Scottish Government WhatsApps: Psychologist's verdict on the sweary messages and 'flippant' humour used by Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and Jason Leitch

Professor Jason Leitch’s messages regarding deleting WhatsApps as part of his “bed time ritual”, Nicola Sturgeon’s labelling of Boris Johnson as “a f***ing clown” and Humza Yousaf’s outburst against the Scottish Police Federation are examples of “engendering trust” and “fortifying relationships”, according to Professor Steven Yule.

The “flippant” humour and insults used in the Scottish Government’s sweary pandemic WhatsApp exchanges were a form of “psychological protection, a way to cope” while making decisions in a high pressure environment, a behavioural expert has said.

Professor Jason Leitch’s messages regarding deleting WhatsApps as part of his “bed time ritual”, Nicola Sturgeon’s labelling of Boris Johnson as “a f***ing clown” and Humza Yousaf’s outburst against the Scottish Police Federation are examples of “engendering trust” and “fortifying relationships”, according to Professor Steven Yule.

Prof Yule, who heads up the University of Edinburgh’s behavioural sciences team, said the messages showed how much time decision makers spent with each other during the pandemic, and the immense strain they were under.

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

In high performing environments, teams “spend a lot of time together”, Prof Yule said.

“They probably spend more time with colleagues than family and friends,” he said. “With leaders, in the inner work circle, you might get a much truer sense of what someone thinks or believes. So leaders can use that sort of offhand language and give a sense of their true self, which can be used to galvanise a team and engender trust and fortify relationships.”

He added: “I’d be more concerned if Nicola Sturgeon was using that language or those terms on record to The Scotsman.”

Prof Yule said “across most industries” where decisions were life and death there was a “black humour” that helps people cope in those situations.

First Minister Humza Yousaf departs the UK Covid inquiry at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.

“There is a humour used about black and grave situations which is used as a psychological protection, it’s a way to cope,” he said.

“We do a lot of research on failure and the ability of humans to try and cope with those situations. You often see them coming out in unusual ways.” He added: “I’m sure politicians will look back on those messages through their fingers.”

Giving the example of journalists covering hard news stories, Prof Yule said if people become “emotionally attached to the people in those stories, it would be very difficult to be objective”, with the same going for decision makers in government.

Prof Yule explained that politicians “have this external persona” of professionalism and public image.

“That's very important, but also like most people, we've got that for our work or professional context, and then we have a kind of private context as well and perhaps even behave definitely in those two contexts,” he said. “What’s interesting is that those two contexts are blurred in this case.”

Speaking about the pressures that decision makers faced during the pandemic, Prof YuIe said: “I think it’s hugely challenging if there isn’t a playbook for these types of situations.

“Professionals often find themselves having to do the first heart surgery, or first moon walk, and there’s not really a way to train for that. Great teams are based on their practice and expertise.”