Study uncovers a reason behind sex differences in mental illness

Researchers have long observed that men and women tend to experience mental illnesses at different rates, with women showing higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders, and men showing higher rates of antisocial personality disorder and substance abuse.

A new study, published online in September in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, may have uncovered an underlying reason: A tendency among women to internalize distress (by ruminating on negative thoughts, for instance) and a tendency among men to externalize their distress (through, for example, aggressive or coercive behavior), says the study's lead author Nicholas Eaton, a psychology doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota.

Those of you who use the MBTI might have something to think about here: Is this a difference between Introverted and Extraverted Feeling?

See the entire article in the Nov. 2011 APA Monitor

Entrepreneurs: Different Personalities or Different Framing Skills?

Bad times in the economy fuel dreams of becoming an entrepreneur. Do you have the right stuff to follow those dreams? You might be surprised by Cardiff Garcia's summary of the latest research regarding the nature of the "right stuff".

Garcia summarizes important evidence-based knowledge about who becomes an entrepreneur:

1. Much "knowledge" about who becomes an entrepreneur is actually folk wisdom rooted in false stereotypes that pervade popular culture.
2. Before spouting off about what makes an entrepreneur, you need to define entrepreneurship very carefully.
3. Entrepreneurs come in a variety of personality types and with a variety of motivational patterns. Predicting entrepreneurship with personality variables is poorly supported except in regard to need for achievement. Shades of David McClelland!
4. Sunny optimists or dark pessimists are not typical entrepreneurs. Instead, entrepreneurs are realists who attack challenges with a sense of confidence. (See below)
   
5. When they embark on a task, they have a strong sense of self-efficacy: They expect to succeed. This kind of belief is rooted in framing techniques which can be learned by a broad range of personalities. (Is it time you learned about Bandler and Grinder?)
6. Entrepreneurs frame their intense work as a source of intense pleasure in life. They are willing to sacrifice other activities for the pleasures of working.

Before going to the article, test your beliefs about entrepreneurs by some T/F questions from it:

1. Entrepreneurs want financial success more than most people.  (T/F)
2. Entrepreneurs are more likely to think they control their fate.  (T/F)
3. Entrepreneurs want recognition for their work more than others.  (T/F)
4. Entrepreneurs care more about following family traditions (so if their parents built a business, they’re more likely to try building one too).  (T/F)
5. Entrepreneurs expect to succeed to a greater extent than employees.  (T/F)

The Take-Away:

Framing skills learned for self-management are more important than personality dispositions when it comes to predicting entrepreneurship.

The article [HIH]  Mortal Magnates: Research shows entrepreneurs are pretty much like the rest of us

Management Types: The Work of George E. West

Several years ago I came across some training materials written and distributed by George E. West in the 1970's and 1980's. A Google search turned up this description From Wiley Interscience:

George E. West is a management consultant in the field of management development, specializing in Management by Objectives and its underlying success/failure variables. He has given seminars with American Management Association, University of Colorado, and Northern Illinois University, and was formerly employed by Baxter Laboratories as Manager of Manpower Development; and by Illinois Central Railroad Company as Manager of Employee Training where he implemented MBO company-wide.

The library material indicated that Mr. West was active on the training circuit during the 1980's, when he apparently conducted numerous seminars championing his view that STJ managers had never been given proper credit for their contributions to American business.

I am still trying to find out what happened to him later.

In any case, it bothered me to see these materials languishing away, apparently rarely if ever read. They are full of interesting ideas about the MBTI, typology and the possible relationships between type preferences and managerial success. Like the STJ managers they championed, they deserve a better fate.

On and off, I will post about these materials and draw your attention to their implications for planning your career. Files and other materials which do not lend themselves to the blogging format will appear on the PersonaWork wiki.

If you have any recollections of Mr. West and his seminars or whereabouts, please drop me some email.