Jerk O Meter

From MIT the Jerk O Meter...as it implies, this will monitor the audio of a telephone conversation and indicate the level of hostility or jerkiness! It is featured in Robert I. Sutton's book: The No Asshole Rule. Of course it isn't really about technology, it is about monitoring how we speak.

Sutton suggests that you can tell a great deal by listening to conversation. Do you hear lots of "me, myself and I". Or is there a theme of "us and them". These kinds of indicators tell you a great deal about the person in the dialogue.

He suggests that you can take a group of nice, loving, cooperative people and turn them into vicious competitors by placing them in the influence of a JERK boss! The other scientific observation is that a similar result happens if people believe it is a US and THEM scenario! So you see the importance of language.

I am reminded of Paul's instruction to "let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth". That would surely include hostile language - don't you think?