Category Archives: Human Behavior

Human Behavior

UW biochemist Scott Coyle awarded 2020 Packard Fellowship – University of Wisconsin-Madison

Scott M. Coyle, a University of WisconsinMadison assistant professor of biochemistry, has been named a 2020 Packard Foundation Fellow in Science and Engineering.

Coyle, whose research focuses on understanding and engineering microscale molecular and cellular machines, is one of 20 early career scientists from across the United States to be awarded this years Packard Fellowship. The fellowship provides $875,000 in flexible funding over five years.

Scott Coyles research could have could have far-reaching applications, from expanding the scope and utility of cell-based therapies deployed inside the human body to fight human disease to developing smart micro-technologies that could scavenge damaged environmental sites to be used for bioremediation. Photo by Robin Davies

Coyles project will develop models for how the structure and behavior of single cells which he likens to microscopic robots that move through, interact with, and respond to their environment are encoded and programmed by their smaller components: themotors, filaments, signaling molecules, and so on that that are used to build and control the physical machinery of the cell. His goal is to reveal strategies for building and organizing molecules into complex machines that scientists can one day use to engineer new cell behaviors.

What Coyle learns could have far-reaching applications, from expanding the scope and utility of cell-based therapies deployed inside the human body to fight human disease to developing smart micro-technologies that could scavenge damaged environmental sites to be used for bioremediation. The work could even lead to potential computing systems powered by biochemistry instead of electricity.

To do this we explore a broad range of cellular systems, says Coyle, from human cells that crawl around your body to single celled protozoans that can jump, forage, and hunt for prey like tiny animals. Despite how different these cells appear, they are all built from a similar toolbox of molecular components, but ones which are deployed in different ways not so unlike how you can make a whole bunch of different electronic devices out of resistors, capacitors and transistors.

Coyle was drawn to apply for the fellowship in part because of its support of collaborative and creative approaches to research. The Packard Fellowships flexible funding allows scientists the freedom to pursue research in innovative ways. In Coyles case, this flexibility provides the resources for his lab to obtain and work with materials and biological systems, such as protozoan cells, which may otherwise be difficult to secure with traditional funding streams.

Dr. Coyle is an extraordinary young scientist with a rich array of academic and industry research experiences, says Brian Fox, associate vice chancellor for research policy and integrityand biochemistry department chair. He is uniquely poised to integrate his training and break new ground with an exciting research program that will redefine how we understand the systems biology of cell behavior.

For Coyle, the fellowship is about a big-picture research vision. Collaboration and innovation will drive Coyles project, as he works with researchers across disciplines at UWMadison, including computer science for technologies in machine vision and deep learning as applied to cell biology and limnology to study Madisons lakes, a source of myriad understudied protozoan cells.

We are entering an era in which the extraordinary biology of living systems will provide us a foundation upon which to build an exciting new class of molecular technologies, says Coyle. Getting to interact with physicists, ecologists and engineers will provide invaluable new perspectives and help me approach my own research questions from a fresh and inspired point of view.

Coyle is UWMadisons 16th Packard Fellowship winner, chosen from among 100 nominees from 50 universities across the country by an advisory panelof distinguished scientists and engineers.

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UW biochemist Scott Coyle awarded 2020 Packard Fellowship - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Human Behavior

Judge Amy Coney Barrett and the Krylenko Test | Lawrence W. Reed – Foundation for Economic Education

By any standard, Judge Amy Coney Barrett appears to be a superbly qualified, first-rate nominee to the US Supreme Court. That would normally be a widely shared and bi-partisan perspective of someone with her experience and reputation, but these are hardly normal times. They are hyper-politicized, ultra-partisan, politically correct, and hysterically ideological times.

For example: Until this nomination, court-packing meant stuffing a bench with additional justices. To a significant number of public figures who ought to know better (and probably do), court-packing now is when a President exercises his constitutional duty to nominate a single person to fill a vacancy. George Orwell would call this startling transformation of court-packing Newspeak.

As in Orwells 1984, the purpose of todays Newspeak is to serve the interests of power and power-seekers, no matter what, the truth be damned. Politics is everything to this crowd. It is apparently what makes their lives worth living, which is a profoundly sad commentary on their balance and priorities. To cast aside such values as fairness and honesty for the sake of political power is about as anti-social as human behavior gets.

As I watched the first day of hearings on Judge Barretts nomination, I was reminded of a largely forgotten Soviet legal theoretician from decades ago. His name was Nikolai Krylenko. Judge Barrett is being given the Krylenko treatment by Democrat senators like Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, meaning this: The only thing that matters is whether she will vote their party line in future cases.

Under the communist dictatorship of Lenin and then Stalin, Krylenko (1885-1938) rose through the Soviet Unions legal system to become Peoples Commissar for Justice and a Prosecutor General. He was a leading practitioner of the theory of socialist legality, which held that an accused persons innocence or guilt depended on that persons politics (real or imagined). It sounds nuts and indeed, it was. It was the stuff of Orwells nightmare, and one of the reasons the Soviet Union thankfully perished of its own poison.

In The Gulag Archipelago, the famous Soviet dissident and Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn recounted an episode involving Krylenko. Shortly after Lenins Bolsheviks assumed power in 1917, an admiral named Shchastny was sentenced by one of the regimes judges to be shot within 24 hours. When some in the courtroom expressed shock, it was Krylenko who responded thusly: What are you worrying about? Executions have been abolished. But Shchastny is not being executed; he is being shot.

To Krylenko, the only morality was what served the Party and the State, which of course in the Soviet Union were one and the same. If your politics were not correct, you would be corrected, one way or the other. In Richard Pipes authoritative book, The Russian Revolution, Krylenko is quoted as exclaiming, We must execute not only the guilty. Execution of the innocent will impress the masses even more.

At the Senate hearings for the Barrett nomination, it was apparent the first day that the Judge was being Krylenkoed. Hostile senators pronounced their verdicts before she had uttered a word, and those verdicts had nothing to do with Barretts stellar qualifications or keen legal mind. Legal analyst and George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley commented,

What they were suggesting is that they will be voting against her because of what they expected her vote would be in a pending case, and that is a conditional confirmationHere, the senators seem to be saying, Im not even going to listen; Im going to vote against you because I dont think youre going to vote the right way.

Judge Barrett clearly articulated her judicial philosophy, borne out by the way she has ruled at the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit: She believes the role of a judge or justice is to follow the Constitution and the law as written, not make stuff up in the service of a political agenda. How ironic that this is a point of fiery contention. Senators who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and the law hate the guts of a judge who does just that!

Perhaps Amy Coney Barrett should tell those hostile senators, If the Constitution stands in the way of your ideology, Ill gladly scrap it on your behalf. All power to the State! She would pick up a few votes in the process.

What happened to Nikolai Krylenko? Its called what goes around, comes around. The very system of politicized, arbitrary judgments he wielded against his fellow citizens came back to bite him. He lost favor with the politicians (namely, Stalin) and fell victim to the Great Purge of 1938. Accused of anti-Party activity, he was tortured until he confessed to crimes he never committed and summarily executed.

The rule of law did not exist in the Soviet Union of Joseph Stalin and Nikolai Krylenko. In its place, what prevailed was the rule of menpower-mad men of no conscience. Civilized people will not pity the likes of Krylenko, but they will always regret the innocent that his legal theory victimized. Shame on us if we allow his brand of evil to ever take root among us.

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Judge Amy Coney Barrett and the Krylenko Test | Lawrence W. Reed - Foundation for Economic Education

Human Behavior

Dolly Alm achieves her dreams, works with NASA – The Post

Dolly Alm wont stop until she achieves her dreams.

Throughout her whole life, Alm has dreamed of working for NASA and helping facilitate future human life in space. She wants to help by working with the well-being, motivation and team dynamics of NASA staff. Now, her dream is within reach.

Alm had her first son when she was in high school. He was about 3 years old when she started her first year of college to become a nurse. Her grandmother helped her attend classes and raise a child. But after she passed away, Alm was left to be a full-time caregiver while also taking classes and working full-time.

You know that saying, Once you take a break, youre most likely not going to go back? Alm said. I do fall into that scenario because life happened.

Now 39, Alm is a junior working toward a degree in organizational behavior, a major she designed through specialized studies. She studies psychology within an organization, or human behavior in the workplace, and wants to enter into grad school for industrial and organizational psychology.

However, her dream remains the same: to work for NASA. It wasnt until she took the strategic leadership onboarding class with Kim Jordan that she started to turn those dreams into a reality.

In the course, Jordan created a project where students experience strategy by creating one for themselves and their professional development. In the project, students were asked to look at an industry and identify what their dream job would be and where they are now in terms of getting there.

Jordans job is to figure out how to close the gap between where her students are today and where they need to be to fulfill their dreams.

Dolly has a big dream, Jordan said. She was willing to engage with that dream. She is a slightly non-traditional student slightly older, so I think she comes back to school with a real passion for How can I make this happen?

After speaking with Alm about her specific desired work for NASA, Jordan encouraged her to shake out the Bobcat tree and see if she could find some connections in the industry. What they found in their search for closing the gap was the LSPACE program.

The NASA LSPACE program is a free, online, interactive program open to undergraduate STEM students interested in pursuing a career with NASA. There are two academies: Mission Concept Academy and the NASA Proposal Writing and Evaluation Experience Academy.

Alm is participating in the 12-week Proposal Writing and Evaluation Experience Academy. Students get partnered in a team and work together to write a proposal for technology that NASA currently needs. At the end of the program, the winning proposal and team receive $10,000 to proceed with the concept.

Though receiving admittance into this program doesnt guarantee an internship, Alm says its an important tool to have on her resume when NASA reviews her internship application in the future.

What I hope to get out of this is a skill set because Ive never participated in proposal writing, which will be necessary for me to receive grants in the future for research that Im doing and working with NASA, Alm said. And its just interesting, the amount of creativity and thoughts and how the team works together to visualize these ideas and work together to make that happen. Its actually a phenomenal experience.

James Richards, Alms oldest son, is proud to watch his mom achieve her dreams, and is happy that she didnt give up.

Honestly, my moms always proven to me that she can do whatever she puts her mind to, Richards said. So its still amazing that she goes out there and does all she does, but shes always proven to me that if she wants to do it, she can do it.

Jordan is not only proud to watch one of her students succeed, but also knows Alms story is symbolic for many other people.

For every student on this campus, theres a part of Dolly in them, Jordan said. Some students could use a little more help in bringing out that part of themselves that really does dream big and wants to have somebody help them and have a process to connect their big dream to making it happen. I hope that people read her story and see it also as an opportunity for themselves.

As for Alm, shes just excited to be taking tangible steps to achieve her ambition.

Being 39 and trying to do this now, Im so focused on me, Alm said. Because I think its time. I put everybody before me and now Its just my time, and its coming together so nicely, and its just really exciting.

@rileyr44

rr855317@ohio.edu

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Dolly Alm achieves her dreams, works with NASA - The Post

Human Behavior

Harry Harding on the Rapidly Changing US-China Relationship – The Diplomat

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The Diplomat and the U.S.-China Perception Monitor recently had a joint interview on the topic of U.S.-China relations with Professor Harry Harding of the University of Virginia.

Harding is a specialist on Asia and U.S.-Asian relations. His major publications include Organizing China: The Problem of Bureaucracy, 1949-1966; Chinas Second Revolution: Reform after Mao; A Fragile Relationship: the United States and China since 1972; and the chapter on the Cultural Revolution in the Cambridge History of China.

Below are Hardings thoughts on the state of U.S.-China relations, from the decline of the engagement policy to the COVID-19 fallout.

What explains the rapid decline in U.S.-China relations over the course of 2020? How much of the current decline can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic?

Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific.

I think some of the decline in US-China relations can be attributed to the pandemic. There are some polls in the United States showing that a significant number of Americans blame China as being the origin of the pandemic. They say that China didnt act quickly enough to prevent it spreading outside its borders to other countries. Now, China itself is saying that it might weaponize some vaccines that it develops. In other words, it will favor some friendly countries in distributing the vaccine and punish unfriendly countries by denying it. The same was said about personal protective equipment in an earlier stage of the pandemic.

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I should also add that Chinas reluctance to have an early independent outside investigation of the origins of the virus inside China has contributed to the impact of COVID on the U.S.-China relationship. But I have to emphasize that this was simply adding something to a much wider set of concerns here in the United States. Looking back over a longer period of time, of course, theres been the trade dispute, the question of the access to the Chinese market for both exporters and foreign investors in China, Chinas assertiveness in the South China Sea, its threatening military activities around Taiwan, the proposed law that would have allowed the extradition of alleged criminals from Hong Kong to China, and the national security legislation Beijing imposed on Hong Kong. Its been one thing after another.

Different groups in the United States have been interested in different issues. Some of them are concerned about human rights. My students, for example, have been concerned for some time about Xinjiang. Im a little surprised by this because this was not an area of much concern before. Others who know Hong Kong, where I am right now, are more concerned about Hong Kong. Its a very long list of concerns, and COVID has simply added another item to that list.

Chinese officials often claim the Trump administrations harsh rhetoric towards China is simply a case of a few politicians seeking personal gains during an election year. Would you agree with this? What are the prospects for U.S.-China relations in the post-election period?

If Chinese officials really believe that this is just a matter of a few politicians, basically referring to Trump and some Republican senators who are seeking personal gain, they are getting very bad analysis from those who are providing it. It is a much bigger problem than that. I said a minute ago that its not just COVID, and I can add now its not just Trump either. There has been a sea change in American attitudes towards China over the last few years. And again, it depends on who in the United States you are looking at. I think in the analytic community, both inside and outside government, a major turning point was the global financial crisis of 2008, when there was a growing sense in the United States that Chinese analysts and Chinese leaders were seeing a major shift in the balance of power internationally, away from the United States and toward China.

Of course, America was the source, the origin of the global financial crisis. It was affected by it very severely. China managed to protect itself from it quite effectively and it recovered fairly quickly. The balance of power was shifting, as was the balance of what might be called normative power. The American model of liberalization, especially in finance, came under very sharp and appropriate criticism at that time. So, China was already becoming more confident and more assertive and some people in the United States were picking that up as early as 2008. It intensified after 2012 with the emergence of a new leadership in China. The reassessment of China then spread to the policy community. I sensed the change of attitudes in the policy community around 2014, and especially in 2015. More recently, it has been very evident in public opinion more broadly.

The percentage of Americans having an unfavorable view of China was 12 percent around 2012 and then began to increase dramatically, reaching 47 percent in 2017. And then it soared to 66 percent this year. So a very large majority of Americans now have an unfavorable view of China. Another way to put it is that the previous low point in American attitudes towards China occurred in 1989 and 1990 after the Tiananmen crisis. We basically have wiped out all of the improvement in American public opinion towards China that occurred very slowly after that. To be sure, there are some differences: Young people are somewhat less critical of China than older people and Democrats are somewhat less critical than Republicans. But even in those categories, a majority now have unfavorable views of China.

One of Chinas soothing scenarios about the future of U.S.-China relations is that its all about Trump or, as you said, a small number of politicians who are using it for their electoral advantage. Unfortunately, thats not true.

What will happen if Biden is elected? Another soothing scenario is that Biden will make everything go back to normal. Unfortunately, the new normal is now quite critical of China. I think there will be differences between Biden and Trump. In fact, I think China might properly be more concerned about Biden than about Trump, because I think that Biden will have a smarter strategy for competing with China. He will see the need to form closer partnerships with our allies in dealing with some of the challenges presented by China. Hell focus on the need to restore the vitality of the American economy and make the American democratic institutions work better. I think that he will return to a smarter approach to competing with China, but he will not give up that competition altogether.

Where did things go wrong with the old engagement policy? If China works on issues related to reciprocity, do you think two countries could go back to some form of enhanced engagement policy?

Originally, in the mid-1990s, engagement was simply a decision by the United States to resume official, and then unofficial, dialogue with China on a wide range of issues. You may remember that after the June 4th crisis of 1989, the United States cut back on almost every kind of official interaction between the United States and China. And when we did interact, it was almost entirely on the question of human rights, reflecting the American concern about what happened in Tiananmen Square on June 4th, 1989. And comprehensive engagement that was the original term meant resuming interaction at various levels with the Chinese government and with various sectors of Chinese society on a wide range of issues, not just human rights. I think that in that sense of interaction, discussion and negotiation, engagement is always going to be there. It is inevitable and it is necessary.

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In addition, but as you just implied, engagement then began to include a wider range of strategies. Some of these were good ideas that were not well implemented. Others I think were simply naive, and Im writing a book about this. Its hard to summarize in a few words, but I think that the most naive vision, and something that weve seen again and again in the history of American relations, is that if we simply interact with China, not just government to government, but rather economy to economy, and society to society, then ultimately China is going to become just like the United States.

This is a vision that Americans have had ever since the 1920s and 1930s. Some people call it the missionary approach in American policy towards China; then it was largely religious. We were going to convert Chinese to Christianity. But over the years it took on a much more secular form. The best example I always think of is a Nebraska senator named Kenneth Wherry who summarized some of this in the phrase, With Gods help [so there is still the religious component], we will lift Shanghai up, up, ever up, until its just like Kansas City. Kansas City was at the time one of the most modern cities in the United States, and that was his vision for Shanghai. That was naive then, and it remains naive now. Chinas history is very different; the political values that history has created, the need for a strong government to protect against famine, against external threats and against domestic chaos, are very deeply ingrained in Chinese political culture.

But America is organized around different principles; our fear is not of a weak government, but of a strong government and government tyranny. Our values are individual, not collective. And unless there is a major value change in both countries which I think would be unlikely, or else very far off, I think its very difficult to imagine that China will become just like the United States, or the U.S. like China. The idea that international issues would drive us together, whether its COVID or terrorism or any other major issue, or that economic interdependence would be a solid base for the relationship, was also nave because once a competition starts then the question becomes not just what do we both gain from that cooperation, but who gains more.

One way I like to explain it to the Chinese friends is that the Chinese often talk about win-win relationships. And yes, in academic game theory, where both sides win in absolute terms, that should be a favorable outcome. Each side is better off with the cooperation than it was before. But a more sophisticated game theory raises the question of relative gain. Who wins more? That has been the problem in the U.S.-China relationship, Many Americans have felt that China is winning more than the United States, and equally important that its winning by unfair strategies and tactics in its game. Some cynics have turned win-win around and defined it as China wins once, and then China wins again, and then keeps winning round after round of the game. So, I think that comprehensive engagement was based on some theories of international relations and human behavior that have been proven to be somewhat naive.

The challenge now is to accept that this is going to be mainly a competitive relationship, but then decide how we can we get the benefits of a healthy competition, and prevent it from going off into very costly forms of competition. Arms races can be risky and expensive. Its even worse when competition degenerates into open confrontation, whether its economic or even worse, military.

In an interview that you did in 2017, you said there were a number of countries that were pursuing quiet balancing against China. You hoped that the Chinese leadership could see this and make adjustments accordingly. Three years later, has this counterweight grown stronger? Do you think that China has made any adjustments since then in its foreign policies?

Yes, China has seen the quiet balancing, and it has made adjustments, but the adjustments have quite frankly been in the wrong direction. They have involved doubling down on using pressure rather than conciliation to deal with issues with the United States, and especially with smaller countries. That reflects one of the problems with how China views what motivates other countries.

It believes that the promise of economic benefit, the threat of military pressure, and sometimes the threat of economic sanctions is entirely what motivates people. Some people have used an analogy from the game of bridge, which of course was Deng Xiaopings favorite card game, identifying which suit of cards are trumps. To stress the use of force is to say clubs are trumps. You hit somebody or threaten to do so and thats how you get what you want. The Chinese have gone one step further, saying if the trump suit is not clubs, its diamonds; its money. In other words, its material threat and material reward that motivate people.

Of course those things fear and reward are powerful motivators, but they arent the only ones. The suit that is missing from this analysis, of course, is hearts. Hearts you could see as values and identities, and basically thats where China does not, I think, give sufficient weight. China is still, in this sense, highly Marxist and materialist. Dialectical materialism is still very much a part of Chinese thinking especially, but maybe not exclusively, for those who are trained in Marxist-Leninist ideology.

I think that the Chinese have never really understood the rise of local identity in Taiwan or Hong Kong. They just dont seem to understand why so many people in both these places, despite their ethnicity, family background, language and culture, are saying that they are not Chinese. Why is that? Its values. They now have different values that are, some would say, post-modern. These are the values that people more often begin to incorporate into their lives after their basic needs for personal security and personal material survival are met. These are values of freedom of speech, creativity, freedom of travel, or many other individualistic values that I said are so important to Americans as well. So I think that is what Beijing just doesnt seem to understand; it thinks that either clubs or diamonds are the way to play the game with the United States, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Thats part of the answer but not the whole answer. To emphasize only those two, especially in their coercive form, is counterproductive; it gets exactly the opposite effect of what you want. Its important to give sufficient attention to the importance of hearts, values and soft power.

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Harry Harding on the Rapidly Changing US-China Relationship - The Diplomat

Human Behavior

Navigating Office Politics When There Is No Office – Harvard Business Review

Executive Summary

What happens to office politics when you remove the office? Although virtual work has existed forsome time now, the pandemic has dramatically changed the context of work byfully removing the office, eliminating interpersonal contact and physical human interaction and with it, opportunities toengage in tacticsof manipulation or impression management.What does this all mean for office politics? Do the old norms and rules still apply? Can we expect a reduction in bias and nepotism, and an increase inmeritocratic talent managementpractices? Is technology sanitizing the dark side of human behavior at work, forcing us to focus on our actual job performance, reducing the impact of informal networks and soft power at work? To be sure, an office-less environment isnt a panacea. Human nature hasnt changed overnight, and back channel communication and power plays wont simply evaporate. But by following the strategies outlined in this article, youre far more likely to be politically successful during this liminal time as our conceptions of office life continue to shift.

Across jobs, companies, and industries, peoples success has always depended not just on what they produce or deliver, but also on their ability to navigate the murky waters of office politics. A great deal of scientific research has explored the hidden potent forces underlying the formal and informal power dynamics in any group or organization, unsurprisingly highlighting the pervasive and sometimes toxic nature of office politics.

But what happens to office politics when you remove the office? Although virtual work has existed for some time now, the pandemic has dramatically changed the context of work by fully removing the office, eliminating interpersonal contact and physical human interaction and with it, opportunities to engage in tactics of manipulation or impression management. As one of our clients recently lamented: Without the office, how can I pretend to work?

Many people have by now recovered a certain degree of normalcy by returning to the office, albeit less often, and without as many colleagues around. In fact, for a large proportion of the industrialized workforce, the big bulk of work continues to be done from home, with most work interactions confined to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.

What does this all mean for office politics? Do the old norms and rules still apply? Can we expect a reduction in bias and nepotism, and an increase in meritocratic talent management practices? Is technology sanitizing the dark side of human behavior at work, forcing us to focus on our actual job performance, reducing the impact of informal networks and soft power at work?

Even without the office, its nave to expect office politics to disappear, much like a companys culture isnt erased just because people are working from home. In our view, there are three key opportunities that professionals can seize during this transition to office-less work politics:

The opportunity to reset relationships. First, the shift to remote work has profoundly upended the patterns of how we interact at work, and this represents an opportunity to reset your relationships with your boss and colleagues. If youve been less than successful in the past at office politics, this is a moment to reflect on how you can turn the situation around.

Start by considering whether your boss had reason justified or not to question your ability to deliver on assignments as promised. The shift to virtual work is your chance to lay out expectations for both performance and communication channels. If youre crystal clear about how frequently she would like you to communicate with her, and in what way, it gives you the opportunity to over deliver and ensure that she never has to question whether youre working on the right things, or whether theyll be done in a timely fashion.

Then, consider the social side of office politics. Its possible that others invested more time and energy in building personal relationships with colleagues, while you held yourself at a remove. The pandemic provides a natural opportunity to engage more deeply whether or not youve done so in the past. Try suggesting catch-up calls or genuinely inquiring about others well-being.

The opportunity for substance to prevail. At one time or another, almost all of us have had an irritating coworker who is all hat and no cattle, touting their (minimal) accomplishments and charming their way into undeserved promotions. That form of office politics is almost universally reviled and thankfully, its much harder for braggarts and showboats to prevail in a virtual environment. They dont have easy access to interstitial moments in the breakroom or walking out to the parking lot after work to press their agendas. And in a world where every extra minute on a Zoom meeting feels like a lifetime, their bloviating and chest-thumping can be seen for the waste of time that it is. A virtual work environment offers much more of an opportunity to be judged on the output of your work, rather than your messaging around it.

In some cases, the shift to virtual may even help limit unconscious biases. Automattic, the company behind WordPress, actually hires job candidates via chat; new employees often have never spoken to someone live before they start the job. Were always looking at what we can do to make it as much about the work, company founder Matt Mullenweg told The New York Times, and not extraneous stuff, like how youre dressed, how you showed up, how you sound, how you look, where you live. All those things ultimately dont matter, particularly for an internet company. So, lets just remove it from the process entirely.

The opportunity to diversify your networks. These days, many companies if not most are international. The discussion around working virtually often focuses on the fact that its harder to network with colleagues with whom you used to share an office, for the obvious reason that we tend to build deeper emotional and social connections with people who are physically closer to us. But working from remote locations also gives you an advantage: the opportunity to build relationships with colleagues and clients worldwide that you may have neglected otherwise. In that sense, virtual work is a great leveler, because it reduced our bias for working with those who are close to us, which, by extension, invites us to work with people who are not just physically distant, but also psychologically more diverse (culture and values travel together).

So, this is a great opportunity to diversity your networks. You can do this by setting up one-on-one calls, or even engaging in small ways, such as sending an email to check in, or forwarding interesting articles. This becomes an important competitive advantage because so many professionals because they havent consciously focused on it tend to have remarkably homogeneous networks, filled with people who work at their same company or in their same office. You can make your network much more resilient, and ultimately more useful, by focusing on developing bridging capital building heterogeneous connections with colleagues who are different from you and connecting with colleagues in other parts of the world.

To be sure, an office-less environment isnt a panacea. Human nature hasnt changed overnight, and back channel communication and power plays wont simply evaporate. Its also possible that, as the world slowly reopens and some professionals come back to the office, we run the risk of developing a two-tiered system of office politics, where the people who are able to be together in the office experience preferential treatment compared to those who are still working from home, even in the absence of actual performance differences between both groups. Those are legitimate concerns. But by following the strategies above, youre far more likely to be politically successful during this liminal time as our conceptions of office life continue to shift.

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Navigating Office Politics When There Is No Office - Harvard Business Review

Human Behavior

Researcher explains benefits of using geotagged content in research – UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff – University at Buffalo Reporter

In a recent commentary published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, UB geographic information science expert Yingjie Hu and colleague Ruo-Qian Wang wrote about how Twitters decision to remove users ability to tag the precise locations of Tweets might affect research in disaster response, public health and other areas.

The authors concluded that the change may not have a pivotal impact on studies that rely on this kind of content,as a large proportion of precisely geotagged posts in three Twitter datasets they examined originated from third-party apps like Instagram (the datasets were originally collected for other studies examining peoples reaction to extreme weather events). The researchers also noted that Twitter still allows for less precise geotagging, enabling users to tag places such as a restaurant, a park, a city or a country, as opposed to a precise latitude and longitude.

Nevertheless, the recent change raises a number of issues that scientists must consider, Hu and Wang said in their Sept. 7 piece.

From a privacy protection perspective, Twitters decision reflects the concerns of society in general on privacy issues. Researchers should increase our awareness of the potential privacy and safety issues that may exist in our data and research practice, and should follow relevant guidelines, such as those from institutional review boards (IRBs), to protect the privacy of individuals, according to Hu, assistant professor of geography, College of Arts and Sciences, and Wang, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, Rutgers University-New Brunswick School of Engineering, writing in Nature Human Behavior.

In an interview with UBNow, Hu explained how geotagged social media content can enable valuable research.

After a major disaster, such as an earthquake or a hurricane, geotagged information can provide firsthand information about the situation on the ground, Hu said. Even before first responders arrive at those locations, information posted directly by the people from the disaster-affected area can inform disaster response.

Another application for geotagged content is in public health. From geotagged tweets, we can know what people are talking about and from which locations, and we can further identify the geographic areas where people are talking about flu, cough or other health-related keywords. In political science, geotagged posts can provide some understanding of peoples political opinions in different geographic locations, or of how people are reacting to new government policies.

As scientists conduct this type of research, Hu believes its vital not only for researchers like himself to think about privacy and ways to safeguard data, but for app developers and corporations to do the same. One important step involves transparency. He argues that its important for companies to make it clear to users how their data may be used. And that goes for both social media platforms that allow people to geotag posts, and for apps that engage in location-tracking, he says.

I think it will be good if individuals can have more information and get a better understanding of how their data are collected, Hu said.

Ultimately, he added, If we can provide good privacy-protection measures on location data, we can use those data for many applications that benefit our society, such as in disaster response, public health, transportation modeling and other areas.

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Researcher explains benefits of using geotagged content in research - UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff - University at Buffalo Reporter

Human Behavior

Some birds leave no one behind they share their food with those less fortunate – ZME Science

Helping others is a key feature of human behavior but its not necessarily something exclusive to humans, according to a new study. Researchers found birds care about the fate of conspecific birds, noticing how much food others have and sharing theirs with individuals that are going hungry.

Food-sharing observed among humans in daily-life events such as dinner parties, and there is evidence that this was present even in pre-historic humans. But food-sharing is also relatively common in the wild, especially between individuals and their offspring.

My earlier research has shown that birds also sometimes do something for someone else, said Jorg Massen, lead-author, in a statement. The question was, however, whether this is an instinctive behavior that is ingrained, or whether this behavior is flexible, and whether these birds might also take into account how great the need of the other animal is.

To investigate sociality in birds, Massen worked with Azure-winged magpies in an experiment. He gave one bird an abundance of mealworms, a popular delicacy for these birds, while the rest had limited access or were given nothing at all. The magpie had the chance to share the mealworms through a wire mesh.

The researchers found out that the birds were inclined to share food with their peers. They differentiate, however, between others that have or do not have food, and subsequently cater to that lack. Females shared with the ones that had nothing, while males always shared, likely as a way to showcase themselves as generous.

The magpies were more inclined to share food as a response to begging but would share with those less fortunate even if they werent asked. This shows that they might truly notice the need of others, even without specific behavior from other birds. They may even show sympathy, according to Massen.

The study shows that magpies can exhibit prosocial behavior just like people, and that they may well have the same motivation as we do to engage in such behavior. This might indicate that they can empathize with the situation in which their peers find themselves and act accordingly. Still, further work is needed to tell if this is the case.

At the same time, the research also confirmed what scientists previously found in other animal species: cooperative breeders that raise their young together have a strong tendency to help each other.

Because we let our children grow up in groups, we have become prosocial and can work well together. We now also see this in the azure-winged magpies, said Massen.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Some birds leave no one behind they share their food with those less fortunate - ZME Science

Human Behavior

Find ways to lessen the escalation by being a calming presence – austin360

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased anxiety levels for many of us. Would you agree that the pandemic along with economic insecurity and political animosities are making our collective society more anxious?

My good friend, mentor, and colleague pastor, Peter Steinke, passed away in July at the age of 82. The author of 14 books, he was the premier interpreter for faith community leaders of an influential human behavior theory called "family systems." Pete was especially adept at helping clergy properly understand the workings of anxiety in social settings.

In a 2015 interview, I asked him to expound on the role of anxiety in social interactions. He responded: "Anxiety is not a negative. Anxiety just is. It becomes a negative when it intensifies or becomes prolonged because it interferes with clear thinking. Anxiety is an informer, rather than an enemy. It tells us something about ourselves and the world around us."

Petes teaching and work is especially instructive during this time of heightened anxiety for many individuals, and for society as a whole. "Uproar: Calm Leadership in Anxious Times" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019) is the last book written by Steinke. Intended for a general audience, its relatively short and encourages the practice of what he called "non-anxious presence" as a balm for conflicted relationships. To boot, an unanxious presence is also a good practice for keeping your cool while driving on Interstate 35.

I first met Pete 30 years ago when I was a newly ordained pastor in Houston. My church council hired Pete to guide staff conversations to help determine expectations and roles. The day-long retreat focused, among other things, on the importance of staying connected even when disagreements surface. In situations of conflict, the practice of unanxious presence, as opposed to the responses of defensiveness or attacking others, helps defuse potentially volatile situations which in turn frees up participants to consider best options for problem solving.

In John 8, Jesus is tracked down by a mob wanting his approval to stone to death a woman "caught" in adultery. It was a set-up and Jesus knew it. The womans male partner also guilty in the affair was nowhere to be seen. As if contemplating another topic while seated on the ground, Jesus paid the fomenting mob scant attention as he drew figures in the sand with a stick. He didnt meet the mobs energy level, but defused it with his supposed indifference.

He then spoke: "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." One by one, stones falling from unclenched fists plunked harmlessly upon the ground. The crowd dispersed. Jesus blessed the woman on her way and invited her to live in a new way.

Pete Steinke would say that Jesus in John 8 modeled an unanxious presence. Dont misunderstand: There are appropriate times for lifting voices in loud protest, or publicly and forcibly confronting wrongdoing, or using anger as fuel for a much needed stand of self-protection. An enraged Jesus cleaned out the Jerusalem temple of greedy marketers who were taking advantage of poor and powerless pilgrims. Most of the time, however, Jesus chose not the path of violent force, but of calm confrontation as he challenged listeners to change their ways.

Like Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. knew the power of an unanxious presence. Practicing and teaching the burdensome arts of nonviolent resistance to their followers, they knew the societal changes they sought would not be wrought by violent force.

The use of an unanxious presence can be a better first option for many of us in situations of conflict. If more of us choose to practice it, our collective society could be less antagonistic and would exhibit other improved outcomes.

Steinke also told me in that same interview: "Weve got to work together more often . . . but when youre anxious, what do you do? You pull apart, you separate, you get into your own little fortress, which is the opposite of what we need to do.

"Were here to cooperate with one another thats civil society."

The Rev. T. Carlos Anderson directs social ministry efforts for Austin City Lutherans, and is the author of "There is a Balm in Huntsville."

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Find ways to lessen the escalation by being a calming presence - austin360

Human Behavior

How will COVID-19 impact the flu in Florida? – ABC Action News

The flu season has officially started in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Now, add in an ongoing global health crisis and were all wondering just how the coronavirus pandemic will impact flu season in Florida this year.

Its a great question and something we are talking a lot about in the hospital, said Dr. Nicole Iovine, an associate professor and Chief Epidemiologist at the University of Florida Shands Hospital in Gainesville.

Dr. Marissa Levine, a public health expert and professor at the University of South Florida, is also paying close attention to the season, which has already started slowly.

Both are cautiously optimistic this years flu season could be one for the record books, in a good way.

Id hate to predict and say definitively thats going to happen but we have potential to have an insignificant season, said Levine.

It all depends on human behavior which is the big black box, said Iovine.

With travel down, mask-wearing up and social distancing a way of life, these doctors say the same practices were taking to ward off COVID-19 will also, likely, lower our risk of catching the flu.

But more telling is what just happened during peak season on the other side of the world.

If you look at the southern hemisphere for example, where theyve already experienced winter. Places like Australia had not just a mild, but an absent flu season, explained Levine.

Still, these doctors warn we all have reason to remain concerned about the flu season which peaks in January.

We see respiratory co-infections all the time. Theres no reason we cant see COVID and influenza affect a person at the same time and that will not be a good situation, said Iovine.

Both doctors advise individuals to wear their mask, keep socially distancing practices in place and get a flu shot.

It is extremely worrisome. This is unprecedented times so we are very, very concerned about the combination of flu and the coronavirus, said Iovine.

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How will COVID-19 impact the flu in Florida? - ABC Action News

Human Behavior

Thriving in Defiance of Evil – Theravive

What is evil? There are multiple lenses through which we can search for a definition: moral, spiritual, mystical, etc. When forced to choose a characterization of this trait there is no one description to rely upon. Evil is very much a subjective element that incites fear.

For purposes of this discussion evil will be described as the intention to cause harm and the celebratory surge success provides. The examination is in terms of human behavior, not religious, metaphysical or other.

Some researchers say that no one is born evil. Others contend that each individual has the potential for evil behavior. Both of these theories would increase focus on the nurture aspect of human development. None of these assumptions can account for the Jeffrey Dahmers, Hitlers, and Aileen Wuornoss of the world. Why some who have been abused and neglected have lived what some would call normal lives, and others have committed nearly unimaginable crimes against others has never been verified.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, In his book The Gulag Archipelago says

the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

In the field of mental health it is accepted that those who would be considered to be evil share all components of the Dark Triad. The Dark Triad Is: Psychopathy the lack of empathy for others. Narcissism intense focus on the self; believing that oneself is the only person in the universe whose needs and desires carry importance. Machiavellianism whatever means this individual employs to get his/her way are justified by the ends.

All researchers agree that the evil individual has no conscience. There are those who believe that acts of evil are caused by mental illness. This assumption is not accepted by other members of the mental health community. Their argument is that the patient with the mental illness is the one who suffers. Although harm may come to others, that is not a planned-for goal. Those who are considered to be evil gain satisfaction from their ability to hurt others. The professionals who work with individuals with confused and disturbed minds fear that equating evil with mental illness will be used to justify unjustifiable acts.

Why discuss the problem of evil at this particular time? With constraints on personal freedom as a result of the covid-19 crises and the escalating fury exhibited by individuals with differing political viewpoints, daily life has changed radically worldwide. This provides fertile ground for those who lust for the feeling of power that, for them, can only be grasped when dominating and harming another. Destruction becomes, for some, essential and warranted.

When large numbers of people believe that those with opposing ideas and outlooks are the enemy, the door that admits evil is cracked open. In todays world it is hard to locate an opinion page or news channel that leaves anger and blame out of the narrative.

Those who meticulously plan a logical chain of events that will lead to slaughter are far beyond clinical madness. The evil individual has no conscience. The result of such an individuals behavioral choices shatters the recipients view of the world. Those who have been touched by evil cannot regain a feeling of balance ever. The concept of what is whole and right becomes permanently skewed. The connection between the diagnosis of PTSD and what is perceived to be evil would provide a rich topic for research. It is important to remember that agency is a critical element in the DNA of evil.

The target of malevolence is always a situation that contains a degree of innocence. Like the schoolyard bully, evil does not confront what it perceives to be of equal strength. A corollary to that is that those who have been afflicted by evil will often feel shame. This is found in children who have been preyed upon as well as prisoners of war. Many of those who survived Auschwitz were, initially, unable to recount what had happened in the camp because there was such a strong degree of shame and a feeling of failure. Why could I not have protected myself and/or others?

If confronted with evil it is necessary to remember that this is a condition that cannot be cured. The doer does not wish to change. Trying to cajole this individual is useless. Such a person may feign interest in what one has to say, but, the plan to harm has already begun. No one can reverse this with words.

When dealing with this individual one must put on emotional raincoat. It is crucial to protect oneself from both flattery and insult. The goal of the perpetrator is to get under the victims skin. As soon as that person can see that he/she has struck gold the prey exactly where the oppressor wants him/her to be. One must distract oneself from the words being hurled.

Do not rely on an individual with evil characteristics . Promises that are made will not be kept. Avoid emotional confrontation, as it feeds the fire. The best course of action is to distance oneself as quickly as possible. If the snake hadnt convinced Eve to bite the apple, we might all be living in the Garden of Eden (who knows)

If this message is coming across as irrelevant drama, as well it might, check out the research on group mentality in relation to fear and anger. The lynchings during the Jim Crow era in the South incorporated evil. Otherwise, why would a group hang a person, and, after that persons death proceed to mutilate and decapitate the corpse?

Fear is most likely the underpinning in the appearance of evil. The abuser does not feel his/her own fear. The actions that destroy hope, productivity, self-confidence,and agency arise from an unfathomable fear of inadequacy on the part of the enforcer. It cannot be touched.

On the optimistic side of this discussion is the ability to avoid falling into the trap of hopelessness. Pay attention when someone, randomly, is helpful. Reflect on the love that has been available (it doesnt have to be romantic). When one looks for joy, it will probably be found.

Difficult times do pass. It is important to keep moving forward in mind, body, and spirit. There are always survivors and lessons learned. Doing ones best is all one can do.

Citations

Brown, L.(06/28/16) Evil People: 20 Things They do and How to Handle Them hackspirit.com

Elkhatib, O (06/09/18) The Problem with Labeling Evil as Mental Illness fordhamobserver.com

Evans, B/ Forti, S. (09/16/2016) Who is Evil and Who is the Victim? nytimes.com

Fey, S. (06/26/2020)7 Ways to Protect Yourself From Evil People beliefnet.com

Popova, M (06/21/2016) Mary McCarthy on Human Nature,Moral Choice, and How We Decide Whether Evil is Forgivable. brainpickings.org

Romig, R. (07/25/2012)What do we Mean by Evil? newyorker.com

Solzhenitsyn, A. The Gulag Archipelago (1973)

I bring with me +30 years of experience as a clinician. My Masters degrees are from: Assumption College, Worcester, MA, Master of Arts in Psychology & Counseling/ and Boston University School of Social Work, Boston, MA, an MSW in Clinical Social Work. This is the 11th year I have written a monthly newsletter that is sent to approximately 500 individuals. The archive can be found on my website, http://www.foreverfabulousyou.com.

Office Location:The OC Building, 11983 Tamiami Trail, N., Naples, FL 34110Naples, Florida34110United StatesPhone: 239 293-4314Contact Ruth Gordon

Ruth Gordon has a clinical practice in Naples, FL

Categories: Bullying , Coping , General , Trauma , Violence | Tags:

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Thriving in Defiance of Evil - Theravive