Category: Psychology in safety
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How can storytelling be important in safety?
Storytelling is a communication tool that pre-dates writing, and most likely does so by many thousands of years. Another pretty safe assumption is that storytelling has been around since humans started to communicate using language. Given that we’ve been using storytelling for so long is it any wonder that it is highly effective in seeding…
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Extrinsic vs Intrinsic motivation
Motivation in simple psychological terms is the reason why we do something. Motivation can be extrinsic or intrinsic; when thinking about safety behaviours it is important to understand the difference between these types of motivation. We’ve all seen attempts to harness extrinsic motivation to improve safety. The introduction of a reward for working safely or…
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Bystander Effect
Bystander Effect or Diffusion of Responsibility is a psychological phenomenon which describes the failure of individuals to intervene, to help someone at risk or in distress, when in the presence of a larger group. Awareness of the Bystander Effect is important for both HSE professionals and Leaders alike. Students of Psychology are usually introduced to the…
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Mitigated speech
When we speak to leaders, or when you are spoken to as a leader by one of your team, there will inevitably be a level of deference in what is being said and the manner in which it is said. This type of deference is often called ‘Mitigated Speech’. When someone is using mitigated speech…