PERFORMANCE AT WORK, CHOICE, SELF-HELP
The way we perform within our professional roles of employment influences my practice. I’m interested in how we conduct ourselves as employees. At work we act a certain way but why does this differ from the way we interact with friends, family, strangers? Your work personality can differ from your home personality. You can be outgoing and shy, patient and impatient, caring and uncaring. Our voices, body language and emotions change. We dress differently, sometimes we are instructed to; we have a uniform or a dress code. Psychologists refer to these differing traits as ‘Schemas’. Schemas are mental structures that guide how we think and what we do. Although psychologists can describe how we compartmentalise our traits, how do we know when we are acting? Are our personalities so complex that we are equipped to manage strands of personalities for different scenarios? And are there any long term affects to ‘faking it’? A 2015 study by Sanna Balsari-Palsule, a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge looked into this question. The study found that when naturally talkative and social people had to be quiet and solitary for long periods of time at their desks, they reported less job satisfaction and more stress than the extroverts whose jobs allowed them to act like themselves.
Our working environment often moulds the way we act at work. Protocols we are instructed to go through at work impacts how we carry ourselves. These protocols vary depending on what role and company you work for. Interactions in morning meetings affect the way we interact with fellow employees. We use business jargon and acronyms so often it becomes part of our daily conversation. And employees use motivational tactics and training schemes to ‘get the job done!’. I use satirical methods in my practice when focusing on how we conduct ourselves in our professional lives. Investigating whether we have to ‘fake it to make it.’
I’m influenced by choice because it affects us all from birth until death. Whether we have no choice at all, little control over our choices or we believe we have complete free will; choice is a word that affects us all. My current interest in choice is the affect it has on Western society. Everyday decisions, both big and small, have become increasingly complex due to the over-whelming abundance of choice. For many Britons, choice is guarantee of freedom. But having too much choice can be detrimental. An overload of choice can make you question your decisions before you’ve made them. It can lead to unrealistically high expectations and self blame for any failure. The result can often lead to decision making paralyses, anxiety and stress.
In 2000, psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper published a study that reflects our current approach to choice. On one day, shoppers at an upscale food market saw a display table with 24 varieties of gourmet jam. Those who sampled the spreads received a coupon for $1 off any jam. On another day, shoppers saw a similar table, except that only six varieties of the jam were on display. The large display attracted more interest than the small one. But when the time came to purchase, people who saw the large display were one-tenth as likely to buy as people who saw the small display. Although this study is now seventeen years old, we are still learning to cope with too much choice.
Free will and choice are an important aspect of society, whether it’s limited or limitless. The development of technology, the growth in consumerism, and the influence of social media affect how we choose now more than ever. Using humour, my current practice explores the notion that more isn’t always better.
Self-help and life coaching are an important theme within my practice. I struggle to understand why the self-help industry is a lucrative ‘business’, profiting on our physical and mental health. Some self-help information (books, talks, classes, films etc.) is available thanks to health professionals, clinicians and scientific researchers and contains scientifically proven information. However, a considerable amount of self-help advice is not grounded in actual psychological research or clinical guidelines. According to Steve Salerno, author of Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless:
“Though modern self-help had its origins in works by classically trained psychiatrists... today’s leading exponents have as much business trading in mental health as they do performing neurosurgery,” he wrote in The Wall Street Journal, “They’re snake-oil salesmen, pitching regimens that have never been validated.”
Highlighting the humour in this ‘self-soothing’ business, my work attempts to open up the conversation on how self-help “experts” often manipulate people into thinking their issues will be solved by simply reading their latest guide on “how to stop worrying and start living!” My interest in this industry emphasises the importance of seeking professional help if you have a problem that persists or interferes with your everyday life.
