Letter Never Sent Tell me when to go.

Jody sent me this link about a “study” on only children done by Dr. Toni Falbo, an ed-psych professor at UT, Your One and Only:
Educational psychologist dispels myths surrounding only children.

I’m not impressed with any of her conclusions here, although I have not had the opportunity to read the actual study itself. There’s just nothing compelling about them, at least as described by this article. There are also a number of weaknesses in Falbo’s approach. For one thing, Dr. Falbo makes it sound as if the entire field of psychology was against only children and families who have only children. As an only child herself and as the mother of an only child I get the sense that she has too much at stake personally to achieve anything of real value here. It’s almost as if she went into her project looking to overturn certain assumptions she found personally negative. She mentions the work of G. Stanley Hall and Freud and puts the blame on their heads for spreading negative assumptions of only children into the easily influenced mass of society:

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Beyond mess: Cluttering, anxieties linked:

“One of the feelings in states of depression is that you feel lethargic,” Huntley said, “so picking up after yourself or straightening up is way too much.”

Likewise, people with ADD know they have to sit down and pay the bills, but they are easily distracted and that keeps them from completing tasks. “People with ADD also have to keep their stuff out where it’s visible; otherwise, they forget it.”

The knowledge that the task must be tackled or the item must be tossed is lost on people with OCD, who cannot determine what to keep and what to eliminate. “They can’t remove it,” Huntley said. “There’s a great deal of difficulty about decisions: ‘Am I going to need this or not?’ It’s really labored. So they keep the stuff around while they’re making the decision.

My own feeling is that much of this is caused by a lack of purpose and a lack of sense of place. Human beings in this country have become too fragmented and overstimulated. It is harder to recharge and gain quiet and peace.

Personality Profiling: Shrink to Fit?: As more entrepreneurs use psychological testing to screen hires, psychologist Ben Dattner warns against putting too much weight on the results:

Ample research has shown that organizations are “strong” situations, and that situational variables — like, for instance, the demands of a person’s role, incentive structures, team norms, and organizational culture — are much better predictors of behavior than are individual attributes. In order to add explanatory value, tests should explain the impact of personality or style on behavior, and also the impact of behavior on performance. Establishing the link between personality or style and behavior is difficult enough — many studies are unable to establish any link between personality or style and actual performance. …

I think, in general, people have a predisposition to make personal, rather than situational, attributions for behavior. We are all susceptible to “the fundamental attribution error,” meaning that we discount situational factors when trying to explain why other people behave as they do. Personality tests therefore confirm what we have a natural tendency to believe — that individuals create and influence situations, not the other way around.

These tests are also memorable, simple, intuitive, and often confirm what we already know about ourselves and others, even if that knowledge is, to some extent, built on simplified, stereotype-like categories of personalities and styles. This type of classification of people is an integral part of American popular culture, marketing, and politics. Just as many of us use movie and television stars as points of reference when describing others, marketers have well-developed “psychographic” categories that they use to target advertising, and pollsters segment the electorate and tailor candidates’ messages accordingly.

I came across an interesting article in my daily survey of the internet on a website about Bipolar disorder and depression, Taking it Personally. I’ve trimmed it up a little but you can read the whole thing by using that link:

It started out as whim, but turned into an eye-opener. In May 2003, I asked my Newsletter readers to take an online Myers-Briggs personality test and email the results, along with their diagnosis. Although this was strictly a readers’ poll and not a scientific study, and bearing in mind the risks inherent in pigeonholing personalities, the findings were striking enough to indicate I might be on to something. …

Approximately 150 responses were received, and of these the first 100 were analyzed (a nice even number for this maths-challenged individual). Most readers also sent in their diagnosis, nearly all depressive or bipolar. Since most people with bipolar are depressed more than manic, it is safe to conclude that this poll was dealing with a mostly-depressed population, without further breaking down the figures. Approximately three-quarters of the respondents were women, which about matched the Newsletter’s readership. …

The first eye-popping result was 83 percent of those who replied were introverts, which sharply contrasts with the 25 percent to be found in the general population. According to one reader, who had a strong extrovert score four years ago and a much weaker one when responding to this poll: “Over the last four years I’ve sunk into a very isolated existence. The mania has worsened despite changes in medication/dosages and I spend most of my time sleeping and avoiding large social functions. I do slightly better in small social gatherings, but up until just a couple of months ago I didn’t go anywhere or see anyone other than my immediate family within our house.” …

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I was listening to something this morning on NPR when I was on the way to the doctor about compulsive hoarders. The thing that stuck out to me was that most compulsive hoarders are stricken by two or three different qualities which seem to promote compulsive hoarding. Namely, a notable lack of motivation, a reluctance or inability to make decisions or a lack of decisiveness, and the lack of social intercourse.

I often think about the relationship between social influences and the individual especially since I remember reading once about how insanity and lack of social activity seem to go hand and hand. Either the insanity causing social discomfort and anxiety or the lack of social stimulation promoting neurotic thinking and extreme self-consciousness.

Anyway, why the lack of motivation? Compulsive hoarders tend to feel overwhelmed by the prospect of maintaining order and therefore psyche themselves out, ignoring the growing clutter and mess. That feeling of not knowing where to start and feeling overwhelmed effectively saps any motivation. Those feelings demotivate.

The lack of decisiveness is similarly logical as decision-making is a mode of thought requiring action. The act of making a decision is a thought, but not just a thought. It is a thought and a committment to action. Decision-making is action. Since compulsive hoarding is not based on conscious decision-making but on the shadowy compulsion of ignoring action or responsibility it makes sense.

So, where does the social aspect of things come in. It seems to me that if you have a person who is in general indecisive and demotivated they may remain removed from other people to a certain degree. Also, if someone is socially active they increase their chances of being affected and coerced by others into maintaining order. Anyway, I’m just thinking out loud. I still need to think about this aspect of things. It is definitely interesting stuff.