Marcial Losada


Marcial Francisco Losada is a Chilean psychologist, consultant, and former director of the Center for Advanced Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Losada received a Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan. He works on developing "high performance teams."

Work

Losada developed a nonlinear dynamics model, the meta learning model, to show dynamical patterns achieved by high, medium and low performing teams, where performance was evaluated based on profitability, customer satisfaction, and 360-degree feedback. Losada claimed these patterns appear in a space of "positivity-negativity," "inquiry-advocacy" and "other-self," and are controlled by connectivity, which is supposed to reflect interpersonal attunement of a team. Losada's work has been strongly criticised for flawed methodology and as an invalid application of Lorenz equations by Brown et al. and by Andrés Navas. Losada, along with Barbara Fredrickson, developed the concept of the critical positivity ratio, which states that there exist precise cut-off points for an individual's ratio of positive to negative emotions, above and below which they will fail to flourish. The concept has been heavily criticized and many of the mathematical findings disproved by scientists such as Alan Sokal. Losada has declined to respond to the criticism.

Publications