It is emphasized that people who have experienced traumatic events are characterized by a significant deterioration of cognitive processes, which in turn leads to an extreme response to stress and to incoherent and dysfunctional behavior. People with impaired cognitive functions are also more susceptible to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Rude or hostile behavior at work negatively affects the functioning of employees. In addition to such consequences as mental health disorders, intensification of negative emotions or professional burnout, victims of mobbing also suffer from a deterioration of cognitive functions, i.e. a decrease in their ability to perform complex tasks and creativity. Aggression experienced at work also reduces the ability to give feedback and solve complex problems. This also applies to witnesses of violence.

Much of the decline in productivity of workers experiencing violence was not due to intentional reductions in work effort, but rather to cognitive impairments, such as memory problems. The results of the research show that people experiencing hostile behavior at work were characterized by significantly weaker memory and lower creativity. It also seems crucial that victims of mobbing, compared to other employees, often assess their ideas as less creative and creative. In addition, research has shown that employees exposed to mobbing have more problems with making decisions and need more time to solve complex tasks. What’s more, exposure to mobbing disturbs employees’ thinking and leads to hostile thoughts or even aggressive behavior resulting from the desire to retaliate. Instead of concentrating on work and assigned tasks, mobbing victims try to understand what is the source of their problems and how they can deal with them. As a result, their cognitive load increases.

Experiencing violence is also associated with automatic processes in the brain, as the amygdala, located in its deep areas, becomes overactive. This causes higher processes to give way to primitive processes that focus on simple „fight” or „flight” responses. In contrast to the conscious assessment of the event, primitive processes are automatic and serve to prepare the individual to react in an emergency situation. In such a situation, the ability to concentrate and solve complex tasks significantly decreases, which results in a decrease in the efficiency and effectiveness of the employee.

Source:https://www.seka.pl/mobbing-a-sprawnosc-umyslowa-pracownikow/

Supported by Norway through Norway Grants 2014-2021, in the frame of the Programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work”.