So, you’ve been told that mood swings are a sign that something is unbalanced? Well, think again. Variability is not the problem. In fact, research has shown that variability is good.
And this makes perfect sense! Let me explain. Think of those electrocardiogram graphics, full of ups-and-downs, without a clear order or pattern. Apparently they are confuse, you might be triggered about their meaning. However, that dance on lines is nothing but a sign of health, a sign of life. Imagine you are going to have a heart scan and instead of this energetic graphic you get a straight and invariable clear line… yes, I’m sure you would not be getting very positive news (best case scenario: you would be dead!).
Now think of affective states. Why are mood swings positive? Because they mean that you are actually responding to the environment, to others, to the world that exists in and outside you. It means you get sad if something bad happens, but that you can become happy in the minute after if someone cheers you up. Now picture a person with severe depression. Sadness all day long. No matter if you try to cheer that person up, if an elf comes into the room, if there is a circus right in front of the street. That person’s mood will most likely remain the same, independently of the external world. Are you starting to get why variability is healthy? I am sure that you are already thinking of other examples.
“Routine kills me!” – a perfect illustration of how low variability ruins our everyday lives.
“The monotonic voice of my teacher just puts me to sleep in every class!” – we all know someone that has that very same gift… low variability in speech never produces healthy results.
In fact, the effects of variability are everywhere!
Recent research has shown that, at work, positive behaviors like flow and performance are not linear. They show chaotic patterns over time, contrary to unhealthy behaviors, like mobbing and turnover intentions, which tend to follow the linear paths we are used to study.
Evidence is pointing out that variability is healthy, and non-variability is not. We have examples from our own physiology, from our affective states, and even from our work environments. But more research is needed before making generalizations. We need to revisit old constructs with new methods. We need to think of research as we think of life: including time, including oscillations, including the external environment, considering errors as part of the system and never neglecting our initial conditions. We may be facing a paradigm change in the way we see the world.
Chaos is good.
Who would’ve guessed?
