

Why is the person effect important for leadership? He also discovered the effect talking and personal interaction had on blood pressure or how even caring for pets was beneficial for health in general. Those who live alone had markedly higher death rates from heart disease than those who lived with someone else. Even a caring nurse could influence survival rates in an intensive care hospital unit. He studied the huge impact that absence or presence of human relationships had on people’s health. This line of research was pursued by James Lynch, a psychologist who extended Gantt’s research to coronary care and trauma patients. Later, Horsley Gantt, an American student of Pavlov, realized that understanding the impact of another person was essential to understand human physiology because we do not live in isolation. So, what did Pavlov do? He decided to study the dogs in isolation without social contact. He observed and understood what later came to be called “The person effect,” a powerful aspect of understanding the social nature of physiology. Pavlov observed that when people entered or left the room, there was a change in the physiology of the dogs.

Ivan Pavlov, famous for his work with dogs, first noticed the person effect. The person effect is rooted in what neuroscientists have come to know as brain triggers that mostly happen in the implicit memory – associations in the brain outside of our awareness. Aspects that impact the person effect are status, authority, gender, nationality, culture, age, physical presence, words, use of language, level of energy, perfectionism, optimism, pessimism, and reputation. This example epitomizes what is known as “the person effect”: the unique impact, positive or negative, a person has in coming across and connecting with others. It includes the leader’s state of being, their words and their physiology.


A robust conversation takes place and there is resounding enthusiasm to what Ellen has presented.ĭo you resonate at all with this story? Have you ever seen people like Jackie who repeatedly fall flat in communicating? Maybe there have been times you even felt like her? She shares a similar message in her own style. Colleagues look bored as she communicates her points.Ī few days later, a colleague of Jackie named Ellen approaches the same group. She delivers what she thinks is a compelling message. She needs to generate buy-in from the group. Jackie has an important message to communicate.
