| I have extensive experience of PhD successful supervision within a very broad area of psychology including implicit/explicit knowledge, unrealistic optimism, work stress and interventions to reduce stress, predictors of life re-adjustment in acquired brain injury, organisational performance, leadership in management buy-outs, marketing in the film industry, the psychology of fashion, the psychology of ageing, personal change and personal projects, dieting etc.. A number of these research strands have been integrated within a FIT Science approach.
I am interested in supervising PhD Students in 4 related topic areas:
1. Occupational and Personal Stress. I do not believe that the key to reducing work stress is in changing the work environment. In contrast to many experts, I think a much more effective approach is to focus change on the individual. A small change in the perceptions of people can lever big improvements, whilst big changes in the work environment have been shown to play little, if any, role in reducing stress. One key project is to look at stress issues and to examine how much of the stress is in the person and how much in the environment. We know people blame the world, but that proves little. For example, we also know that people who are stressed see the world differently. If we change them (with FIT, for example) does the world become less stressful even though it has not been changed at all? I expect so.
2. Helping people achieve desireable and purposeful change. For example, FIT has been applied to such areas as reducing anxiety and depression, getting people back to work, improving performance, weight loss, personal projects, smoking cessation etc. I have developed what is called a DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT (DSD) technique to facilitate change (basically changes in the persons' behavioural flexibility are used to lever changes of mind and the greater deployment of willpower and effort). I am interested in looking at these questions further. It is intersting to note that Martin Seligman (the 'father' of Positive Psychology) has reported great benefits in happiness and depression with a DSD approach.
3. Cognitive architecture and personal perceptions of the world. In different studies in a wide variety of areas I have postulated that basic cognitions are critically dependent on various personal factors (such as if people are stressed, or if they are dieting, depending upon their perceptions of age etc.). I am keen to look at these matters in relation to ageing and the known health and mortality benefits that are associated with a 'young' mind. I am also very interested in stress and cognitive architecture.
4. Personal relationships and FIT Science. I have done preliminary research on the predictors of successful and fulfilling personal relationships (e.g. marriage, friendship). Is it better if the two parties are flexibly minded (in FIT terms), for example? Or are two inflexible people (who are focussed in the same narrow band) more likely to get on? Or is a mix better? Does the answer depend on the type of relationship?
I don't want to list a whole string of academic papers, but those who are interested in knowing more about the way I think could usefully have a look at the following selection of books I have written:
Fletcher, B. (C) (1991) Work, Stress, Disease & Life Expectancy, Chichester: J Wiley
Fletcher, B. (C) (2001) (Inner) FITness & The FIT Corporation, Thomson Learning
Fletcher, B. (C), Pine K.J. & Penman, D (2005) The No Diet Diet: Do Something Different. Orion Books
Fletcher, B, (C) FIT: A new framework for stress & health. In M.J. Schabrach et al. (Eds), Handbook of Work & Health Psychology, John Wiley, 2003. pp. 549-568.
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