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IT’S A FUNNY OLD WORLD

by | Jul 4, 2023 | Articles, It's a funny old world

In this column, we provoke fresh thinking and round up some of the weird, wonderful, quirky, surprising – and shocking – stories out there

 

Watch out for Sunday scaries

More than half of Brits suffer from pre-work anxiety, experiencing the ‘Sunday scaries’, according to research from Currys.

The research highlights a range of pre-work fears and horrors. These include unscheduled meetings with bosses and deadline dread, which keeps 16% of participants awake at night. Meanwhile, more than one in ten Brits fear forced fun activities at work, worrying their career might be impacted if they don’t join in.

Other issues include feeling like a fraud at work (8.87%), fretting about meetings being held over lunchtime, experienced by 11% of men compared to 7% of women.
Some 6% of Brits hate hearing the call sound of Teams or Slack, particularly if they haven’t been asked first whether they’re free for a call.

Being told they’re on mute irks 6.23% of Brits and 7.6% worry about potentially interruptive background noises.

When it comes to over-sharing, 16% of Gen Z workers say they hate it, while only 5% of Babyboomers are bothered by it.

 

‘Ambiversion’ aids leadership

We tend to think of people as either extravert or introvert but some are ambiverts, a hybrid that can be helpful in leadership, according to an article in
Training Journal, published on 1 June.

Most psychometric tests don’t point to preferences that bridge the two extremes. However, they do exist and the ambivert’s mix of extraversion and introversion traits can enable them to adapt behaviour to different situations, responding to “fluctuating and uncertain circumstances”, according to Thom Dennis, CEO of culture change consultants and leadership specialists, Serenity Leadership.

Ambiverts tend to be known for their flexibility to respond to situations and typically are energised both through socialising and being alone. They know when to listen and speak and can use different communication methods effectively, according to Dennis.

He said that individuals can cultivate ambivert skills through practice, learning from introvert and extrovert role models but he warned it’s best to find a balance between socialising, working and taking time to recharge rather than trying to master all traits at once.

Extroverts feel energised by socialising, make quick decisions, take risks for success, possess strong communication skills and build relationships easily. They’re characterised for their confidence, charisma, energy and organisational skills, and enjoy collaborating and leading. Introverts tend to learn through observation, possess strong listening skills and think before acting or making decisions. They are often creative collaborators, attentive listeners with great attention to detail and gain energy through being alone or in small groups.

Ambiverts can excel in various fields, including sales, leadership and negotiation, says Dennis. He sets out a number of recommendations for nurturing the talents of all personality types, including ensuring diversity, offering flexible work arrangements to accommodate the needs of different personality types, acknowledging that visibility isn’t a measure of productivity or engagement, being aware of personal biases, being mindful of how employees are rewarded, avoiding relying solely on team meetings for communication, creating different workspaces, and prioritising employee well-being.

 

We all feel music the same way

Music appears to trigger the same bodily sensations in people across cultures, suggests research led by Vesa Putkinen at the University of Turku, Finland.
The researchers also found consistent links between patterns of bodily sensations and specific emotions, suggesting these physical sensations play a critical role in emotional responses to music.

The research consisted of two studies carried out among almost 2,000 Western (European and North American) and Chinese participants.

The first study invited participants from both regions to rate segments from a range of Western and Chinese songs on 10 different dimensions: happiness, sadness, fear, tenderness, aggressiveness, danceability, energy, relaxation, liking and irritation.

In the second study, a new group of participants from both cultures listened to 12 of the excerpts (one from each of six categories – happy, sad, scary, tender, aggressive or danceable/groovy, from both regions). While they did so, they illustrated the bodily regions that they felt changing in response, on a blank silhouette of a body.

All participants tended to feel similarly while listening to the same excerpts. Scariness, aggressiveness and irritation were associated with complex rhythms and an unclear key, for example, while happiness, danceability and energy indicated the opposite pattern, while also being associated with a clear beat.

The researchers also revealed highly consistent patterns of bodily responses to the music – for example, tender and sad songs triggered sensations primarily in the chest area and head, scary songs also induced sensations in the gut region (especially for Western participants), happy and danceable songs prompted widespread sensations, particularly in the limbs, while aggressive music caused sensations in different parts of the body, particularly in the head.

The team found clear correlations within, as well as between, the Western and Chinese groups when considering participants’ emotion ratings alongside the bodily sensation data.