LEADERS AND DICTATORS I read with great interest “The New Psychology of Leadership,” by Stephen D. Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam and Michael J. Platow. In light of my own experience, the article does capture the salient points of good leadership, but I feel it has not given proper weight to the idea of achievement.
Achievement is satisfaction (or accolades) received by a group for supporting its leader. In short, achievement acts as feedback that demonstrates to the group that its faith in supporting the leader’s vision has not been in vain. Benito Mussolini made the trains run on time; the people who supported his totalitarian view were recipients of a transportation system they could count on. Without this feedback, the dictator’s appeal would have been lost.
Achievement is a necessary element in maintaining a group’s voluntary submission to a leader’s authority. Without this feedback, leadership authority would have to be enforced through administrative dictates.
Ehor Mazurok Edmonton, Alberta
Did your article on leadership actually name George W. Bush as an example of a modern leader? This otherwise well-written article should have identified him as an example of a nonleader based on the facts presented. Bush’s popularity has continued to drop, which would imply that a one-time good speech and a few photo opportunities were examples of charisma that could not sustain the people in the long run, and thus he is not a knowledgeable member of the group. I read and reread this article, and his placement in it seemed forced and out of place. If you are looking for American leaders who fit the paradigm of this article, there are many from which to choose, including Thomas Jefferson, Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy.
Bob Spellman via e-mail
THE EDITORS REPLY: The example showed Bush’s leadership in a particular context at a particular time. Even if a person fails as a leader in some respects, he or she may nonetheless display some exemplary leadership qualities.
MIRROR-INDUCED MIGRAINE
In “It’s All Done with Mirrors” [Illusions], Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Diane Rogers-Ramachandran describe a simple experiment that explores the effects of bringing the visual and motor senses into conflict by using a mirror to distort the visual representation of one’s left and right hands.
My wife and I decided to perform the described experiment. When I viewed my hands in the mirror, I experienced the “jolt of surprise” that the authors predicted, but my wife’s reaction was totally unexpected. The instant she looked into the mirror she recoiled. She complained of dizziness, and within seconds she complained of a headache and then a pain in her left eye. These symptoms are exactly the same as those she experiences at the onset of her migraine headaches, which she has suffered from for more than 35 years. Could it be that my wife and I uncovered an unknown cause—sensory confusion—of migraines?
Rodger A. Sanders McMinnville, Tenn.
COMMON SYMPTOMS
While I was reading Thomas Grueter’s feature on prosopagnosia, “Forgetting Faces,” I began to wonder if children who have this “perceptual quirk” tend to be diagnosed as having autism. When a child is suspected of being autistic, parents and teachers often comment that he or she does not use eye contact or know the names of classmates. Is it possible that the snowball effect of prosopagnosia generates autisticlike behavior? Should prosopagnosia have a place on the autism spectrum?
Roseann Rash Boston
GRUETER REPLIES: The relation between prosopagnosia and autism is an important issue because, as Rash suggests, the disorders can share symptoms. Research indicates that prosopagnosia is a visual-processing defi cit, however, not a pervasive developmental disorder, and therefore it does not belong on the autism spectrum.
One of the core disabilities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) seems to be the lack of a “theory of mind.” Because of a defect in their mirror neurons, people who have autism are severely impaired when it comes to judging other people’s moods or feelings. In addition, autistic people’s brains have a harder time fi ltering input, so these individuals suffer from constant sensory overstimulation.
None of these problems arise in children with prosopagnosia. Autistic children actively avoid looking at people’s eyes, but prosopagnosic children simply forget about it and can be trained to keep gaze contact in conversations. Additionally, their empathy for other people is unimpaired and sometimes even better than in other children. And whereas children with ASD acquire language quite late, children with prosopagnosia tend to talk early.
Both disorders, however, share a striking symptom: afflicted children do not look into the face of people they talk to. This lack of eye contact may lead people to incorrectly suspect ASD in children with prosopagnosia simply because congenital prosopagnosia is still unknown to most people. In fact, the prevalence of congenital prosopagnosia is probably about 10 times as high as that of ASD. Therefore, some prosopagnosic children may indeed be wrongly diagnosed with ASD.
NO GUNS, NO SHOOTINGS
Frank J. Robertz is correct in “Deadly Dreams” when he advises that teenage malignant thoughts should be analyzed as a means of preempting and stopping the acting out of these ideas. This proposal is a sound psychological approach given that such “intrusive thoughts” are part of normal cognition, but psychological tactics are limited by the social context in which these child assassins are nurtured. As long as the right to own many semiautomatic weapons is socially acceptable, people with the intent to play out violent fantasies will have the opportunity to do so. Disarming the general population of all firearms will be the only real means of reducing this type of mass homicide.
Intrusive thoughts are normal and will forever be so. When these thoughts become malignant, weapons of mass murder should not be readily available to young or old.
Andrew Jones via e-mail
DRINK UP AND DROP OUT
In “Why We Quit,” Yvonne Raley claims that student comfort, faculty support, and study habits are factors in whether a college student fails. I agree, but I also believe that drugs and alcohol are an even bigger hurdle. Not only does alcohol abuse affect the brain, it has become an accepted part of college culture. I would like to see statistics for drop-out rates based on the persuasions of alcohol and a party lifestyle.
Grace Poll St. Ursula Academy Toledo, Ohio
RALEY REPLIES: As far as I know, there are no national studies directly correlating alcohol abuse on campus and student drop-out rates. But studies on the drinking habits of college students indicate that heavy drinking is most common among first-year students. Dropping out is also most likely in the fi rst year, so the association is definitely worth exploring. I think we can safely say that alcohol (and also drugs) can have a negative impact on student performance and thus retention, but until more research is done it is hard to tell exactly what the nature of that correlation may be.
Many college campuses have tried to face this problem head on and have started initiatives to prevent alcohol abuse. At Felician College, where I am an assistant professor, a counselor attends every freshman class in the first semester to do a workshop. A number of other colleges do the same.
Ehor Mazurok Edmonton, Alberta
Did your article on leadership actually name George W. Bush as an example of a modern leader? This otherwise well-written article should have identified him as an example of a nonleader based on the facts presented. Bush’s popularity has continued to drop, which would imply that a one-time good speech and a few photo opportunities were examples of charisma that could not sustain the people in the long run, and thus he is not a knowledgeable member of the group. I read and reread this article, and his placement in it seemed forced and out of place. If you are looking for American leaders who fit the paradigm of this article, there are many from which to choose, including Thomas Jefferson, Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy.
Bob Spellman via e-mail
THE EDITORS REPLY: The example showed Bush’s leadership in a particular context at a particular time. Even if a person fails as a leader in some respects, he or she may nonetheless display some exemplary leadership qualities.
MIRROR-INDUCED MIGRAINE
In “It’s All Done with Mirrors” [Illusions], Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Diane Rogers-Ramachandran describe a simple experiment that explores the effects of bringing the visual and motor senses into conflict by using a mirror to distort the visual representation of one’s left and right hands.
My wife and I decided to perform the described experiment. When I viewed my hands in the mirror, I experienced the “jolt of surprise” that the authors predicted, but my wife’s reaction was totally unexpected. The instant she looked into the mirror she recoiled. She complained of dizziness, and within seconds she complained of a headache and then a pain in her left eye. These symptoms are exactly the same as those she experiences at the onset of her migraine headaches, which she has suffered from for more than 35 years. Could it be that my wife and I uncovered an unknown cause—sensory confusion—of migraines?
Rodger A. Sanders McMinnville, Tenn.
COMMON SYMPTOMS
While I was reading Thomas Grueter’s feature on prosopagnosia, “Forgetting Faces,” I began to wonder if children who have this “perceptual quirk” tend to be diagnosed as having autism. When a child is suspected of being autistic, parents and teachers often comment that he or she does not use eye contact or know the names of classmates. Is it possible that the snowball effect of prosopagnosia generates autisticlike behavior? Should prosopagnosia have a place on the autism spectrum?
Roseann Rash Boston
GRUETER REPLIES: The relation between prosopagnosia and autism is an important issue because, as Rash suggests, the disorders can share symptoms. Research indicates that prosopagnosia is a visual-processing defi cit, however, not a pervasive developmental disorder, and therefore it does not belong on the autism spectrum.
One of the core disabilities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) seems to be the lack of a “theory of mind.” Because of a defect in their mirror neurons, people who have autism are severely impaired when it comes to judging other people’s moods or feelings. In addition, autistic people’s brains have a harder time fi ltering input, so these individuals suffer from constant sensory overstimulation.
None of these problems arise in children with prosopagnosia. Autistic children actively avoid looking at people’s eyes, but prosopagnosic children simply forget about it and can be trained to keep gaze contact in conversations. Additionally, their empathy for other people is unimpaired and sometimes even better than in other children. And whereas children with ASD acquire language quite late, children with prosopagnosia tend to talk early.
Both disorders, however, share a striking symptom: afflicted children do not look into the face of people they talk to. This lack of eye contact may lead people to incorrectly suspect ASD in children with prosopagnosia simply because congenital prosopagnosia is still unknown to most people. In fact, the prevalence of congenital prosopagnosia is probably about 10 times as high as that of ASD. Therefore, some prosopagnosic children may indeed be wrongly diagnosed with ASD.
NO GUNS, NO SHOOTINGS
Frank J. Robertz is correct in “Deadly Dreams” when he advises that teenage malignant thoughts should be analyzed as a means of preempting and stopping the acting out of these ideas. This proposal is a sound psychological approach given that such “intrusive thoughts” are part of normal cognition, but psychological tactics are limited by the social context in which these child assassins are nurtured. As long as the right to own many semiautomatic weapons is socially acceptable, people with the intent to play out violent fantasies will have the opportunity to do so. Disarming the general population of all firearms will be the only real means of reducing this type of mass homicide.
Intrusive thoughts are normal and will forever be so. When these thoughts become malignant, weapons of mass murder should not be readily available to young or old.
Andrew Jones via e-mail
DRINK UP AND DROP OUT
In “Why We Quit,” Yvonne Raley claims that student comfort, faculty support, and study habits are factors in whether a college student fails. I agree, but I also believe that drugs and alcohol are an even bigger hurdle. Not only does alcohol abuse affect the brain, it has become an accepted part of college culture. I would like to see statistics for drop-out rates based on the persuasions of alcohol and a party lifestyle.
Grace Poll St. Ursula Academy Toledo, Ohio
RALEY REPLIES: As far as I know, there are no national studies directly correlating alcohol abuse on campus and student drop-out rates. But studies on the drinking habits of college students indicate that heavy drinking is most common among first-year students. Dropping out is also most likely in the fi rst year, so the association is definitely worth exploring. I think we can safely say that alcohol (and also drugs) can have a negative impact on student performance and thus retention, but until more research is done it is hard to tell exactly what the nature of that correlation may be.
Many college campuses have tried to face this problem head on and have started initiatives to prevent alcohol abuse. At Felician College, where I am an assistant professor, a counselor attends every freshman class in the first semester to do a workshop. A number of other colleges do the same.
