Why Being a Jerk is Actually Dangerous (featuring Dr. Chris Turner)
A high-school level primer on the Civility Saves Lives campaign. Spoiler: Rudeness isn't just annoying; it causes people to mess up.
We all know that person. The one who snaps at you when you ask a question, rolls their eyes during group projects, or talks down to people. Let's be honest, dealing with them sucks.
But what if that rude person was your doctor? Or the person fixing an airplane? Or someone on your sports team during the final play? It turns out, being rude isn't just a character flaw—it actively makes everyone around you worse at their jobs. And in hospitals, that can literally cost lives.
Enter Dr. Chris Turner
Dr. Chris Turner is an Emergency Medicine Consultant in the UK (basically, a high-level doctor in the ER). He treats trauma patients, so he works in environments where stress is high, and teamwork has to be perfect. He co-founded a campaign called Civility Saves Lives.
The Science of Rudeness (Incivility)
Dr. Turner and his team didn't just decide to make a club for nice people. They looked at the actual science and data behind how humans react to bad behaviour (which they call "incivility").
Here is what happens to your brain when someone is rude to you (even if it's mild rudeness, like a sarcastic comment):
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Your brain 'closes down'. When you are attacked (even verbally), your brain goes into a mini "fight or flight" mode. It stops focusing on the complex task you were doing and focuses on the threat (the rude person).
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Your performance drops massively. Studies show that if someone is rude to you, your ability to make good decisions drops. Your hand-eye coordination even gets worse.
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Bystanders get dumber too. This is the crazy part. Even if the person wasn't rude to you, but you just witnessed it happening to someone else, your performance drops by about 20%. The bad vibes literally leak into your brain.
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Communication stops. If someone is a known jerk, people stop wanting to talk to them. If a junior doctor notices a mistake but the senior doctor is terrifying, the junior doctor might stay quiet. That's when fatal errors happen.
The "Civility Saves Lives" Mission
The campaign isn't about being best friends with everyone or pretending everything is fine when it's not. It is about respect and creating an environment where people can hit their "personal peak."
What they tried first
They initially considered campaigns like "Don't be a d*ck." But they realized that negative messaging doesn't work. Most people who are acting rude don't actually wake up aiming to be the bad guy; they are just stressed, tired, or lacking self-awareness.
What they do now
They focus on the positive: Civility. By treating people with respect and valuing them, you keep their brains functioning at 100%. Teams that are civil share information better and get better outcomes.
The Takeaway for Non-Doctors
You might not be performing open-heart surgery, but this applies to school, part-time jobs, and hanging out.
TL;DR: How not to be an arse:
- Understand your impact: Your bad mood lowers the IQ of the entire room. Keep it in check.
- Curiosity over judgment: If someone messes up, ask them what happened instead of yelling at them. (Dr. Turner says tension should be resolved with curiosity).
- Call it out: If you see incivility, recognize that it's damaging the team. Supporting the person who was attacked helps restore the balance.
- Being nice isn't weak: Being civil is actually a high-performance life hack. It makes your team win.
Want to learn more? Check out Dr. Chris Turner's TEDx talks on YouTube or visit civilitysaveslives.com.