Dandelions are hearty and can grow and flourish in both nice and harsh environments. Orchids, on the other hand, are delicate. In bad environments they shrivel. But in good environments they blossom.
26. Treat a man as he is,
and he will
remain as he is.
Treat a man as
he could be,
and he will
become what he
should be.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
27. John Walters
From the War Room to the Board Room,
Leading is Caring.
The orchid hypothesis is used in developmental psychology to
explain why some children are more susceptible to their
environments. Given the same bad environment as “dandelions”,
these children do worse. But given a good environment these
“orchids” blossom and flourish, responding more positively than
even the “dandelions”.
Read a great article in The Atlantic by David Dobbs
David Dobbs is currently writing a book about the subject; it
should be out in 2015!
Unless otherwise stated all photos are from www.morguefile.com
created Sep 12, 2014