social hierarchy, but does so in a more socially acceptable way, by asserting women’s superiority in socio-emotional warmth (thereby implying a lack of competence). This way, benevolent sexism provides a seemingly comfortable rationalisation for constraining women in domestic roles: it is not women’s lack of competence that renders them unsuitable for high-status roles, rather, it is women’s superiority in socio-emotional warmth that renders them especially suitable for domestic roles.

Why are people motivated to express sexism in benevolent ways? In her 1994 book The Velvet Glove, Mary Jackman argued that paternalistic (as compared with hostile) justifications of hierarchies are more effective in minimising resistance and maximising compliance from low-status groups. According to Glick, Fiske and colleagues, hostile assertions of women’s lack of competence would not have been as effective in maintaining the current gender hierarchy as the combination of hostile and benevolent sexism.

Like a punishment-and-reward reinforcement system, hostile sexism deters women from seeking higherstatus roles, while benevolent sexism provides incentives for remaining in lower-status, gendertraditional roles, eliciting women’s cooperation in their own subordination. In times when socio-moral norms favour equality, benevolent sexism is, arguably, a more effective means of preserving the existing (unequal) social order.

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the psychologist december 2017 sexism

The danger of benevolence applying for traditional masculine Previous research has shown that Elena Lemonaki jobs, as compared with traditional benevolent sexist beliefs are less is in the feminine ones. likely to be recognised as a form Department Interestingly, individuals with of prejudice compared with hostile of Psychology, hostile sexist attitudes tend to sexist beliefs. Moreover, people Institute of deny uniquely human qualities who endorse benevolent sexist Psychiatry, to women, such as agency. Viki views, compared with those who Psychology & and Abrams (2003) found that express hostile sexist views, are less Neuroscience, individuals with hostile sexist likely to be perceived as sexist, are King’s College, London attitudes are more likely to deny evaluated more positively and elicit elena.lemonaki@kcl.ac.uk positive secondary emotions to less anger (Barreto & Ellemers, women as a social group, and 2005). As a result, research Patrick J Cikara et al. (2011) found that attention has shifted toward the Leman men with hostile sexist attitudes dangers of benevolent sexism is in the tend to objectify sexualised women and how it contributes to the Department who, compared to clothed women, maintenance of gender inequality. of Psychology, are more likely to be seen as the For example, a 2007 study led by Institute of objects, rather than the agents, of Benoit Dardenne found that in the Psychiatry, an action. context of a job-selection interview Psychology Hostile sexism, despite being and testing, the recruiter’s & Neuroscience, King’s more blatant and explicitly benevolent sexist comments led College, London negative, can also go unchallenged. women to experience intrusive patrick.leman@kcl.ac.uk Lemonaki et al. (2015) found that thoughts about their sense of hostile sexism can both motivate competence (e.g. self-doubt about and demotivate social competition their competence), and as a result intentions through different mediating psychological impaired their cognitive performance in a task that processes. Exposure to hostile sexism can have a was part of the job-recruitment process.

Women who endorse benevolent sexism were more positive indirect effect on social competition intentions likely to accept their male romantic partner’s ostensibly through increased anger-related emotions, and a negative indirect effect through decreased confidenceprotectively justified restriction on their career (e.g. related emotions. So although both types of sexism not to do a potentially dangerous internship about cast doubt on women’s competence, exposure to which they were excited), and to assume the partner’s hostile sexism could undermine women’s collective motives as benign, even while recognising the self-confidence and striving in more profound ways restriction as discriminatory (Moya et al., 2007). than benevolent sexism.

The consequences of hostile sexism Benevolent sexism is, then, far from unproblematic, but it is important not to overlook the damaging consequences of hostile sexism. As we have seen, more overt expressions of sexist attitudes and beliefs persist and arguably are on the increase. Hostile, but not benevolent, sexism is associated with negative evaluations and lower employment recommendations of a female candidate for a management position (Masser & Abrams, 2004). Women who engage in agentic behaviours (e.g. choose to pursue a career in a male-dominated domain) and who display agentic traits may be perceived as competent but also as insufficiently nice. Perceptions of nastiness can result in discrimination against agentic female candidates for a managerial role that requires interpersonal skills. And research has also revealed that apparently pregnant (vs. non-pregnant) female job applicants encountered more hostile behaviour (e.g. rudeness) and were especially likely to encounter hostility when

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Confronting sexism Much recent energy has been directed towards addressing the less obvious features of sexism in the workplace, including features of interpersonal interactions such as micro-aggressions and decisionmaking in the context of employment opportunities.

However, it is notable that many interventions to reduce sexism lack robust scientific evidence for their effectiveness. As Julia Becker and colleagues pointed out in a 2014 ‘call for research on intervention’, psychological studies of prejudice reduction in terms of sexism are surprisingly rare compared to other forms of discrimination. It is odd that psychology has somewhat failed to take a lead in this.

One example of effective intervention in reducing the endorsement of sexism is the Workshop Activity for Gender Equity Simulation–Academic (WAGES– Academic) reported by Matthew Zawadzki and others in a 2014 Psychology of Women Quarterly paper.

WAGES–Academic is an experiential simulation of the cumulative effects of unconscious bias and discrimination experienced by women in the

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workplace. Participants playing it learn that the accumulation of apparently minor biases and unfair practices hinders advancement, that different genderrelevant factors are significant at each stage in work life, that stereotypes impair people’s ability to notice bias, and that patterns, not single incidents, reveal inequalities. Results showed that WAGES–Academic participants reported less endorsement of sexist beliefs both after completing the activity and about a week later. It is worth mentioning that although this is an intervention specifically designed to reveal the nature, operation and effects of subtle sexism, it was also effective in addressing hostile sexism. Much work is still needed to identify the antecedents and processes that maintain sexist beliefs and attitudes, as well as a recognition of the broader societal and political contexts that shape such attitudes.

For example, in line with Claude Steele’s disidentification hypothesis, the mere anticipation of hostile sexist behaviour in male-dominated areas, such as in science and leadership, may be experienced as threatening by women, and thereby negatively influence their motivation to pursue a career or excel in such domains. In this way gender inequality may persist through the avoidance of high-status roles in which women do not stereotypically fit. It is therefore important to understand the precursors to women’s competitive aspirations and how these can be deterred by hostile sexism. Again, interventions are possible: a

2015 study by Lemonaki and colleagues suggest that exposing women to information about their gender group’s collective achievements can protect women from the negative effects of hostile sexism and increase their motivation to engage in social competition by enhancing their collective self-confidence.

Far to go Benevolent sexism may be deemed more socially acceptable because it is less likely to elicit negative reactions, cause direct harm or overtly transgress social norms of equality than hostile sexism. However, if social mores drive sexism underground and maintain a status quo of inequality, the work to achieve equality requires a different approach. We should beware of benevolent sexism. But, arguably, the additional danger of hostile sexism is not that it is overt or more damaging, but rather that it belies a social context where striving for equality is no longer a publicly agreed societal consensus, and where the task of achieving fairness becomes a matter of conflict rather than cooperation. Social competition, in itself, may not necessarily be a bad thing, but it becomes much more disturbing when it is viewed and enacted through the lens of hostile sexism. In most conflicts it is the more powerful and dominant group that typically wins out; when all is said and done, we are still far from achieving a gender-equal society.

Sexual and Gender Minority Guidance Task & Finish Group – Chair and Members The Society’s Professional Practice Board (PPB) is seeking to appoint a Member of the Society act as Chair and several Members to join the above Group from spring 2018. It is anticipated that there will be around 15 members. The Group reports directly to the Professional Practice Board.

The remit of the Group will be to update the Society Guidelines written in 2012. The guidance will

support and guide psychologists in their work with sexual and gender minority people in order to enable their inclusion and to help psychologists better understand people who may have suffered social exclusion and stigmatisation.

It is expected that group members will be able to demonstrate knowledge, skills or experience in this area. Every effort will be made to have a

range of experience across domains, contexts of practice and regions but expertise will be the primary criteria.

For full details on these positions or to request a Statement of Interest Form please contact Sunarika Sahota on sunsah@ bps.org.uk.

Statements of Interest should reach the Society’s office no later than 5 January 2018.

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13/11/2017 11:26

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13/11/2017 11:26

Marcus Munafò ‘There’s this conspiracy of silence around how science really works’ Our editor Jon Sutton meets Marcus Munafò, winner of the British Psychological Society’s Presidents’ Award, Professor of Biological Psychology at the University of Bristol, and a key player in the debate over replication and open science

Has the ‘replication crisis’ surprised you?

Not in the sense that I started thinking about these issues, although I didn’t describe them in those terms, when I was a postdoc, back in 2004/2005. My entry into this metascience literature, this way of using scientific methods to look at how science works itself, was just an accident of the kind of research I was doing at the time and the need to be selective about where we focused our effort. I was doing pharmacogenetic research, looking at which genetic variants influence response to smoking cessation treatments. That was in the days when genotyping was slow, done by hand, expensive, so you couldn’t do hundreds of tests like you can now very easily on a genome-wide chip, you had to pick genes that you wanted to target. So I started to do meta-analyses to narrow down our options. The first thing I noticed was that the evidence is actually pretty flaky, very little was robust.

And that was research done by epidemiologists?

Yes, genetic epidemiology, but I was a psychologist working with them… I’ve always been a slightly unusual psychologist in that I’ve hopped around between different departments. Even now that I do work in a psychology department it is in an epidemiology unit and with geneticists.

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‘Intellectual magpie’, it says on your Twitter profile.

That’s it. There’s an advantage to that – you can pick up different strengths and weaknesses of different fields and try to build together the best way of working. That’s very relevant to the current debate around reproducibility. Anyway, those meta-analyses suggested what’s now well established – candidate gene studies are bunk, basically. Very few replicated.

But more interestingly it showed that you could use those databases that you created to look at other factors, to look at whether there was a correlation

between the effect size that a study was reporting and which year it was published, or which country the study was done in. That really piqued my interest, that there was almost a sociology of science behind this. Different countries, because they placed slightly different incentive structures around their scientists, were creating different pressures, which led to different biases that you could see in the published literature.

I thought that was fascinating.

That interest in trying to understand what was driving the behaviour of scientists became a hobby essentially, a sideline… But it has been the stuff that people noticed and cited – more so than my main research, which no one reads!

Is that because you’re more outspoken in that area, the passion of it comes across?

Maybe a bit of that. More mundanely I was lucky enough to become interested in the topic before it became fashionable, I was an early adopter of that way of thinking – I already knew a certain amount about the literature, for example John Ioannidis’ article in 2005.

I think an important way to reframe the whole debate is that we shouldn’t be talking about it as a crisis. I don’t think that’s helpful language. It tends to polarise people and put some on the defensive if they feel like their research is being criticised. I see it much more as an opportunity, to simply reflect on the way that we do science, and the way that incentive structures around us are shaped, and whether both of those things can be done better. We’ve gone past the stage of just thinking ‘Is there a problem?’. Not everyone agrees with the magnitude of the problem, but most people agree that science isn’t operating optimally. On the other hand, we haven’t really got a clear sense of what ‘optimally’ means. That’s never going to be 100 per cent of our studies being

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the psychologist december 2017 interview Jon Sutton

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13/11/2017 12:35

replicable, because then we would be investing huge amounts of resources into single studies where we are sure we’ve got the right answer, which would probably be wasteful, because we overpower our studies, or we would be studying a really trivial, mundane, known effect. There has to be an element of risk in the research that we do. The question is more ‘Have we got the balance right, of risk and reward?’.

You’re talking about the ecosystem science is operating in, and that takes issues of blame out of it. You’re saying it’s inevitable, that psychologists and scientists more broadly are going to work to ‘maximise their fitness’ in the system they are in.

There have been papers which have used exactly that approach. The Smaldino and McElreath one on ‘The natural selection of bad science’… we’re incentivised not to get the right answer, but to publish and get grants, and those are proxies for being good scientists.

The kinds of behaviours that will lead to success in the current ecosystem – running quick and dirty studies to get lots of publications out of the door, for example – may be good for individual scientists’ careers, but won’t be good for science. Those labs that work in that way will have more progeny, will ‘succeed’ in an evolutionary sense in the current system.

But I think the reason psychologists are interested in replicability is that this isn’t an issue of people wanting to game the system consciously. It’s about how humans respond unconsciously to subtle pressures.

Everyone goes into science because they’re interested in the subject matter, they’re excited about finding something out. Then they gradually feel themselves getting bent out of shape because they know they have to publish towards the end of their PhD if they want to

Work in progress ‘In my smoking research, we’ve done a lot of work on plain packaging, which we now have in the UK. The process of introducing that legislation was relatively slow. You can’t do a randomised control study to see if it works. You have to build a case around other kinds of evidence. We did a lot of work on the impact of plain packaging on visual salience of health warnings, and those informed the government consultation. It’s a nice example of how research using quite basic cognitive neuroscience tools like eye tracking and fMRI and EEG can feed forward into policy settings.

The genetics side of our research is still a work in progress. We’ve got a nice paper under review showing causal effects of educational attainment on various smoking outcomes, so higher levels of attainment, more years in education, lead to reduced likelihood of starting smoking, lighter smoking if you are a smoker, and increased likelihood of quitting.

We can be more confident that’s a causal effect because we used genetic variants in an almost quasi-experimental design. There’s a clip that explains Mendellian randomisation, a very elegant concept [watch it at tinyurl.com/yba55mag]. That gives policymakers information about what the likely impact is of increasing years in education on health outcomes in the population.’

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get a postdoc, they need to get a grant at the end of their postdoc if they want to go on to a lectureship, and they start to feel the squeeze as they go through that early career stage.

Ultimately these are questions of human behaviour, and that’s what psychologists do. So I don’t think psychology is particularly good or particularly bad as a discipline, it’s the right discipline – along with some others such as economics and potentially evolutionary biology – to think about how the current situation has arisen and what the solutions might be.

The way you approach science is as a very active, social, collaborative process; so, rather than individual research practices, human behaviour will be the key to finding ways out of this?

There’s a bit about individual research practices, but also a lot about what the funders, the institutions, the journals can do to promote best practice. We’re seeing some examples of that in Psychological Science awarding badges for certain kinds of practices, a classic ‘nudge’ intervention if you like. There’s a paper that shows a rapid change in data-sharing practices in that journal that weren’t mirrored across other journals.

But we’ve got to be alive to the possibility that what seems like a good idea actually ends up making things worse. And it’s not a one-off process you go through, coming out on the sunlit uplands of reproducible science and never having to worry about it again.

The nature of any changes we introduce is that people will gradually adapt to that new ecosystem and new problems will arise, because people are always going to be consciously or unconsciously wanting to do well, to get promoted, receive awards, whatever it might be.

What is ‘doing well’ in research terms?

We are incentivised not only to find something as opposed to nothing, but also for the findings to be novel, eye-catching, groundbreaking. At Cambridge, Ottoline Leyser has this great quote, ‘We’re encouraged to do groundbreaking research, but what’s groundbreaking for? You break ground in order to build something, and if all you do is groundbreaking you end up with lots of holes in the ground.’ We’re incentivised to do the high-risk research, but not the foundational, corrective, replication research that builds the more robust edifice. It’s a bit like the situation we were in 10 years ago with the banking crisis… bankers were incentivised to go after the highrisk high-return investment and not the mundane stuff, and the cards eventually came crashing down.

Of course there are outright fraud cases, such as Diederik Stapel… a key quote of his was ‘I wanted to make the world just a little more beautiful’.

I think there he became so seduced by the narrative.

But we teach that… students take lab classes, and half of the time it doesn’t work, and we sort of gloss over the messy reality of what data collection really looks like. We say that everything should look clean and

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the psychologist december 2017 interview

beautiful. If you’ve been taught there need to be these clean narratives, these manuscripts that seamlessly move on from one experiment that worked to another, where you don’t report all of those missed steps and messy data, then you’re fuelling that belief.

The whole concept of a narrative is a bit tricky in science. We’re not storytellers. We’re trying to identify fundamental truths of nature, and sometimes nature doesn’t want to play ball. I’ve had reviewers ask me to take data, tables, figures, out of manuscripts because it messes with the narrative. They want me to present a curated version of reality rather than an honest one.

You push back and you say, ‘It’s important that’s in there’, to pretend that those data don’t exist would be to make the interpretation false… it makes it more difficult, but more likely to be true.

Do you think we also need a shift in how we think about failing to find something?

Early-career researchers get a very distorted impression of what it takes to succeed as a mid-career or senior researcher, because there’s this conspiracy of silence around how science really works. Failure is an almost daily part of being a scientist. You get papers rejected, you get grants rejected, your experiments don’t work out the way you had hoped… and yet if you look at the psychology literature, 90 per cent of publications claim that they found what they were looking for in the first place, which is just miles away from reality. And that’s probably a combination of publication bias (only the stuff that ‘works’ gets through) and p-hacking (that is, retro-fitting results to fit the narrative). Early-career researchers think that there is something wrong with them, that they’re not succeeding at the same rate as everyone around them seems to be. It’s really healthy I think, particularly as senior researchers, to openly talk about the fact that we all go through this same process and it doesn’t go away, however successful you are. We’ve had a lot of meetings in our group where we talk about failure, and a Slack channel called Triumph and Disaster where people talk about their successes and failures. It demystifies the whole thing and strips a lot of the fear away from failure.

We need to be teaching early-career researchers resilience, because if you can’t just dust yourself off and get on with it, you’re going to have a really rough time in science. People care about their work, that’s in the nature of science, but if it really bowls you over every time you get a rejection, you’re going to have a really miserable career. We need to teach people ‘everyone experiences this, you have to dust yourself off’.

What other human behaviours could be brought to bear on issues of reproducibility?

Well, we publish our protocols now before we start data collection, so people can check whether we have published the results of our studies. That puts a subtle pressure on us – it would be embarrassing if someone said, ‘Hang on, you did this study eight years ago and I can’t see any results from it.’ They would rightly call

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us out on that. Embarrassment is a powerful social force, and it nudges us towards publishing our results irrespective of how they turn out.

One of the challenges is getting across to the public this idea of science as a progression, that we’re allowed to say, ‘Oh, that turned out to be wrong.’

I think we need to do a better job of ourselves embracing uncertainty and then communicating to the public that most of our results are preliminary, that we gradually build evidence. And even that a whole career of research can end up being wrong, if you did underpowered studies in a noisy system, and got false positives that you over-interpreted. That’s a tough thing for anyone to admit, when they’ve tied their flag to one mast. Again, it’s just not human nature!

One of the things we can do is get rid of the word significant. My lab has not used it in any of its papers in the last five or six years. The irony is that psychologists are always saying that everything is on a continuum, that there are no hard dichotomies, then when it comes to p values they love placing a dichotomy on this continuously distributed measure of evidence.

People have been talking about that for as long as I’ve been involved in psychology. It just shows how ingrained these habits and incentive structures are.

But also that a simple intervention such as saying ‘we’re not going to use the word significance, you need to think more carefully about your evidence and the direction of the effect or association you’re observing’, just removing that word forces you to think a little bit more deeply about how you’re going to interpret your results. That’s something that a journal could do.

Do you think the journals are more key than the REF and funding bodies?

In some ways the journals are easy wins, because academics have much more control over them…

I edit a journal, and one of the first things I wrote was an editorial on not using the word significant.

I’m partnering our journal with a funder in a registered reports model. Chris Chambers introduced registered reports when he got on to the editorial board of Cortex.

The key group that has done very little is institutions. They are still hiring on the basis of ‘Did you publish in Nature?’ That’s not the fault of the journal. Journals such as Nature might say quite openly that they publish high-risk high-return research studies, most of which will probably turn out to be wrong, but that what’s right will be transformative.

That’s fine, there’s a place for that, but we shouldn’t gear our whole hiring and promotion structure around such publications. We need to be a bit more nuanced in how we judge the quality of people’s work.

All of the stakeholders are interconnected though, all have a part to play, what one does will influence the other. It’s an ecosystem – a big whack-a-mole problem.

You fix one incentive structure and something else will pop up to compensate, unless you treat it as a whole.

Find an extended version of this interview on our website via thepsychologist. bps.org.uk/ meets

13/11/2017 12:35

‘This is about their truth’ Clinical psychologist Dr Rachel Happer on her role as Head of the National Confidential Forum

For many years those who spent time in the institutions of Scotland struggled to have a voice, particularly when silenced by abuse and maltreatment. Following determined campaigning by those with lived experience, Scotland now has a landscape of national initiatives that give voice to those looked after away from home. The National Confidential Forum holds a unique place in this landscape as an acknowledgement forum; we hear testimony and accept without challenge. While those who come to the Forum remain anonymous, their histories are remembered. The Forum sits alongside the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, which begins public sessions for survivors on 28 November.

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After many years working therapeutically with those who experienced abuse and trauma in childhood, I took up the role as Head of the National Confidential Forum. The Forum was established as part of the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 to hear the testimonies of those placed in institutional care as children in Scotland, including any abuse they may have suffered. The Forum is open to those over the age of 16 who have spent time in a children’s home, a residential unit, a residential school, an NHS facility, a boarding school, a secure unit or a hostel school.

Testimonies are most commonly given in a two-hour hearing although some have chosen the option of two sessions. Others have given a written testimony, which is read aloud and witnessed with equal respect. It doesn’t matter how long the institutional stay was, or when the person left. Being heard on a national level plays a unique part in the transformative change that is shining a light on historical abuse; experiences many have felt were unspeakable in the past.

The start of a listening movement A petition raised by one individual in the Scottish Parliament stemmed from the determined work of a small group of survivors of abuse in care who were reaching out to others with shared experience. This

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the psychologist december 2017 careers

petition drew Scottish Government attention to institutional child abuse and the need for an inquiry and unreserved apology. It followed escalating concern throughout the 1980s and 1990s about the quality of residential childcare in the past and growing awareness of historic abuse more generally. In 2004 Scotland’s then First Minister, Jack McConnell, apologised on behalf of the people of Scotland.

The apology was the catalyst for a range of initiatives to address the needs of those who were abused in care in Scotland. As part of that landscape, the Forum was established to acknowledge people’s experiences.

Whether those experiences are positive or negative, our focus is solely on what people tell us, in their words.

People are not questioned or probed, nor are they asked for more than they are willing to give. We hear their stories and accept them without challenge. This is about their truth.

By taking part, each person is contributing to a national record that will provide a basis for learning.

The more voices added to that record, the stronger our collaborative contribution to prevention and response approaches will be. For many people who have spoken to the Forum, it is the first time they have ever shared the details of their life in institutional care, particularly the experience of abuse and cruelty. Some have tried to speak before, but have been faced with denial, resistance or distortion. The anonymity we offer can be a way for people to speak out yet feel safe. Through our reporting of patterns and themes, and capturing of personal narratives, the childhood histories of those who attend the Forum will be remembered. Their voices will be amplified; public knowledge and understanding of this period of care should be enhanced.

What we have heard so far We have a responsibility to report annually to the Scottish Parliament and meet with the Scottish Minister for Mental Health. Since our first hearing in February 2015 we have heard from over 100 people. Our first 18 months of work was captured in a report for participants called What We Have Heard So Far. It paints a picture of childcare that in some ways might seem alien now.

Many of the testimonies describe family, school and institutional life in post-war austerity and the early days of the welfare state. The level of emotional neglect was high and punishment was routinely severe.

In these narratives are themes that will resonate with psychologists across many fields; within many of the testimonies, relationships are key. Some have spoken of positive, warm relationships that saved them from poverty and abuse in the home, of people who went the extra mile, and of small acts of kindness that were remembered for a lifetime. Sadly, most of those we have met describe physical and emotional abuse at the hands of those who were trusted to look after them.

The life-long impact was felt acutely in testimonies that described care experiences that were cold, punishing and for some highly abusive; perpetrated

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by a single abuser or part of a regime of punishment across an institution. We met people who have carried the burden of abuse in care well into adulthood, shaping every aspect of their lives from education and job prospects to relationships. Testimonies reflect childhoods in which individuality was denied, stigma and marginalisation were ever-present, and humiliation was commonplace. Others described institution-wide, pervasive sexual abuse that created environments where love and affection were conditional on abuse.

The absence of personal identity was a key psychological issue for many who have spoken to us, compounded by lost records and photographs. Some spoke of not knowing what they looked like as children, with uncertainty and frequent transitions contributing to the struggle to develop a coherent sense of self. Those who experienced multiple institutions often described short placements suddenly terminating with little or no involvement in the decision-making. As well as describing childhood experiences, our report conveyed a sense of what it was like to leave care, when transitions were felt to be accelerated and abrupt. Many testimonies captured the perpetual experience of grief; be it loss of family, children, of important staff members or the homes themselves.

Many testimonies cited confusion and instability during care that occurred against the backdrop of an early history of abuse and loss, often accompanied by parental alcoholism, attachment trauma and neglect.

Descriptions of life after poor care experiences in the institutions of Scotland in the past reflected a sense of perpetual survival in the face of ongoing crisis.

Long after they had left, people described feeling disadvantaged by circumstances outside their control, which served to exacerbate feelings of isolation and powerlessness.

Going forwards the Forum is committed to identifying themes and patterns to input into policy and practice; many of those giving testimony have been driven to do so to ensure what happened to them does not happen to other children. Despite the changes in the social context of care from much of the historic testimony that contributed to What We Have Heard So Far, outcomes for care-experienced children and young people remain poor. Scottish Government statistics reveal those leaving care are over-represented in the homeless population and are more likely to experience formal exclusions from school, with 73 per cent leaving school before 16. In Scotland, a third of young offenders have a history of care, with 31 per cent of adult prisoners reporting care experience. The unique set of life circumstances of those with a history of care mean they are dealing with challenges that exacerbate disadvantage. Many are coping with the impact of early trauma and living with associated mental health concerns. Coping strategies such as self-harm, anger and suicidality, alongside unstable placements and understandable issues around trust, all create barriers between young people and the help and support they need to reach their potential. Through maintaining a

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clear connection to the lived experience described in the hearings, a number of which have taken place in Scottish prisons, theoretical concepts will guide how to make maximum psychological sense of what we hear at the Forum to aid understanding of the links between a poor care experience and offending, homelessness, and unacceptable economic disadvantage and ill-health.

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Why didn’t we know?

As a society we need to make sense of how children and young people can remain unseen even in environments where they are placed for their protection. Those giving testimony have asked why adults did not act when children were experiencing abuse, exploitation and dehumanising treatment.

Psychologists have a unique contribution to make to this discourse as many have met those struggling with the life-long impact of early trauma and abuse in clinical practice or as part of specific studies. However, more recently we have seen that engagement taken to a new level with, among other initiatives, the powerful personal narrative of Danny Taggart in the October 2017 issue of Clinical Psychology Forum, when he spoke about his own experiences in care. The British Psychological Society has also taken steps to improve responses to disclosure, recognising the profession’s duty of care to clients and in the safeguarding of others, with the publication of the 2016 guidance document on the management of disclosure of non-recent (historic) child sexual abuse and the establishment of the Society’s Safeguarding Children and Young People’s Group.

There is also a wider contribution we can make in applying psychological knowledge and skills to the understanding of how systemic dynamics affect individual circumstances. Through listening to testimony, we have heard adults speak of how their belief systems were shaped as children by the abuse itself and the circumstances surrounding treatment. When institutions or responsible adults failed to make abuse stop; if the response to disclosure was punishment or disbelief; if a child was moved or valued opportunity lost; if a perpetrator was seen as too important or too valuable to be investigated; all are internalised by the child and those in the vicinity. The abuse serves to maintain wider control and silence others.

Through testimony, we have witnessed descriptions of the depersonalisation and devaluation of children – rendering them invisible by stigma. Organisational actions and culture have the power to challenge maltreatment. All too often we have heard instead how they confirmed self-blame and hopelessness, perpetuating the potential for further victimisation.

The Forum is a unique opportunity to have policy and practice embedded in the expertise of those with lived experience. Through careful listening and qualitative analysis we hope to learn more about the life-long impact of care experience, how to help those struggling to cope and how to prevent abuse and support disclosure.

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Culture has a significant role to play in moving the focus of responsibility away from the child to speak up.

Our participants believe that the optimum atmosphere for safety is rooted in strong, safe relationships that challenge isolation and shame. Well-trained, supported and screened staff members need to be embedded in a fully informed culture confident around disclosure.

If systems are able to broaden their understanding of how individual workers and entire organisations can be groomed to maintain secrecy, this will contribute to an atmosphere in which children and adults alike will be listened to and all learn that nobody is indispensable.

Challenge to the organisational denial of the reality and scale of problems, and the myths held about both victims and perpetrators, sits alongside clear channels of reporting, good coordination and meaningful monitoring. Combined, these issues could contribute to the creation of a public health response that is able to meet the challenge faced by society.

Listening even more closely Psychologists understand the power of talking and listening, of having someone bear witness to experiences that have been carried and hidden through shame or disbelief. Being heard and acknowledged is vital.

That’s the underlying principle of the Forum. Our members and support team work concertedly to ensure participants feel safe and supported from beginning to end. The process is guided by attachment theory and trauma awareness, and the impact has the potential to provide a healing effect. We have travelled to people throughout the UK, including supporting people internationally to have their voice heard.

At the Forum, gathering testimonies is an ongoing process, alongside analysis and understanding of what people are telling us. As a profession, psychology must continue to improve awareness among practitioners and review practice and clinical decision-making in this complex area. Our knowledge, skills and experience place the profession in a unique position to lead on evidence-based policy development and sensitive practice improvements. Don’t look away: be heard, make a difference.

We invite all people who have experienced residential care in Scotland to think about giving their testimony to the Forum, independent of where they live now. Visit www. nationalconfidentialforum.org.uk or call free on 0800 121 4773.

If you would like to know more about our work or feel your research interests are relevant to the Forum, or you would like to support someone else attending the Forum, get in touch.

10/11/2017 15:13

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10/11/2017 14:58

Jean-Michel Basquiat Untitled, 1982 Courtesy Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Licensed by Artestar, New York. Photo: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam

Basquiat – ‘hauntingly relevant to today’s world’ exhibition Basquiat: Boom for Real Barbican Art Gallery

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n keeping with its tradition of promoting the work of artists at the cutting edge, the Barbican has chosen to celebrate Jean-Michel Basquiat in the first major exhibition of his work in the UK – Basquiat: Boom for Real.

It’s been almost 30 years since Basquiat died of an accidental drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment.

Yet in his brief life he unleashed a creative force that reverberated through his work and continues to inspire, communicating messages from the 1980s that are hauntingly relevant to today’s world. His work is also deeply evocative, providing a window into the state of mind of the artist.

The exhibition takes place over two floors. The first floor sets the social and cultural scene where Basquiat grew up, from the streets of his native Brooklyn to the NoHo studio where he lived and worked. One of these rooms is dedicated to his first group exhibition, showing his almost childlike doodles, and others depict his

alter-ego SAMO – a contraction of ‘same old’. Basquiat’s presence is woven into the exhibition at every level.

His face pops up around the gallery during short clips of interviews and a the screening of the film Downtown 81, where he was the lead role ‘Jean’, a story of an artist with similar streaks to his own life. As well as setting the scene in New York in the late 70s and early 80s, the first floor also looks at the art scene of which Basquiat was an integral part. However, it was a charged dynamic from celebrities and actors to art dealers and musicians. Racial bias presented as a prominent feature for his experiences in the art community, and led to a noticeable impact on his artwork.

Basquiat embraced his influences, which included theorists like Darwin and Freud, and referenced them visually. The constant appearance of human figures, body organs and skulls – a lot of skulls – may reflect his influence by Gray’s Anatomy, a book brought to him

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the psychologist december 2017 culture

Reflections on suicide

Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, 1983 © Roland Hagenberg by his mother after a car accident at the age of nine.

It feels like his subconscious had been poured into these huge canvases that were more like electric magnified pages of his notebooks. Music also was an important influence, and it can be argued that the shift in his interest from punk to jazz, bebop and hip-hop is a reflection of his racially charged cultural transformation from 1978 to 1981. His musical idols included Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie; they appeared in his paintings alongside musical instruments, such as saxophone and a bird in reference to Charlie. It could be that Basquiat did find a parallel between the world he was part of, and how his heroes were regarded in their world.

Boom for Real celebrates Basquiat. It managed to not mention his drug use or even his death by an overdose, but Basquiat revealed himself in a new-expressionist manner on his canvases and paintings. An overwhelming sense of rawness, anxiety, intuitiveness and suffering seeps through this exhibition.

Basquiat: Boom for Real runs until 28 January 2018 at the Barbican Art Gallery, London Reviewed by Basma Alharthy, an addiction and arts specialist based in Saudi Arabia and also working in the UK

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The 2017 Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, now in its 11th year, ran from 10 to 29 October supporting art across 300 events, encompassing film, theatre, literature and music.

I attended the International Film Awards, hosted by the Festival at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, where Ingrid Kamerling, Dutch writer and film-maker, was awarded Best Mid-Length Documentary for Vivian, Vivian. The film-poem explores Kamerling’s relationship with her younger sister, Vivian, through a stream of consciousness, representing her skipping thoughts, yearning to understand why she ended her life at the age of 24. In a discussion with Kamerling before the film screening, she explained that the film has layers, where she initially portrays herself as the ‘detective’ in finding out the reasons behind her sister’s suicide. Kamerling explained that she prefers it when people approach her to explain how they see themselves in Vivian – rather than asking her about the feelings surrounding the death.

The film begins intuitively; a young woman with characteristic blonde curls representing either Ingrid or Vivian herself, standing on an empty shot of the lawn. Then, there are rendered components of Vivian’s existence before and after her passing. There are moments of personal, recorded footage from

Vivian, Vivian (above)

film International Film Awards Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival

Vivian’s past but also conversations with her parents, friends and employer, illustrating her as a charismatic and ambitious individual who was also too hard on herself. She is described as ‘always wanting to do everything perfectly’, strongly wishing to live a life without fear, the anxiety being something that she complained to her father was genetic. There are scenes featuring Kamerling looking through Vivian’s belongings, trying on her clothes and quietly lying on her bed, hopelessly lost in thought and desperately attempting to extract any amount of information that she can that could point to a reason behind her sister’s suicide.

Contrastingly, Tom Lock Griffiths’ Waterfall, winner of the Best Experimental award for his essay-film, uniquely explores how the memory of grief is entrenched in the landscape, unable to be seen in every single moment but nonetheless always present. Griffiths explained that he began writing five to six years after his mother’s suicide, spending the former period self-medicating, insisting that he was coping. The film features underwater sounds and landscapes, depicting the act of remembering as falling through the water and seeing a distorted view of the world. In an interview after the screening, Griffiths’ explained that this was his mother’s third suicide attempt. Beside her body was a suicide note, a paper from the hospital detailing her mental health difficulties. Griffiths described that ‘because my mother was such a practical person, this suicide note tells me so much… that it tells me nothing’ and went on to add humour to the situation saying that ‘she probably thought well, this will do, I don’t need to write another’.

During the interview with Griffiths, many important discussions were had surrounding the stigma in speaking about mental health.

He explained that he occasionally

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refrains from telling people the cause of his mother’s death, reflecting on the way body language changes when he mentions the word suicide. People seem to become rigid when it’s mentioned, feeling pressured to ask the right questions, so they resort to uncomfortable silences and almost awkward, unpleasant distance.

In Vivian, Vivian, the word ‘suicide’ was not mentioned. Instead, people were speculating that Vivian might ‘do something crazy’. However, both Griffiths and Kamerling reflected

tv Talking to Anorexia BBC Two

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on the notion that everyone who commits suicide must be in a severely deteriorated mental state – but this is very far from the truth. In fact, Kamerling mentioned that she has had many people approach her after seeing the film, self-reflecting on how much they related to Vivian, sparking a well-needed conversation.

The film-makers and audience agreed we rarely open a discussion about death, and this may be preventing us from accepting mental health issues for what they really

are. Perhaps our culture affects our unwillingness to converse, one audience member suggested.

Regardless of the reasons, Vivian, Vivian and Waterfall are vulnerable but necessary forms of communicating something that unravels what is important in our world – much like diving into the water and discovering something new.

Reviewed by Tanya Bhayani, Scottish Correspondent and an undergraduate at the University of Aberdeen

Life-consuming If my Twitter feed was anything to go by, I was not alone in being curious/anxious about if and how Louis Theroux would manage the sensitive complexities of anorexia nervosa. An illness that is subject to many myths, assumptions and stigma, the challenge was to avoid the traps so many other programmes have fallen into.

Louis employed his unique semi-naive inquisitiveness to sensitively ask the questions you’d expect a layperson to ask when seeking to gain a better understanding.

His genuine empathy and compassion for the pain and suffering of those affected by anorexia, including their families, was palpable and emotional to watch.

The programme predominantly followed the journeys of Rosie, Jess, Ifsana and Janet, all of whom were extraordinarily brave in their candour, sharing their most private thoughts, emotions and personal battles. My Twitter feed once again provided a steady flow of feedback ranging from shock, sympathy, compassion and disbelief around the stories and statistics talked about. Visiting St Vincent’s Outpatient Unit and St Anne’s Hospital Phoenix Wing, which one patient described as ‘prison’ and another as having a ‘military’ approach to treatment, the programme swiftly delivered the clear and vital message that anorexia is a powerful, destructive, life-consuming and, sadly, life-threatening mental illness. It provided a fairly balanced narrative about the complexity of the illness in respect of the physical risks associated with the symptom of being dangerously underweight and the devastating impact on a person’s cognitive processing, emotional coping, as well as social and daily functioning.

The programme helpfully conveyed the message that anorexia is more than fussy eating/not eating or, indeed, to do with eating at all. Louis attempted to explore the reasons why people develop the disorder, which included a clinical explanation proffered by Dr Frances Connan; biological predisposition (certain personality traits that increase an individual’s susceptibility) and a combination of environmental factors. Perhaps more helpfully the women featured offered their own insightful understandings of origin and maintenance, including a form of self-punishment, fears of maturation, anxiety management (through seeking, exerting and having

control) and a functional coping mechanism to cope with emotions such as guilt and shame. Jess so eloquently stated that ‘people don’t get it’ and that ‘it’s not about attractiveness’. Hopefully this has gone some way to helping shut down this common myth. Furthermore, some of the confusing and complex psychological constructs associated with anorexia, which both exacerbate and maintain the disorder, were considered, including pocrescophobia (fear of gaining weight) and anosognosia (the lack of insight that a person suffering from a disease has about their condition). Louis accurately surmised that the disorder is one full of paradox and contradiction; the emotional, cognitive and physical pain of oscillating and battling between recovery and illness.

It has long been a struggle to get the world to acknowledge and validate male eating disorders, and it was a shame that aside from a glimpse of one male patient this was omitted; a real missed opportunity.

Furthermore, there were some unhelpful features, including a focus on weight charts (with a clear view of one patient’s lowest admission weight), shots of snack lists and portion sizes, as well as showing before and after pictures. This programme may have been triggering for those battling their own difficulties and I noted that Beat (the UK’s leading eating disorder support charity), along with many others, provided a sterling and necessary presence across social media platforms offering help, advice and support for those struggling to watch. It may have been prudent to prominently feature someone who has achieved full recovery to instil some hope.

Of course, this programme’s target audience was the general public, not mental health professionals or indeed those with eating disorders – and inevitably it could only cover so much in one hour. If it has increased awareness and promoted understanding that leads to compassion, then this is a good thing. The most powerful statement

by Louis was in response to Jess talking about anoretic behaviour as a ‘shameful secret’… Anorexia is an illness, to which no shame should be attached.

Reviewed by Dr Emily David, Lead Clinical Psychologist, Hampshire Specialist Eating Disorder Service

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the psychologist december 2017 culture

A safe space for tough topics There are few theatres that will take a risk on new writing. Intimate studio spaces can be found at the Royal Court and the Soho, Hampstead and National Theatres in which new work is tested in a supportive and immersive environment, particularly important for writing that explores subjects such as mental health. Since 1994 the Tristan Bates Theatre in London has also been facilitating and showcasing new writing. You file in to a safe space, which is so small you feel like you’re not only spectating, you’re also part of the play. More than usual, you’re on the side of the playwright, cast and crew.

Gin for Breakfast, a new work by Jess Moore, opens with the female protagonist, Jen, at her annual birthday party, hosted by her parents.

Jen is 29, and there’s a sense this isn’t a celebration of her birthday at all. Against a background of her parents’ house, her parents’ music and her parents’ friends, she and Robbie have taken refuge in the garden, with balloons and gin. As they get steadily more drunk, it becomes obvious that they both are in pain. Jen has a glittering career as corporate finance lawyer in the city, but is in an unsatisfactory relationship and wants to be doing good works at the UN.

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Robbie is hoping for a record deal while pulling pints and, the audience suspects, wants a relationship with Jen. Although they are more articulate than most drunk people as they discuss life, the universe and everything, the inescapable fact is that although alcohol loosens tongues, people are not terribly interesting when they are intoxicated.

When the audience is sober, this provides a real challenge for the playwright and the actors.

Fast forward a year, and another birthday party for Jen, and she and Robbie are again on the edges.

Something has shifted – they are rowing. However, it’s not clear what has shifted, or why. Robbie has come close to a record deal, but it hasn’t worked out. Jen is still doing corporate deals, and her sometime boyfriend has turned up to her party with someone less ‘hot’ (her word). Perhaps they are taking their increasing disappointments out on each other. Perhaps their feelings for each other are too unbalanced – she wants answers from him about what makes her unhappy, whereas he still wants a relationship. It’s all unspoken and, again, obscured by alcohol.

Flash forward another year as Robbie is lit up, then the stage is

plunged into blackness. Lights up again, and Robbie is unconscious in a hospital bed, with Jen visiting. We learn that he’s tried to call Jen on her birthday, then attempted suicide. Jen is consumed by guilt: ‘What did you do, Robbie?’

In the final scene Robbie is in an unnamed place, perhaps a mental health or rehab facility, and Jen arrives, taking refuge in the birthday ritual, with cake and bitter lemon, and news that she has changed jobs and is working for a charity.

Robbie is sober for the first time in the play, and, also for the first time, he’s disengaged from Jen. Both have moved on, but away from each other.

Gin for Breakfast didn’t quite feel like a strong enough version of a real story, although there were bits that showed genuine insight into alcohol addiction and depression, with honesty and courage. The Tristan Bates Theatre is almost a therapeutic space in which this could happen.

play Gin for Breakfast Tristan Bates Theatre

Reviewed by Sally Marlow, who is Associate Editor for Culture at The Psychologist and Public Engagement Fellow at King’s College London, and Hilary Brodsky, a former corporate lawyer, now a community mediator and a trustee of two charities

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‘…constantly at work in the laboratory of my own mind’ Jan Noyes on Conwy Lloyd Morgan, the first psychologist to become a Fellow of the Royal Society

When Conwy Lloyd Morgan was born in London on 6 February 1852, Great Ormond Street Hospital was about to admit its first patient and the Earl of Derby was about to form a minority Conservative government after the resignation of Earl Russell as Prime Minister. The first public toilet for women in the UK opened in Bedford Street, London, a few months after the first ‘Gents’ on Fleet Street.

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C

onwy Lloyd Morgan attended the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey, where, in his words, ‘Latin and Greek reigned supreme’, but in his teens he began reading George Berkeley’s A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, a 1710 text on the nature of human perception. He became intrigued by how a science of the mind could link up with the physical basis of the mind, and how mental ideas we have could only resemble other ideas and not physical objects. This would logically lead to a physical world made of ideas and not physical form, which would have to come from some other force such as God. Lloyd Morgan often talked about an incident at his grandfather’s table when he was a child whereby his grandfather declared that if no one had experienced sausages, then people would not have any idea that there were things called sausages. This was followed by a series of questions about the existence of objects, most of which Lloyd Morgan could not answer – much to his disquiet.

His father, who had worked with mining companies, suggested a career in engineering, so at the age of 17, Lloyd Morgan became a Duke of Cornwall scholar at the Royal School of Mines, London, completing a diploma in mining and metallurgy. A chance meeting at a dinner with Thomas Huxley (1825–1895) led to working under his tutelage. Huxley had been working with Charles Darwin (1809–1882) on the theory of evolution. After On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, Huxley had become known as ‘Darwin’s Bulldog’ because of his robust defence of the book, much to the chagrin of the Church and the Christian belief that God created life on earth. Lloyd Morgan had read extensively on philosophy (Locke, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Plato, Aristotle), but working with Huxley he felt he was lacking in knowledge of biology, more specifically, comparative anatomy and physiology. Interestingly, at this time, he refers to himself as a psychologist: ‘I was so far a psychologist as to be constantly at work in the laboratory of my own mind.’

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the psychologist december 2017 looking back

10 October 1876 in a house at 32 A significant moment for Lloyd Park Row, Clifton. Staff comprised Morgan was a physics lecture in two professors and five lecturers, 1870 given by Frederick Guthrie and classes were offered in 15 (1833–1886). Guthrie posed the subject areas. One of these was question: ‘What lies at the bottom of zoology, but neither psychology things?’ He said there are two types nor philosophy was mentioned. of answer: ‘Why do things happen?’

However, Lloyd Morgan was soon and ‘What is it precisely that does responsible for psychology lectures. happen?’ The first is outside the The following description appears in province of science while the second documentation from that time: ‘The is exactly what science is trying to Professor Jan Noyes object of these lectures is to get forth explain. When watching a moving is in the School of Experimental some of the principles of psychology billiard ball, is it just anatomical and Psychology, University of Bristol which are applied in the methods of physiological, or also mental, given J.Noyes@bristol.ac.uk educational procedure.’ conscious experience? The role of By his own admission, Lloyd the mind, and at what point and Morgan was fully occupied with the how it comprehends the motion of the day job but managed to publish The Springs of Conduct billiard ball, fascinated Lloyd Morgan.

(1892), the textbook Animal Biology (1889), Water and Its Guthrie gave Lloyd Morgan an offprint of Clifford’s Teachings (1882) and Facts Around Us (1884), and some Royal Institution Discourse on ‘Theories of the Physical papers on local geology relating to the Bristol region.

Forces’. It referred to the ‘wheel of life’, which was a However, his primary interest was in mental evolution, form of cinema show where the movements were jumpy and he declared that in geology and zoology, he ‘was no but the person viewed them as smooth. Lloyd Morgan more than a tolerably conscientious hireling’. He felt his applied this to the real world and to whether physical contribution to the advancement of knowledge was in events might be jumpy or smooth; he concluded that it’s mental evolution, and he was interested in the boundary the features of the movement, for example, fine-grained between instinctive behaviour and intelligence. During and orderly versus coarse-grained and disorderly, that the vacations, he worked on the book Animal Life and lead to our perception of the jumps. Clifford viewed the Intelligence (1890–1891). wheel of life as an illustration of our existence, which His first book, The Springs of Conduct: An Essay on Lloyd Morgan took to mean ‘experience’. So, events in Evolution, was published primarily as a ballon d’essai the physical world could be jumpy or smooth, but the in order to work out if his ‘voice human perceives them differently, would carry beyond the walls of which led Lloyd Morgan to pose the “He felt his contribution my classroom’. The next work on question, ‘Where and how does the Animal Life and Intelligence was a mind come in?’ to the advancement lengthy tome of 546 pages which In 1878 Lloyd Morgan became a of knowledge was in began with the nature of animals Lecturer in Physical Science, English mental evolution, and and physiological processes Literature, and Constitutional relating to life, moving to variation History in the Diocesan College, he was interested in and natural selection, heredity Rondebosch, Cape Town, South the boundary between and evolution, and finally, to the Africa. His preoccupation with instinctive behaviour and mental processes of both humans philosophy and the work of Berkeley and animals focusing on feelings, and contemporaries continued: intelligence.” habit and instinct in animals. The namely, that the physical world is a last chapter was one on mental representation of the ideas present in evolution, and whether the mind is the mental world. He also ‘wrestled evolved from matter. A flavour of the discourse can be with the problems of evolution’ and reread Darwin’s gathered from the conclusion: and then Romanes’ work on the animal mind. George Romanes, a friend of Charles Darwin and Thomas …the world we live in is phenomenal; since it is Huxley, was interested in the similarity of the cognitive to phenomena that we have to adapt our conduct; processes being carried out by humans and animals. since it is with phenomena that all our thoughts It is Romanes who is considered as having laid the and emotions have reference; since the world we foundations of comparative psychology. construct in mental symbolism is the world in which Six years later, Lloyd Morgan returned to England to we live and move and have our being. (p.502) take up a Chair in Geology and Zoology at the University College, Bristol. He replaced William Sollas, who was a This book marked a turning point for Lloyd Morgan geologist and anthropologist (which probably explains as he decided he needed to move from extensively the geology link). University College, Bristol was the surveying facts and theories to ‘close observation predecessor institution of the University of Bristol; it under experimental conditions’. Thus, Lloyd Morgan’s first opened to students (69 women and 30 men) on approach became empirical. This was in direct contrast

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to Romanes and others, who used anecdotal evidence to support their claims. In a laboratory setting with incubators Lloyd Morgan studied newly hatched chicks and ducklings as he needed to observe the first occasion of instinctive behaviour. He also used moorhens and older birds, and dogs, and was rigorous in terms of research integrity and accuracy. He studied the way in which his terrier, Tony, opened the garden gate, and concluded it was a result of trial and error not insight.

His empirical approach is summed up in this comment in his autobiography: ‘Drink always at the fountainhead in matters in which you are really interested.’ This is particularly pertinent today with social media, with the suggestion of not using third-party or second-hand evidence, but going to the source and forming your own opinion.

One of the problems with Darwin’s theories was that he often attributed human motivations to animals, known as the anthropomorphic or anthropopsychic interpretation of animal behaviour. This Lloyd Morgan also sought to address. His best-known work, Introduction to Comparative Psychology (1894), promoted the scientific method to counteract the ‘twin evils of anthropopsychic interpretation and the anecdotal method’ (p.59). Applying the law of parsimony from William of Ockham’s Razor, he developed what has become known as Morgan’s Canon: In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes, if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development.

In the early 1890s Lloyd Morgan worked with James Baldwin, Henry Osborn and Edward Poulton on the Baldwin effect. In sum, this hypothesised that the effect of learned behaviour on evolution is such that the ability to learn new behaviours will affect reproductive success.

In 2009, it was claimed that the Baldwin effect had been confirmed empirically.

More books followed with Habit and Instinct (1896), Animal Behaviour (1900), Interpretation of Nation (1906), Psychology for Teachers (1909), Instinct and Experience (1912), Emergent Evolution (1923), Life, Mind and Spirit (1926), Mind at the Crossways (1930), Animal Mind (1930) and The Emergence of Novelty (1933). With these earlier books on animal behaviour Lloyd Morgan sought to find out the extent to which behaviour was ‘rational or reflective’. His aim was ‘to get at the mind of the chick or the dog or another’. He declared it was not easy because you had ‘to get down to the bare sensory foundations of one’s mental equipment’. His preoccupation was between the body-story involving physics and physiology, and the mind-story involving psychology, and he suggested that all experimental work in the laboratory, from the simple to the complex, helps us to understand the mind-story.

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His later books were more about the metaphysical, the nature of the human mind, and moved away from animal behaviour to understanding humans. As an example, he distinguished three stages of mental evolution: percipient (perceiving events in the moment without reflection), perceptive and reflective. Reflective behaviour can be defined in terms of teleology and if all goes well, there will be an end in some form of achievement in the future. The psychological question of interest to Lloyd Morgan was whether unreflective procedures in humans and to a lesser extent, animals, could be interpreted as a prospective reference to an anticipated outcome. Thus, he was interested in the self in terms of future events and reflective behaviour. He was also concerned with rationality and morality, especially in relation to the biological laws relating to human nature.

In 1899 C. Lloyd Morgan became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in recognition of his scientific work in psychology. He was the first person to achieve this in the field of psychology.

The University Charter for the University of Bristol was granted in 1909 and Conwy Lloyd Morgan accepted the Vice-Chancellorship of the new institution. After around three months, he resigned and returned to teaching and research, as the Chair of Psychology and Ethics. In 1925 Lloyd Morgan retired to Hastings. He died at his home, 23 Elphinstone Road, on 6 March 1936. He is buried in the Borough Council Cemetery, Hastings.

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Find out more online at www.bps.org.uk

President Nicola Gale President Elect Professor Kate Bullen Honorary General Secretary Dr Carole Allan Honorary Treasurer Professor Ray Miller Chair, Membership and Standards Board Dr Mark Forshaw Chair, Education and Public Engagement Board Vacant Chair, Research Board Professor Daryl O’Connor Chair, Professional Practice Board Alison Clarke

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BPS Annual Conference Nottingham, 2–4 May 2018 See p.20 Division of Counselling Psychology Annual Conference Gateshead, 6–7 July 2018 See p.44 BPS conferences and events See p.50 CPD workshops 2017/18 See p.79

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All enquiries should be addressed to the Leicester office (see inside front cover for address).

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Extract from The Charter

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AZ the

psychologist

Karla Novak

to

L ...is for Loneliness

Suggested by Clare Uytman, who is a lecturer at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh @ClareUytman ‘At a time when communication is seemingly easier than ever before, discussions of isolation within this interconnected world seem even more pertinent.’

According to The New Psychology of Health, a 2017 book from Catherine Haslam and colleagues, loneliness ‘is among the most important social factors that compromises the health and wellbeing of older adults… isolation does not always lead to the experience of loneliness.

This is because loneliness tends to be experienced primarily when the social relationships that a person has are at odds with those they would ideally like.’

Try Roald Dahl’s The BFG for a fictional depiction of loneliness, particularly the film version (review on our website).

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John Cacioppo has pointed to the ‘civilising influence’

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coming soon… rethinking addiction; plus all our usual news, views, reviews, interviews, and much more...

of loneliness: children sent into the corner for misbehaving come back as ‘better social citizens.

They’ll now take the other child’s perspective; they’ll share their toys.’

In a 2011 article on the social value of pets, Deborah Wells included one of our favourite ever lines: ‘Hunt et al. (1992) found that a woman sitting in a park received significantly more social approaches from passersby whenever she was accompanied by a rabbit or turtle, than when she sat alone with a television set or blowing bubbles.’

Feeling lonely can make you hungry, and worse when you’re sick, according to studies covered on our Research Digest blog (search ‘lonely’).

A to Z Tweet your suggestions for any letter to @psychmag using the hashtag #PsychAtoZ or email the editor on jon.sutton@ bps.org.uk Entries so far are collated at https:// thepsychologist. bps.org.uk/ psychology-z

contribute... reach 50,000 colleagues, with something to suit all. See www.thepsychologist.org.uk/ contribute or talk to the editor, Dr Jon Sutton, jon.sutton@bps.org.uk, +44 116 252 9573 comment... email the editor, the Leicester office, or tweet @psychmag to advertise... reach a large and professional audience at bargain rates: see details on inside front cover

Search for more on this topic and any other via www.bps.org.uk/thepsychologist and www.bps.org.uk/digest

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