Understanding the 'Social Perspective' of Others

A psychology professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education has spent the last ten years exploring the capacity of humans to grasp, discern and perhaps decipher the feelings and thoughts of other people.  Dr Hunter Gehlbach has been exploring this human ability to help teachers improve teaching and learning. He calls it 'Social Perspective Taking' (SPT). At one level, Gehlbach is simply concerned with how he can assist teachers to identify when students aren't motivated, distracted, unhappy and so on, with the goal being to enhance their engagement and learning. But this ability to discern the feelings and thoughts of another has even greater potential. In an interview that is reported in an article written by Deborah Blagg, Dr Gehlbach suggests that there are implications for a variety of people in education; for example, students, teachers administrators etc. He suggests, for example that,

“We need to help students comprehend their classmates’ values, perspectives, and motivations so they can learn from each other as well as from their teachers.”

But of course, this isn't just a challenge for children. What motivates adults to seek to understand, respond to and take up the perspectives of other adults? He comments:

“We are exposed to dozens of people every day — in the grocery check-out line, during our commute to work or school, or sitting in a restaurant — yet we are very selective about those with whom we empathize.”

Why do we do this? Why do we take note of some people, ignore others, and take a wide berth of others? I see this in my own behaviour. My SPT can be very selective. It might also be possible that the way we see our roles and relationships within the school, church, neighbourhood might make a difference to the way we selectively apply SPT.

One interesting finding by Gehlbach was that people could be very selective across contexts and roles in how they engage in SPT.  For example, “a border crossing guard who is trying to identify someone who might be a threat, or [a] detective questioning a high-stakes suspect, is very motivated to take that person’s perspective to try to figure out what they might be thinking.”

As well, he found that people could be highly motivated to engage in SPT in one context but not another.  He found that a soldier was highly motivated when he was acting as an interrogator, but not when he was handing out discipline within his own unit.

All of the above prompted me to think about the relevance of this secular research for understanding my own empathetic inconsistencies. It seems likely to me that my own desire to engage in SPT might vary depending on things as varied as:

How busy I am? Am I so distracted at times by multiple balls to juggle that I can't see what's obvious in the person in front of me, in the queue at the bank, in the workplace, at home and so on.
How focussed am I on the agenda at hand? In my desire to deliver the current lecture or sermon well, do I fail to stay tuned to my audience before, during or after it?
Do I restrict my circle of contacts in such a way, that I screen out those for whom I find it hard to extend SPT?
Do I look for like-minded people to spend time with so I don't need to work hard at understanding the social perspective of others?

I don't have an answer to the above questions, but I suspect that thinking through Gelhbach's concept of SPT, and using it as an analytical lens for my life, might just make me a more effective teacher, neighbour, friend, husband, brother and apologist.

Ultimately, I know that my desire to love other people, my ability to empathize with those who weep and suffer, and my preparedness to try to place myself in the shoes of another and understand their view of the world should be motivated by love born of God's grace shown to me, and a desire to see others come to saving faith in Christ. The Cross of Christ and my understanding of the consequences for the people I know that reject it, must be the foundation of my burden for others.  Having said this, my suspicion is that Gelhbach's work might just offer a corrective to some of my sinful ways, and that this might just open my eyes to the 'social perspectives' of others, and direct me back towards God as I live my life with others.

Related Posts

'Asking the Second Question' HERE
'Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends' HERE

Late Night Habits and the Mental Health of Young Adults

I've written previously on this blog about the challenge of making good use of time. In my post 'The Tyranny and Challenge of Time' I cited the 2009 OECD Social Indicators report that has shown Australians spend less leisure time with friends than just about everyone. I also wrote some time ago about 'Time and the Family' and in particular how families are spending less time together including a reduction in eating meals together.  Finally, I have written about the impact of 'Children's Loss of Play', including its impact on them and the things they might be learning about rest and work. 

Our inability to manage time seems to be an increasing challenge in an age when ironically we have so many technology applications that reduce travel times, remove much of the domestic drudgery of past ages and increases our opportunities to use time well. There is no doubt that we are living in an age where we are busy beyond what is good for us and that this can have an impact on others.

A recent research study has raised new fears about the way young adults (aged 17-24) use their time, and in particular the way their sleep habits are affecting their mental health. 

Sleep Deprivation Study
 
Associate Professor Nicholas Glozier from The George Institute for International Health, University of Sydney, Sydney has led a team of researchers to examine the impact of sleep deprivation on the mental health of young adults. The results are worrying. The findings were published in September in the journal 'Sleep'. Just over twenty thousand young adults (aged 17-24) were randomly identified through the state vehicle licensing authority and surveyed. A random sample of 5,000 people was then chosen for follow-up interviews 12-18 months later. There were 2837 who provided complete data.

 
What the study showed is that about 25% of young adults are affected by psychological distress, which is defined as poor mental health comprising common symptoms of low mood and anxiety. As well, a considerable proportion of young adults who indicated some level of distress in the first stage of the study went on to develop more severe mental disorders, recurrent episodes and the associated negative effects of this, including suicide attempts, self harm and welfare dependence.

The research identified a link between the amount of sleep that young people have and psychological problems; specifically, that shorter sleep was associated with psychological distress. The very short sleepers amongst those identified in the first stage of the study without psychological distress had an increased risk for the onset of psychological distress. Furthermore, of 945 participants who did report psychological distress in stage one, 419 (44%) were distressed at the follow up stage of the research. It was found that each hour less of sleep increased the risk of psychological distress persisting after all other factors were controlled or discounted. Participants who demonstrated 'long sleep duration' showed no association with distress at any time point.

In relation to the amount of sleep young people have:

• 18% reported sleeping less than seven hours per night on average and a further 30% slept between 7 and 8 hours.  
• Almost one third (31.9%) returned scores on the study instrument, which indicated high levels of current psychological distress.  
• Over half of those reporting fewer than 6 hours sleep had higher levels of current psychological distress compared to a quarter of those sleeping the recommended level in young adults of 8-9 hours per night. 
• Shorter sleep duration was also associated with a number of baseline characteristics including recent deliberate self-harm, using marijuana, excessive Internet use, other drugs and drinking at harmful levels.

Psychological distress was also associated more strongly with the female gender (40% versus 28% in males), unemployment (33% versus 28% in the employed), drug use (45% versus 32%), harmful alcohol use (38% versus 32%), high sensation seeking behaviour (44% versus 22% in lowest category) and recent deliberate self-harm (70% versus 31%).

This study's findings suggest that recent increases in the levels of distress reported by young adults may be related to changes in their sleep patterns.

Associate Professor Glozier suggests that:

"The increased reporting of stress seen in many countries over the past decade or two in this young adult population may reflect lifestyle or other changes that lead to too few hours of sleep."

The researchers also report that shorter sleep duration in younger age groups is associated with a number of factors including increased television viewing, computer gaming, and Internet use.  All of these appear to be becoming more commonplace, with young people communicating with each other late into the night, gaming, updating their Facebook and so on. While we have become accustomed to young people wanting to stay up late and rise later, this research suggests that wake time is not changing much through the week due to school, university or work commitments. This has the net effect of reducing sleep.

Making Sense of these Issues

It seems that young adults are not managing their time well and as a consequence, they may be losing valuable sleep time with disastrous consequences for their lives. This troubles me because my suspicion is that there is a relationship between the topics of all of my posts on time and its use.  What is common?

• Life is busy
• Time seems limited
• We manage this time poorly
• We end up doing things that don't help our relationships with other people
• We seem to have a clash between our drive to succeed and live life to the full and  our well-being

Robert Banks suggested in his book 'The Tyranny of Time' we need to reclaim and rethink the way we use our time. The solution is not to drop out of society, to take extended breaks between periods of excessive pressure and time stress, nor is it just the application of self-help strategies.  Rather, we need to look at the deeper issues that drive the way we use time. Are our priorities in life distorted and driven by things that get in the way? In biblical terms these would be seen as idols, that is, something that attains such prominence in our lives that it supplants the central place that God and his purposes should have in our lives. The Bible teaches that we were made to centre our lives on God not other things. Study, work, friends, games, families, while in and of themselves are good, can distract us from what we designed to be if they assume a dominant place in our lives. We are commended to serve the living and true God (1 Thessalonians 1:9) and avoid those things that distract us from this. It is in turning to Christ that we will achieve true meaning and purpose.

What can we do about this?

Associate Professor Glozier and his colleagues are trying to devise clinical methods to help young people.  Patients are being treated with light therapy in the mornings and hormones such as Melatonin to help them sleep earlier. While these things will no doubt help those whose lives have developed psychological distress, there are more fundamental things that we can do before problems develop.

What are some of the basic things that all parents, teachers, bosses, brothers and friends can do to help?  It seems to me that in life one of the most significant influences on us are other people and the examples they set for us. We need to start with our own lives and begin to set new examples. As parents we may also need to be much more proactive in moderating our children's behaviour at younger ages and not placing burdens on them that inadvertently may drive them towards unhealthy pressures to study, work, succeed and be successful in everything.  Parents might ask the following basic questions:

• How great a priority do I place on achievement and success in my own life?
• What example do I set for my children, workmates and friends in relation to how I use my time?
• To what extent do my priorities model priorities for my children and other people around me that might have a negative impact on how they use their time?

While my focus in this post has been on young adults, and the responsibilities of parents, I could just as easily have turned the focus on workers and their leaders, church members and their pastors and so on.

Writing this post has led me to engage in much self reflection about the priorities I have in my own life. I would encourage readers to do likewise.   

  

Other Resources

Nicholas Glozier and others (2010). 'Short sleep duration in prevalent and persistent psychological distress in young adults: the DRIVE study', Sleep. 

The pursuit of happiness

We’ve decided to base our next issue of Case magazine on the theme "happiness". Why? Well first of all because it seems everyone wants to be happy, and there is a heightened interest right now in the secret (no pun intended) of happiness. Obviously it’s not a new topic; there have always been opinions on how you gain happiness (although Kel Richards tells us in his contribution that the word isn’t as old as you might think). But for the last 12 months interest in exploring how we become happy has been growing in popularity. The books and the video of The Secret have, much to my surprise, gained more attention than they deserve. There has also been strong media interest in the topic (see for example the major feature article in the Sydney Morning Herald of August 11th 2007 by Peter Hartcher or D.T. Max's similar effort in the New York Times on 7th January 2007). There are now numerous self-help books that seek to show people how they can learn to be happy. In fact, as Hartcher reports, many universities (mainly in the USA) now offer subjects in positive psychology. This is a relatively new branch of psychology that considers topics such as wellbeing and the “scientific pursuit of happiness”. Positive psychology focuses on emotions like happiness, wellbeing, and pleasure in the same way that clinical psychology has focused on more negative human experiences such as anger, depression and loneliness. A key driver of this academic movement has been Professor Martin Seligman from the University of Pennsylvania whose book Authentic Happiness (2002) has given direction to the field of positive psychology.

Academic conferences on positive psychology now draw large audiences in the USA, Britain and even Australia. In June 2007 a major conference focusing on the pursuit of happiness was held in Sydney titled “Happiness & its causes”. This international conference drew a large audience made up academics, psychiatrists, therapists, psychologists, educators, leading policy makers (e.g. Pru Goward, former Sex Discrimination Commissioner), doctors, a few clergy (e.g. Father Chris Riley), politicians (e.g. Linda Burney and Malcolm Turnbull) and journalists across various interest areas, including Sydney Morning Herald Economics Editor Ross Gittins and ABC’s Geraldine Doogue. The Dalai Lama was also a special guest speaker. High profile author Stephanie Dowrick was also there as both an “Interfaith Minister” and author of a number of bestsellers, including “Forgiveness and other acts of love” and “Choosing happiness: Life and soul essentials” (I will review the latter in the next edition of Case).

The preoccupation with studying, talking about and teaching happiness has moved beyond psychologists to teachers, health professionals, life coaches, social policy makers and even economists. The latter have begun to research the relationship between perceptions of happiness and economics.

Now there seems something strange about this sudden interest in happiness. We could explore why this might be occurring at this time. Some speculated about the relationship between the phenomenon and the economy in the run up to the last Australian election. Others have looked for a relationship between the pressures of life and the seeming time poor nature of people in developed countries like Australia.

From a biblical perspective there is something upside down about focussing on happiness, with its focus typically on external circumstances, success, pleasure, wellbeing and so on. The Bible says little about seeking happiness but says much more about eternal blessings. In Jesus’ first major teaching event (Matthew 5:3-12) he makes it clear that those who mourn, the persecuted, the hungry and so on can have more than happiness; we can be blessed with membership of the Kingdom of God. Both the Old and New Testaments suggests that we are first to seek the Kingdom of God.

Rather than focusing on external circumstances, pleasure, wellbeing, positive thinking etc, the real secret (yes pun intended) to life, is to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). If we are right with God our needs for food, shelter, physical wellbeing, clothing etc will be taken care of and will seem of less significance. Jesus did not promise that life will be happy if we follow him. He urged his disciples to have right priorities in life; the first priority being to follow him.

There are many things in this world that can bring us temporary happiness – money, good health, success, people who love you and so on. But the things of this world cannot ensure ongoing happiness.

Jesus taught, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?”

There are bigger stakes than temporal happiness; there is eternal membership of God’s family through Christ, which leaves the search for happiness in this life in its wake. We are to seek an “everlasting kingdom” (Psalm 145: 13), as well as seeking to be right with God by accepting the free gift of grace that Jesus death offers us.

In issue 14 of the Case magazine we will have pieces on Buddhism, the Dalai Lama and happiness (Mike Wilson), the Pursuit of happiness through economic growth (Ben Cooper), a word study on happiness by Kel Richards and reviews of two influential books on happiness y Roberta Kwan and me. There will be other contributions as well. Subscribers should have the magazine in their mailboxes by early March. If you’re not a subscriber you can buy single issues for $10 AUS or receive quarterly editions of Case for just $55 AUS per year. You can sample some of the content of past issues on the CASE website.