Expanding the Circle: Nicole Cain and Kate Thomas on an interpersonal TED talk
Nicole Cain
Long Island University
Agency and Communion as “Ideas Worth Spreading”
Nicole Cain, SITAR Newsletter Associate Editor
Long Island University
Inspired by the newsletter’s recent transition to an online format, I wanted to take this opportunity to ‘expand the circle’ by highlighting a recent TEDx talk that prominently featured agency and communion as its anchor points. For those of you who are unfamiliar with TED, it’s a nonprofit organization devoted to ‘ideas worth spreading.’ It started in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. All TED talks and performances can be found on their website free of charge (http://www.ted.com). TEDx is part of the TED network, but focuses more on giving communities, organizations, and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at local events (http://tedxtalks.ted.com).
As members of SITAR, we would all agree that agency and communion are ‘ideas worth spreading,’ but how did these concepts end up as a part of TEDx talk? One of our graduate student members, Kate Thomas of Michigan State University, engaged in conversation with an associate professor of journalism from the University of Kansas, Simran Sethi, MBA, on an airplane to Greece. Kate introduced Ms. Sethi to Jerry Wiggins’ seminal paper on agency and communion (Wiggins, 1991). The result is a TEDx talk entitled “Why and How We Engage” given by Simran Sethi at TEDx Cibeles in Madrid, Spain on June 2, 2012. TEDx Cibeles is an annual conference focusing on social change and commitment (http://www.tedxcibeles.com/about-tedxplazacibeles/) and Ms. Sethi’s career has focused on initiatives addressing social, environmental, and sustainability issues with a particular emphasis on the psychological and cultural imperatives necessary for social and environment engagement. With these values, it’s easy to see why agency and communion were a natural fit with her TEDx talk.
I encourage everyone to watch Ms. Sethi’s talk – she is a dynamic speaker and is passionate about how we have an obligation to take action to change the way we engage with others in order to solve the social problems we face in the world (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk2nNhbocII&feature=plcp). She begins her talk by having the audience close their eyes to imagine someone who is different from them. She then argues that people who are different from us are our greatest teachers and encourages the audience to think about how similar we are as human beings, rather than focus on our differences. To highlight our similarities, she weaves in the concepts of agency and communion as organizing motives that shape our interactions with the environment. She makes the point that we all fundamentally seek similar goals – strivings for achievement and connections with others. Her talk is focused on how to best deliver messages about important social problems such as global warming, hunger, and sustainability to others who may have different opinions or interests than us. But throughout her talk, she emphasizes the core concepts of agency and communion even when she’s not using the exact words. She talks about “personal action,” “cooperation,” and “helpfulness” as important aspects of changing the way we engage with our environment. She concludes by arguing that a balance of agency and communion brings us joy and helps us to connect with others in a more meaningful way.
It was truly inspiring as an interpersonal researcher to watch this talk and see how agency and communion can be used outside of the circumplex and outside of a classic psychology paradigm. I would like to thank Kate Thomas for ‘expanding the circle’ on her trip to Greece. My hope is that there are others in the world watching this TEDx talk who are now thinking of agency and communion as ‘ideas worth spreading.’ As always, please email me with ideas or suggestions for future ‘expansions’ of the circle ([email protected]).
References:
http://www.ted.com
http://tedxtalks.ted.com
http://www.tedxcibeles.com/about-tedxplazacibeles/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk2nNhbocII&feature=plcp
Wiggins, J. S. (1991). Agency and communion as conceptual coordinates for the understanding and measurement of interpersonal behavior. In W. M. Grove & D. Ciccetti (Eds.), Thinking clearly about psychology: Vol. 2. Personality and psychopathology (pp. 89-113). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Nicole Cain, SITAR Newsletter Associate Editor
Long Island University
Inspired by the newsletter’s recent transition to an online format, I wanted to take this opportunity to ‘expand the circle’ by highlighting a recent TEDx talk that prominently featured agency and communion as its anchor points. For those of you who are unfamiliar with TED, it’s a nonprofit organization devoted to ‘ideas worth spreading.’ It started in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. All TED talks and performances can be found on their website free of charge (http://www.ted.com). TEDx is part of the TED network, but focuses more on giving communities, organizations, and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at local events (http://tedxtalks.ted.com).
As members of SITAR, we would all agree that agency and communion are ‘ideas worth spreading,’ but how did these concepts end up as a part of TEDx talk? One of our graduate student members, Kate Thomas of Michigan State University, engaged in conversation with an associate professor of journalism from the University of Kansas, Simran Sethi, MBA, on an airplane to Greece. Kate introduced Ms. Sethi to Jerry Wiggins’ seminal paper on agency and communion (Wiggins, 1991). The result is a TEDx talk entitled “Why and How We Engage” given by Simran Sethi at TEDx Cibeles in Madrid, Spain on June 2, 2012. TEDx Cibeles is an annual conference focusing on social change and commitment (http://www.tedxcibeles.com/about-tedxplazacibeles/) and Ms. Sethi’s career has focused on initiatives addressing social, environmental, and sustainability issues with a particular emphasis on the psychological and cultural imperatives necessary for social and environment engagement. With these values, it’s easy to see why agency and communion were a natural fit with her TEDx talk.
I encourage everyone to watch Ms. Sethi’s talk – she is a dynamic speaker and is passionate about how we have an obligation to take action to change the way we engage with others in order to solve the social problems we face in the world (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk2nNhbocII&feature=plcp). She begins her talk by having the audience close their eyes to imagine someone who is different from them. She then argues that people who are different from us are our greatest teachers and encourages the audience to think about how similar we are as human beings, rather than focus on our differences. To highlight our similarities, she weaves in the concepts of agency and communion as organizing motives that shape our interactions with the environment. She makes the point that we all fundamentally seek similar goals – strivings for achievement and connections with others. Her talk is focused on how to best deliver messages about important social problems such as global warming, hunger, and sustainability to others who may have different opinions or interests than us. But throughout her talk, she emphasizes the core concepts of agency and communion even when she’s not using the exact words. She talks about “personal action,” “cooperation,” and “helpfulness” as important aspects of changing the way we engage with our environment. She concludes by arguing that a balance of agency and communion brings us joy and helps us to connect with others in a more meaningful way.
It was truly inspiring as an interpersonal researcher to watch this talk and see how agency and communion can be used outside of the circumplex and outside of a classic psychology paradigm. I would like to thank Kate Thomas for ‘expanding the circle’ on her trip to Greece. My hope is that there are others in the world watching this TEDx talk who are now thinking of agency and communion as ‘ideas worth spreading.’ As always, please email me with ideas or suggestions for future ‘expansions’ of the circle ([email protected]).
References:
http://www.ted.com
http://tedxtalks.ted.com
http://www.tedxcibeles.com/about-tedxplazacibeles/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk2nNhbocII&feature=plcp
Wiggins, J. S. (1991). Agency and communion as conceptual coordinates for the understanding and measurement of interpersonal behavior. In W. M. Grove & D. Ciccetti (Eds.), Thinking clearly about psychology: Vol. 2. Personality and psychopathology (pp. 89-113). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Kate Thomas
Michigan State University
A note about discussing interpersonal theory with Simran Sethi
Katherine Thomas
Michigan State University
This past May, I was en route to Athens for a family trip (I know, the tough life of a grad student…) when I struck up casual conversation with the passenger sitting next to me and we asked the seemingly obligatory “And what’s bringing you across the Atlantic Ocean?” Our polite banter quickly turned to hours of engaging conversation as I learned that she was travelling to Madrid to give a talk on environmental engagement. Her interest in and familiarity with a breadth of psychology research was readily apparent as we discussed cognitive factors that contribute to the ease with which we engage with one person’s suffering while distancing ourselves from the suffering of thousands. After talking for quite some time, Simran asked me if I would be willing to read over her talk and provide any feedback. In particular, she indicated that she was torn about which of two openers she wanted to use to introduce her talk. After discussing both of her ideas, I told her it was really interesting that these were the two different ways she was considering beginning because they represented one of my favorite theories in psychology (as I am sure SITAR readers have guessed, one opener was highly agentic and the other opener was highly communal). This led us to a discussion of the IPC (which I eagerly drew on a Delta napkin) and Wiggin's (1991) seminal paper connecting interpersonal dimensions with several disparate theories and literatures (which she professionally took note of in her journal). A few weeks later I watched her TEDx talk with enthusiasm and was impressed with her introduction, which seamlessly weaved the concepts of agency and communion. To SITAR readers, I echo Nicole’s recommendation that you watch Simran’s enjoyable and engaging TEDx talk. To Simran, I thank you for the most enjoyable flight I have taken to date, filled with new insights into ways we can make a difference and how we can connect with others (i.e., agency and communion).
Katherine Thomas
Michigan State University
This past May, I was en route to Athens for a family trip (I know, the tough life of a grad student…) when I struck up casual conversation with the passenger sitting next to me and we asked the seemingly obligatory “And what’s bringing you across the Atlantic Ocean?” Our polite banter quickly turned to hours of engaging conversation as I learned that she was travelling to Madrid to give a talk on environmental engagement. Her interest in and familiarity with a breadth of psychology research was readily apparent as we discussed cognitive factors that contribute to the ease with which we engage with one person’s suffering while distancing ourselves from the suffering of thousands. After talking for quite some time, Simran asked me if I would be willing to read over her talk and provide any feedback. In particular, she indicated that she was torn about which of two openers she wanted to use to introduce her talk. After discussing both of her ideas, I told her it was really interesting that these were the two different ways she was considering beginning because they represented one of my favorite theories in psychology (as I am sure SITAR readers have guessed, one opener was highly agentic and the other opener was highly communal). This led us to a discussion of the IPC (which I eagerly drew on a Delta napkin) and Wiggin's (1991) seminal paper connecting interpersonal dimensions with several disparate theories and literatures (which she professionally took note of in her journal). A few weeks later I watched her TEDx talk with enthusiasm and was impressed with her introduction, which seamlessly weaved the concepts of agency and communion. To SITAR readers, I echo Nicole’s recommendation that you watch Simran’s enjoyable and engaging TEDx talk. To Simran, I thank you for the most enjoyable flight I have taken to date, filled with new insights into ways we can make a difference and how we can connect with others (i.e., agency and communion).