Research has illustrated that one barrier to the acceptance of robots into society is their lack of imperfection Hi No matter how much you try to fight it with the latest hair tonic and skin rejuvenating cream, one of the only true realities in life is that your looks will slowly decline, as hopefully your wisdom escalates. With competence you will be forgiven for being imperfect, and from time to time f__king up. Research illustrates a growing trend towards perfectionism. While this seems like good news, the downside is rising levels of anxiety and depression for young and not so young people in search of the impossible perfect - look, life, career et cetera. Our obsession for perfection is creating depression. Much of perfectionism comes back to a fear of failure, and with this procrastination increases. Meaghan Ramsey's fascinating 2014 TED talk 'Why thinking you're ugly is bad for you' discusses the psychologically damage of perfection.
Such negative self perception crosses over to boys, men and women into adulthood. Looking good enough to share a worthy #selfie is critical. The contrast effect means that depending on who you mix with, you will feel more or less attractive. If you are in a group of people you perceive as less attractive, you will feel more attractive, and vice versa. Critical in this, is that self-perception of attractiveness is generally negatively biased, however, attractiveness has a low correlation to likability.
Importantly, the research illustrates that people typically care far more about what they look like, than the imperfections of others. The best way to have others find you attractive, is to show interest in them, smile and be genuinely interested. Research has also illustrated that one barrier to the acceptance of robots into society is their lack of imperfection. It is viewed as unsettling to never make mistakes.
This was said to be an illustration of the psychological theorem the Pratfall Effect: The tendency for attractiveness to increase after an individual makes a mistake, depending on the individual's general competence to perform well. When applied to humans, the pratfall effect places emphasis on an individual's general competence, and failure by such an individual actually improves the positive impression. Success is less about perfection, than general competence rewarded by occasional failure. Similarly, the pratfall effect, also known as blemishing, applies to brands and other organisations. Assuming a general level of competence, the occasion F__K UP dealt with well actually helps to build sentiment. Imperfections show that a brand is just like any human, far from infallible. A recent example, is KFC in the UK, when they did the unthinkable -‘they ran out of CHICKEN!' Around half of the 900 outlets across the UK were unable to open. Rather than going into the blame, spin or ducking for cover game that is often the case in such situations, they quickly responded with a campaign widely endorsed as positive, they came out quickly saying 'FCK — We're sorry.’ Typically for government and commercial organisations dealing with 'disasters' the assumption is made that the community is far less forgiving and more judgmental and seeking perfection than they actually are as a whole (from our research working with such situations), particularly if competence is generally strong. The media are often viewed as controversy stirrers, motivated by selling newspapers (or whatever), and no one listens to Facebook crazies. If disasters are dealt with in a responsive and transparent manner, all is soon forgiven. Read the full uncensored article on square holes.com/blog Perfect is impossible, but if as a society we move our focus away from obsessing over seeking perfection in how we look, and turn this towards being competent and embracing occasional f__k-ups we will be rewarded. As nobody is perfect, and that's the way we like it. Thank YOU for reading! And, a belated happy International Women's Day for yesterday! Thank you to the women who predominate my world at home and work. Jason How to navigate cognitive bias September 8, 2017 We are all cognitively biased. And, if you fail to see this, you are suffering blind-spot bias. While we would all love to view ourselves as implicitly rational, we are ... More > If you are in Adelaide South Australia during March do not miss State Theatre Company of South Australia's 'In the Club' as part of the 2018 Adelaide Festival - a powerful and unsettling feeling of impending doom pervades - or if you are looking for something for 4-8 year olds, check out Patch Theatre Company's amazing show 'Can you see colour?'. Or, just jump on the Adelaide Fringe and/or Adelaide Festival websites. THERE IS SO MUCH ON IN ADELAIDE! (What are your favourite shows at the Fringe and Festival and we will try to give them a plug next week - send via replay email to mail@squareholes.com) If you would like to make us feel very happy, why don't you slip us a review on Facebook!? Any kind words will be met with much good karma and a sense of happy, or a gift, perhaps not. Just click here .. please!!!
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