Edition #44
This issue
- The Bridge greatest hits
- Christmas music earworms
- making New Year’s resolutions stick
- why cats obsess over Christmas trees
- the psychology of gift giving
Plus what you read and what I'll be reading.
’tis the season to be jolly whether you are celebrating Christmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus for the rest of us. In the last Bridge for the year, we feature the most popular of The Bridge’s Research Briefs and take a look at some of the research and science behind the festive season. The Bridge is then going on holiday and will return on January 27.
Until then, have a safe and joyous Christmas and New Year.
This year The Bridge featured research briefs on a diverse range of topics - from wicked problems to street level bureaucrats, from Indigenous knowledge to digital public services.
Amid this selection, I wouldn’t have predicted performance management would be the #1 most read brief. This brief asked Does performance measurement improve public sector performance?. The research by Graham Smith, John Halligan and Monir Mir found that having a performance measure system has little-to-no impact on performance. However, performance information may be effective when organisations have a culture that supports quantitative thinking.
The second most read brief is Nudge and co-design: complementary or contradictory approaches? The brief outlined research by Colette Einfeld and Emma Blomkamp, which compared and contrasted nudge and co-design as innovative approaches to solving policy problems. It also reflected on their implications for policy effectiveness, political trust and government legitimacy.
Rounding off the list at #3 is Systemic design practice for participatory policymaking. The brief, presented a case study and practice framework from Emma Blomkamp which bridged the gaps in the theory and practice of systemic design and participatory policymaking.
Got something you want to tell us? Reader feedback plays a big part in shaping The Bridge, so if there’s a research paper, journal article or report you’d like to add to my reading pile, or a topic you’d like to see explored in The Bridge, just let me know. If you’ve got any other suggestions or feedback, please send them to me at M.Katsonis@anzsog.edu.au
It’s that time of year when Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You or Wham’s Last Christmas are on high rotation in shops, restaurants, pubs and bars.
Are you humming these songs while you wrap your presents? Catchy music or earworms as they are known, are songs that stick in our heads.
An article in The Conversation looks at why some songs get stuck in our heads more than others.
Musically, earworms come more often from songs which have fairly conventional melodic patterns together with something unusual – a key change or unexpected repetitions. Some have claimed there’s an elusive “Christmas chord” (a diminished minor 7th flat 5) that might explain the popularity of Christmas songs and why they give us earworms.
White Christmas by Irving Berlin is not only one of the most well-known Christmas songs but is the best-selling song of all time. It also has the characteristics of an earworm, with melodic shifts and slides around a simple rising and falling melodic shape, and it contains the “Christmas chord”.
Maybe you plan to ring in 2022 with a new resolve to not sweat the small stuff or achieve better work-life balance. Maybe these resolutions sound familiar, perhaps just like the ones from last year.
This Harvard Medical School article discusses how to make New Year’s resolutions stick. The article outlines seven tips to help long-lasting change. These include:
- Break big dreams into small-enough steps. Now think tiny, as small steps move you forward to your ultimate goal. Look for sure-fire bets, as getting to the first step can build your confidence to tackle and succeed at more difficult tasks.
- Understand why you shouldn't make a change. Bad habits often have pleasant payoffs as well as costs. Until you think it through and grasp why you're sticking to old habits and routines, it may be hard to muster enough energy and will to change.
- Learn from the past. Any time you fail to make a change, consider it a step toward your goal. Why? Because each genuine attempt represents a lesson learned.
- Dream big. Audacious goals are compelling.
Bright, dangly, shiny things hanging off branches may lead to feline mayhem, but not usually injury. Except perhaps to your tree. This Pursuit article discusses why cats and Christmas decorations have always been a recipe for havoc. In good news for cat lovers, the main victims have been trees, not cats.
Credit:Paul Bronks on Twitter
To a cat, a Christmas tree is one big playpen – shiny, sparkly objects, strings of tinsel, baubles that are just asking to be batted around by little paws. Laying a carpet of tinfoil on the floor under the tree is a potential deterrent, as some cats don’t like the feel of foil underfoot. Double-sided tape on the tree trunk is another option.
As for repellents such as apple cider vinegar or citronella, forget about them. The head of veterinary general practice at Melbourne University has never seen them work.
Gift giving was once an ancient and ubiquitous practice, believed to build and nurture social bonds. An article in Psychology Today demystifies what types of gifts those closest to you, will bring the greatest delight.
The article presents three research-based findings you might find useful as you search for the ideal gift:
1. Give the gift of experience. Research shows that some gifts strengthen relationships more than others. Experiential gifts boost the strength of recipients’ relationships with gift-giving friends significantly more than material gifts.
2. Give a gift that reflects who you are. It may seem counterintuitive, but research has found that gifts that reflect who the giver is, increase closeness between the giver and receiver.
3. Give a sentimental gift. Givers do not give sentimentally valuable gifts as frequently as recipients would like. This is likely because givers are unsure about whether recipients will like gifts that have sentimental value.
With over 16,000 subscribers, The Bridge readers are highly engaged with diverse interests. However, some patterns emerged during the year with the general Bridge articles. including a strong appetite for practical guides.
Articles on policy making were the most read during the year such as:
- a working paper from Oxford’s Bennett Institute for Public Policy on wellbeing public policy. It advocated a cautious approach owing to a poor theoretical understanding of wellbeing its applications to public policy.
- a CEDA paper by social policy experts on how the COVID-19 pandemic has brought opportunities to address long-standing problems in health, education, gender equality, housing and criminal justice.
- an ebook from ANZSOG and ANU Press which explored how policy theory is developed and applied in practice, including the practical realities of policy on the run.
Article on meetings were also popular especially why Satan should chair your meetings and other tips from a literature lover’s guide to meetings. Readers were also curious about the psychology behind meeting overload and how to break free from our collective addiction to meetings.
What I'm reading
I’ll be putting policy work reading aside over the summer. Instead, I’m looking forward to reading these books while lazing on a deck chair and sipping on a gaudy tropical drink garnished with an umbrella and chunks of fruit.
Silverview by John Le Carre
This is the final novel from the legendary spymaster John le Carré (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Smiley’s People). Published posthumously, the manuscript was found in a drawer and finished by his novelist son. It is a tale of betrayal, bureaucratic inanity and choosing between public duty and private morals.
State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Louise Penny
How could you resist a political thriller by the former United States Secretary of State which follows a novice Secretary of State who joins the administration of her rival. A series of terrorist attacks throws the global order into disarray and, of course, it’s up to the Secretary of State to unravel the conspiracy,
How to end a Story: Diaries 1995–1998 by Helen Garner
Helen Garner is revered as one of Australia’s greatest living writing writers. I am a massive fangirl and can only dream of approaching the exquisite craft of her writing. Garner has kept a diary for almost all her life, and this is the third volume of her revealing insights.
‘Til the next issue
Maria Katsonis
Maria curates The Bridge. She is a Public Policy Fellow at the University of Melbourne and a former senior Victorian public servant with 20 years’ experience. She has a deep understanding of public policy and public management and brings a practitioner’s perspective to the academic.
We acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as First Peoples of Australia and Māori as tangata whenua and Treaty of Waitangi partners in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
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