The Effects of Incivility

The Effects of Incivility

Experiencing incivility in today’s society is a relatively common occurrence. When faced with it, most people tend to try to just shrug it off, not taking too much offense to it, and definitely not confronting the problem. Although this may not seem like too much of an issue, studies have shown that incivility causes a variety of individual, social, and organizational problems.

One way the individual faces such rudeness is on the Internet. Many people are much more willing to abandon their obligation to be polite when sitting behind their computer, especially when the website includes the user’s anonymity (Clay). One study shows that individuals who frequent websites in order to argue, rant, or vent actually tend to “score higher on anger measures, express their anger more maladaptively and experience such negative consequences as verbal and physical fights more frequently than others” (Clay). Although this statistic may be true, correlation cannot be used to find causation. It very well may be that people who already have anger problems might be the ones frequenting these websites, and their anger problem is the reason they are frequenting the websites instead of the websites causing the anger problem.

A social issue regarding the effect of incivility is the constant use of cell phones. When in public, people who are on their cell phones may be “so wrapped up ‘in their own little bubbles’ that they don’t even realize they’re blocking a sidewalk or holding up a line” (qtd. in Clay). This phenomenon is due to the fact that a human’s attention has a limited capacity and a selective nature (based on the research of Hermann von Helmholtz) and therefore, when their attention is on their phone, they’re “b...

... middle of paper ...

... the overall attitude of the hospital staff being changed, and when the new hires entered in, they, through observational learning from the more experienced staff, acquired the favorable work attitude.

Incivility can affect many different aspects of our lives. A few are causing anger problems, being in others’ way, making it difficult for somebody to concentrate, and causing workers to skip work. However, at least in the workplace, this issue can be helped (if the company is willing). Although on a small scale, incivility and rudeness may seem insignificant, they have proved to be quite problematic.

Works Cited

Clay, Rebecca A. "That's Just Rude." Web log post. Http://www.apa.org. N.p., Nov. 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. .

Hockenbury, Don H., and Sandra E. Hockenbury. Psychology. 6th ed. New York, NY: Worth, 2013. Print.