Lisa Kath used to be a chemist. Now she’s an IO psychologist. What the hell happened? In this episode from last May, I talk to Lisa about about her career transition and what she misses about chemistry.
Lisa is also the mastermind behind I-O Psych Memes, which you can (and will) subscribe to on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Maybe You Should Feel Bad About That
In a new segment of the newsletter, I tell you why you should start feeling bad about something that brings you joy. You’re welcome.
Does your favorite reality TV show feature an angry chef verbally degrading people he’s supposed to be helping?
Yeah, as it turns out, maybe you should feel bad about that. In real life, about 25% of kitchen workers in the U.S. report being the victim of physical violence—that’s about twice as high as the rate for police officers. And that 25% doesn’t even take into account verbal abuse or sexual harassment.
These researchers think our tendency to make anger and violence in the kitchen a source of entertainment might be normalizing the idea.
They may be on to something, but anyone who worked in a kitchen before Anthony Bourdain became a celebrity can tell you that the “back of house” has been a rough place to be for a long, long time.
I’m not a “stay in your lane” kind of guy, but this tweet from an epidemiologist takes me right to the edge. Regardless of your COVID views, I think we can all agree that “following the science” means that public health experts shouldn’t be posting this pyramid. No one should be posting this pyramid.
Our friends from marketing and economics recently discovered that humans are not, in fact, entirely consistent and rational:
We show that people are inconsistent in the way they assign monetary value to their time in a labor context. In theory, the exchange rate between time and money is invariant to the elicitation method. In contrast to this prediction, we find that individuals' valuation of their time directly depends on whether they are stating a price in time for a fixed amount of money or a price in money for a fixed amount of time.
Should we tell them the bad news about learning styles and personality types, too, or let them find out on their own?
If you follow #AcademicTwitter, you know that academia is a very stressful row to hoe. In terms of competition, it’s up there with the Hunger Games. Is it getting worse? Maybe the concept of elite overproduction can help explain some this anxiety and burnout:
Elite overproduction … describes the condition of a society which is producing too many potential elite-members relative to its ability to absorb them into the power structure.
More at Overcoming Bias.
Do My Job For Me
This week I’m interviewing a Marine Corps Officer who recently transitioned to an I-O consulting career. What should I ask him? Leave your suggestions in the comments.
As always, thanks for reading. If this newsletter has changed your life—or at least given you a couple minutes’ distraction from the work you know you should be doing—forward it along. Thanks.