Apr 30, 2020
DMP. How to treat it with respect and manage to stay motivated throughout the day.
Songs, movies, video games, a book, a trip, a hobby, etc., are activators of passion in people. The national anthem is an activator, creates social links, and gives identity to nations. We can find them in international sports competitions.
Just over two years ago, a study was published by a group of scientists representing two major universities (University of Staffordshire and University of Queensland) where UEFA Euro 2016 soccer matches were analyzed. As is known, before a match, there is a phase where the players sing the national anthem of their team, however, there are exceptions. The researchers were interested in analyzing whether the players sang their anthem, and with what intensity, they also rated their body postures and facial expressions. Basically, they wanted to analyze whether the players were passionate about their flag or not.
They then compared the data with the performance of the players throughout the tournament.
They found that the level of passion with which they sang their respective hymn clearly affected their performance. The teams that sang with more passion achieved more victories.
The level of passion in whatever we do clearly impacts our performance, and consequently, it affects talent. Talent has always been thought of as natural to the talented, so much so that people forget that these individuals had to do their hard work to finally accomplish what “they do”. However, performance may be related to people’s positive or negative well-being. Could it be a double-edged sword?
Vallerand’s Work
In a study carried out at the University of Quebec in 2003 and led by Dr. Vallerand, a model was developed that to date has achieved prominence among the great investigations of positive psychology. It is called the dualistic model of passion (DMP). This model suggests that there are two types of passions; harmonious and obsessive passion. With positive and negative effects respectively. With the simple name we can intuit the causes and the consequences. How lucky for the reader of this article, because since the study by Vallerand was carried out, work has been carried out according to its conclusion.
- Sense of belonging to your community
In another study conducted at the University of Oslo, led by Spehar, they analyzed the behavior of 278 Norwegian employees. They concluded that there is a strong positive relationship between people’s sense of belonging and harmonious passion behavior. That an employee of a company feels identified with his work community, enhances their performance. Those without a sense of belonging were also found to be related to their obsessive passion behavior. It is not necessary to limit ourselves with the work area of people, we can extrapolate this knowledge and apply it in any community in which we work, or just an activity.
2. It can even save your money
Scientific findings that followed the model indicate that the type of passion makes a big difference, even studies have shown that it affects the economy of people. In another study published by the Journal of Management Studies, the harmonious passion of employees was related to the increase in income towards the company thanks to their efforts to find colleagues to discuss important work issues. While, on the other side of the coin, the obsessive passion was related to a decline in income in those employees who presented it.
Get the most out of it
So, we must start with naming ourselves for what we do. Because your passion sticks to your identity. You are not a person who plays the piano. You are a pianist. Bringing this statement to reality makes you part of the activity. It gives you a sense of belonging. A harmonious passion is born in you, the one that gives us good results.
