The Clifford Beers Clinic is a mental health facility that serves families in greater New Haven, Conn. Because many of the clinic’s clients are abused children, the clinic’s counselors sometimes experience distress and depression. To create a supportive environment for its counselors, the clinic holds a confidential, weekly group conference at which staff talk about their emotional reactions to their work.
An article in the November 2005 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that Clifford Beers’ employee outreach may help not only its staff, but also its clients. The research shows that when people are reminded of others who have supported, cared for, and made them feel safe – so-called “secure attachment figures” – they tend to behave more altruistically.
“If people feel that someone cares about them, they can turn their attention to exploration and caregiving,” says Phillip Shaver, the article’s coauthor and a psychology professor at the University of California at Davis. Conversely, people who are protecting themselves from getting hurt tend to be less altruistic.
In one of their five studies, Shaver and his Davis colleagues Omri Gillath and Rachel Nitzberg, and Mario Mikulincer of Bar-Ilan University in Israel first subliminally reminded study participants of people from their lives by flashing their names on a computer screen so quickly that participants didn’t realize they had seen them. One group of participants saw the names of people who made them feel safe and supported, one group saw names of people who were close, but not attachment figures, and a final group saw the names of distant acquaintances. (Participants had previously listed these names in an allegedly unrelated task.) The authors reasoned, and other research suggests, that the participants subliminally “primed” with the names of their attachment figures would feel more secure and supported than would the other two groups.
Participants then watched another alleged participant (actually an actor) complete several unpleasant tasks. These tasks included looking at gory accident photographs, holding a rat, and immersing one hand in ice water. When the actor said she couldn’t complete the next task – holding a tarantula – and requested a break, the experimenter asked participants whether they would help by taking the allegedly traumatized woman’s place. Participants who had subliminally seen names of their secure attachment figures were more likely to help the woman and make the switch than were other participants. They also felt more compassionate.
These findings make sense, says Nancy Eisenberg, a psychology professor at Arizona State University who studies how children develop morality. When people are securely attached, she says, they are probably “more open to relationships and not worried about things like being abandoned or hiding feelings.” They may also be better at taking other people’s perspectives and feeling sympathy, she adds.
Shaver believes his findings can be used to increase helping in the real world. For example, organizations could “create these secure conditions where people are encouraged to do worthwhile things for each other rather than compete,” he says. Such altruism-enhancing conditions include ensuring job security, holding meetings to address employee concerns, and guaranteeing resources, such as office space and managers’ attention. “It’s important for us to ensure supports for the staff,” said Chet Brodnicki, executive director of the Clifford Beers Clinic. “What they’re trying to do is very challenging.”
Read more stories by Shirley Wang.