Dear Claims Adjuster - Part 2

Saturday, August 27, 2005 | 0

Dear Claims Adjuster - Part II

by Peggy Sugarman, VIAW

Have you ever heard of the Stanford Prison Experiment? If you haven't, I strongly encourage all of you to take a few minutes and go through the researcher's slides and discussions of this ground-breaking experiment on human behavior.

In this 1971 experiment, Stanford University students who volunteered to be part of a psychological study were randomly selected into two groups: Prison guards and prisoners. The prisoners" were arrested" and taken to a simulated prison on campus and guarded by prison guards". What followed is important: the prisoners" began behaving and feeling like prisoners: They felt humiliated. They had no power. Some psychologically deteriorated. The guards" began to act like guards, some becoming increasingly oppressive and militant, particularly after hearing that the prisoners" had planned a prison break". Both sides get entrenched into their roles- one with power and one without.

The situation became so serious that the researchers had to cut the study short. The researcher, Philip G. Zimbardo, suggests that the results parallel the reported abuse of Iraqi prisoners. I happen to believe that it has applicability to everyday human interaction, including today's workers' compensation system.

Consider how you may have gotten to be a workers' compensation claims adjuster. To reiterate from part one of this series, it was probably a series of unplanned events.

Likewise, injured workers don't aspire to be injured on the job and most of them are ill prepared for the role into which they are thrust. Both claims adjuster and injured worker thus end up in roles similar to the Stanford students in that famous experiment: One making decisions (or following orders) that affect the injured worker's life, health, and financial well-being. The injured person must either accept the decisions of others regarding their health or find a way to fight back.

Decent working folks fall into predictable behaviors when batting on the side with control. Like you. The same decent working folks react badly when they lose control over their health, finances, and employment, made worse when they are subjected to endless bureaucratic delays and are in pain to boot. Like persons injured on the job. Which could also be you someday through no fault of your own.

Tell me. How would you feel in their situation? Let me know. But first, be sure to check out the research site and see if anything seems familiar to you: http://www.prisonexp.org/.

Sincerely,

Peggy Sugarman, Executive Director
VotersInjuredatWork.org psugarman@viaw.org

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