How I, despite living it the "happiest country in the world", became a victim of the bad Apple effect.

Finland has issues with Alzheimer's, depression, psychological violence in the home environment, tribalism, and work climate. Here I report on a case where I was attacked by a bad apple person. It wasn't the first time. I also report on the possible explanation. Conclusion. One person, a 'bad apple' , can destroy the organizational climate. That person probably suffers from some mental health issue. But because mental health issues are prevalent in Finland, the probability of suffering from bad apple's are equally high.

Please support the blog via Swish (Sweden), MobilePay (Finland) or Wise.

Finland has issues with Alzheimer's (EU, 2023), depression (Estlander, 2023), psychological violence in the home environment (Estlander, 2023; Helsingfors Police department, 2022), tribalism (Pagel, 2019), and bad work climate (Finnish media, 2024).

Work climate is an intervening variable between the leader and the organization; it contains a complex latent ten dimensional structure (Ekvall, 1996).

During his Gifford lecture in 2019, Mark Pagel, a biological anthropologist, talked about tribalism. His first example: Papau new Guinea, his second example: Finland.

Psychological violence is one of the big issues in Finland (Helsingfors Police department, 2022).

Depression. Finland has the most depression per capita within the European Union (Estlander, 2023).

Dementia, especially Alzheimer's, has become a global issue, and on top of that ranking is Finland:

“The country with the most cases of Alzheimer's Disease is Finland. There are 54.65 cases of Alzheimer's for every 100,000 people in this country. These numbers and statistics put Finland in the extremely high occurrence and high prevalence range for the disease. Interestingly, females are much more likely to have Alzheimer's in Finland than males. For every 100,000 people, Alzheimer's impacts 55.32 females compared to just 52.10 males” (WPR).

According to an EU report, 19.9% of Finns who die, die of Dementia, and in particular Alzheimer's disease.

Prevalence of welfare diseases in Finland.

Among Swedes who die, 9.8% die of Dementia/Alzheimers.

Prevalence of welfare diseases in Sweden.

According to Finland's Brain foundation:

“One in two women and one in three men over the age of 45 will develop a serious brain disease during the rest of their lives.

Indirectly, the disease affects even more people – family members, friends and colleagues”.

Länk till källan

Some claim that dementia and Alzheimer's is mainly a neurological disease, but a comparison between Finland and Sweden demonstrates that it must be a cultural phenomena. So are psychological violence in the home environment, tribalism, and work climate.

As a consequence, several instances are affected:

• school performance is down in Finland (Finland's ministry of education and culture, 2022),
  
  
• research at the University of Helsingfors has collapsed (Bäckgren, 2023),
  
  
• 40% of the school children are victims of psychological violence in the home environment (Estlander, 2023).
  
  
• entrepreneurship and innovative thinking has hit rock-bottom (Sitra, 2024).
  
  
• In 2025, Åbo Academy also had a crisis, sacking 48 people. Students rather go to Swedish, where the pool of experts are bigger.

As a psychological scientist specializing in emotional, as well as industrial and organizational psychology, I've been involved in many cases of organizational dilemmas. Both in the role of the executive coach, or as a bystander (part of the organization). Part of being assigned to solve organizational issues is, paradoxically, that the client in some part of the process blames the executive coach (me).

Since I was a teenager, I have also participated in pro-bono work:

1. When I worked with my father in the family business, my father sent me to assist people in various situations.
   
   
2. When I (also as a teenager) was assigned to be a manager in a sports association, much of the work was pro-bono.

When I was recruited to become a research-leader at the University of Helsingfors, I was also assigned to be the Head of the wellbeing team (pro-bono). That's because mental health issues were so prevalent (see above). Some said 20 % of the work force. That included meeting a lot of people who despised Sweden and people from Sweden. Academic freedom of speech and viewpoint diversity - heterodoxy was suppressed (Parikka, 2022).

I also joined several associations. They are all Swedish speaking. Currently I'm on the board in two of them. And since March 2024, I have done 250 hours of pro-bono work in food distribution for people in need; once a week, together with 20-25 people, I have packed bread, vegetables, and meat/fish, which has then been distributed to 500 - 700 people lining up on the street. We who pack the food usually have a great time, shatting and making jokes with one another during the work. But of course, like in any organization, and it seems to be more prevalent in Finland compared to Sweden, there are a few people with a 'bad apple' attitude and behavior.

Last week, I had just finished for the day, and was heading to another meeting when a person who had a management role for the food distribution, said that ze wanted to talk to me. We sat down, and during the talk, ze started to accuse me of things (anti-swedish propaganda), and ze claimed that because ze had heard it, it was true. Ze's facial expression displayed [irrational] anger, and ze's hands were trembling. that indicated that ze's cortisol levels were high.

High cortisol levels shut down the brain's center for rational thinking - the hippocampi, there is one in each hemisphere, and activates neighboring amygdalae. The result: a so-called fight-flight response (Goleman, 2006). This implies that there is a probability that the person will become dangerous.

Note. Even though I was taken by surprise by the false accusations and ze's anger, I managed to remind ze about my expertise in psychology, that anger comes from within, and that my work was pro-bono.

Ze's response was laughter in a condescending way, and ze's hand was shaking even more. I said to ze that ze's attack felt horrible, but also that I felt great about what I had accomplished together my fellow food-packing 20-25 people. I also told ze that because of ze's aggressive behavior, I had no reason to stay.

Under normal circumstances, such a person should honor people who conducting pro-bono work. This Sapiens did the opposite.

So the question is, can one person ruin the work climate the way ze did?

“Yes, there is a study from 2006 known as the "Bad Apple Effect." This research was conducted by William Felps, Terence Mitchell, and Eliza Byington at the University of Washington. The study examined how one negative team member can significantly impact the overall performance and dynamics of a group (Co-pilot)

“This paper presents a review and integrative model of how, when, and why the behaviors of one negative group member can have powerful, detrimental influence on teammates and groups. We define the negative group member as someone who persistently exhibits one or more of the following behaviors: withholding effort from the group, expressing negative affect, or violating important interpersonal norms. We then detail how these behaviors elicit psychological states in teammates (e.g. perceptions of inequity, negative feelings, reduced trust), how those psychological states lead to defensive behavioral reactions (e.g. outbursts, mood maintenance, withdrawal), and finally, how these various manifestations of defensiveness influence important group processes and dynamics (e.g. cooperation, creativity). Key mechanisms and moderators are discussed as well as actions that might reduce the impact of the bad apple. Implications for both practice and research are discussed” (Felps et al. 2006).

“A single “bad apple” can reduce team performance by 30-40%. That's not a typo – one negative person can slash your team's effectiveness by nearly half” (The Leaders Guide).

“Common defensive mechanisms employees use to cope with a “bad apple” include denial, social withdrawal, anger, anxiety and fear. Trust in the team deteriorates and as the group loses its positive culture, members physically and psychologically disengage themselves from the team” (Gardner, 2007).

How can we explain bad apple behavior?

Between 2000 - 2004, I conducted a study which became my masters' thesis in social psychology. In the study I tested the correlation between emotional relationships with the parents, and three subsets to the executive functions: emotional and social adjustment, and cognitive development. These unpacks and develops extensively during the first four to five years of living (Ardila, 2008, Ardila et al. 2018; Adornetti, 2016; Baker et al. 2020; Barkley, 2001; Baumrind, 1966; Diamond and Lee, 2011; Farran och Formby, 2011; Gopnik, 2016; Hart och Risley, 1995; Olsson, 2022; Pribram, 1973).

The result showed that children who grow up with both parents, or the father, have better mental adjustment and development (Österberg, 2004). That corresponded with other research on the topic (LaFlamme et al. 2012; Rolle et al. 2019; Sethna, 2017; Vieno et al. 2009, 2014).

Another aspect is malnutrition; people who abstain from animal source food, also report issues with mental health (Dobersek et al. 2023). A later study suggest that meat eaters have more positive psychological functioning compared to meat abstainers (Dobersek et al 2024).

The reason one person, the bad apple, can have such a negative impact on a many other people, is called Negativity bias - a cognitive bias that, even when positive or neutral things of equal intensity occur, things of a more negative nature (e.g. unpleasant thoughts, emotions, or social interactions; harmful/traumatic events) have a greater effect on one's psychological state and processes than neutral or positive thing (Baumeister et al 2001).

Conclusion. One person, a 'bad apple' , can destroy the organizational climate. That person probably suffers from some mental health issue. But because mental health issues are prevalent in Finland, the probability of suffering from bad apple's are equally high.

Please support the bog via Swish (Sweden), MobilePay (Finland) or Wise.

More about my expertise:

Executive coaching for CEOs/managers and workshops to facilitate Organizational Performance, Learning, and Creativity for Problem Solving | Lectures: Nutrition for physical and mental health | Course/lecture: children's emotional and social adjustment and cognitive development | Language training - Swedish | Academy Competency | CV | Teaching skills and experience | Summary of research project | Instagram | Linkedin | YouTube-channel | TikTok | Twitter