Positive reinforcement and toxicity

Cast your mind back to when you were a child and the majority of your behaviour was influenced by your primary caregiver, whether this be a parent, a grandparent, aunty, uncle, foster carer or any other person.

Can you remember a time when you were encouraged to continue behaving a certain way? Such as being polite to someone or finishing your dinner? It felt good, didn't it? It gave you a sense of achievement and feeling special for a brief period. That's great! Being encouraged to be polite and respectful members of society is something a lot of us would hope for.

What if we flip the script and encourage behaviour that is less desirable? Such as lying, for instance. As the human species, there are certain 'white lies' that seem ok because they don't really do any damage, but if someone is lying to get themselves ahead or to the damage of someone else, how do we respond? Usually with distaste but sadly accept this is part of reality sometimes. Now let's say this person you were allowing to get away with lying was a colleague who eventually got a promotion. How would you feel then? That's BULL**** right!? But how did it happen? That's what we're going to investigate further throughout this article.

It comes down simply to positive reinforcement. What we ultimately accept and allow becomes a norm. Sometimes it can be difficult to call out these injustices, but what if that same person was also fraudulently benefitting from the company? What would you do then?

A lot of high power cases have come out in the media over the last few years, particularly that of Epstein and Maxwell which I have been closely following for some time. Of course this particular case is an extreme example of exploitation and all manner of wrongs, but what does it come down to? Dishonesty and pulling the wool over people's eyes.

So my question to you is, how far is too far? Is it better to speak out? Is money the main motive that those who are calculated and dishonest strive for? Is there POWER in positive reinforcement in this direction and how do we make it stop? Where can we stop it?

Corruption and toxicity is still a very large scale problem, but sadly those who are in these positions have had a great deal of positive reinforcement and for all of their disgusting behaviours that morally speaking we know are wrong and incredibly damaging to the victims.

I say it's time we begin unfolding these issues before they go too far. But how? There are so many complex issues to untangle and where do we start? Is it childhood? Is it screening people who start their own businesses? Is it in the language we use or is it how we deal with corruption? Is it speaking up even with fear of reprisal? Sometimes no matter what we do, these problems are still likely to arise due to others' motives and selfishness, but how can we change our approach to call it out?

Psychology and my interest in it has given me such a desire to analyse things in great detail to understand the human behaviour behind such wrongdoings. I still feel there is a lot of work to be done within the consciousness of the public and the tide is very much turning away from corrupt leaders and those who are benefitting through their own greed and dishonesty. The question is, how many times does this have to happen before there is an answer to it?

I do feel there is hope and it's so important to lead with integrity, transparency and honesty. Those who sew goodness reap goodness too, but to those who are in the other camp, there has to be something that can be done to stop them benefitting from crimes and getting away with damaging others. There just has to.

In the meantime, be good, be kind and lead a life you love.