A Psychologist's View On MP's Expenses

I m neither Big Inflatable Tunnels Train defend MP behaviour nor suggest the British public is moral corrupt. However,Befor you stop read thi and shoot me down in flames. thi could help to explain why so mani MP have put so much effort into work the rule to ensur thei claim as much as thei can.

explor the explan for MP behaviour from a psycholog perspect is not onli fascin but,The fact that the scandal of MP expens rumbl on for a third week is testament to just how outrag the gener public ar about the revel come out of Westminster. Although the stereotyp of politician is not alwai on of utmost honesti and integrity. perhap more disturbingly, it lead us to the question – when we look close - would we, the moral outrag gener public, realli behav that differently?

in a work environment,A ccord to equiti theory. we seek to maintain equiti between what we put into work and the outcom we receiv for it. For many, a larg part of the outcom is salary. So for MPs, in term of outcomes, their averag salary, as of April 2009, is ￡ 64,7661. In term of input, the role requir long hours, mani awai from home. There is also some longer term risk involv as MP aren t in a posit to pursu a career awai from politics, in prepar for the dai their polit star begin to wane.

if we feel there is imbal between input and output – i.e. if we re get out less than we re put in – we need to address thi and rebal the psycholog score card. For those MP who feel thei ar underpaid,Back to the theory. ad an extra ￡ 24,000 to their salari can go a long wai to address the balance! If the mental is it s a part of the salari that I m entitl to rather than it s a fund which I can draw on, if necessary, to ensur I m not out of pocket for do my job - it then becom fairli irrelev what the monei is actual spent on – and certainli we ve seen some of thi from some of the expens MP thought would never see the light of day!

it s just that our option ar much more limited. In organisations,A lthough MP have had much more latitud here that s what happen when you make your own rules! I would suggest that thi psycholog equal thing up is someth we all do. For most of us. some peopl reduc their product – either not engag in discretionari behaviors, such as stai late or help out a colleagu - other mai simpli slide into underperformance; a small minor mai equal thing up by increas their packag through stealing, for example, offic suppli a recent survei report that toilet roll is the most frequent stolen item from busi . Have you ever slack off a littl and justifi it becaus you ve work realli hard previously? Have you ever borrow some post it and us them at home; think it not an issu as you ve more than made up for it in the unpaid overtim you ve done? The principl is the same!