Introducing…THE OFFICE PSYCHPROFILES…with the Life in the Office PsychTeam!

Introducing the LIFE IN THE OFFICE PSYCHTEAM!
Tracey, Barrett, Jodie, Marty, & Elyse
Click MORE… to check out the Psych Team’s autobiographical profiles

Who’s on our couch this week?

Toby Flenderson
Sex: Male
Marital Status: Divorced
Children: 1 daughter (at least)
Position: HR Rep
Miscellaneous notes: Slept in his car post-divorce, studied PSYCHOLOGY in college (according to diploma seen on-screen)

Toby is the shy HR representative from corporate. He seems to feel detached from the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch employees. Part of this is likely attributed to Michael’s constant harassment and belittling. He seems well intentioned and approachable — Dwight felt comfortable asking about the female genitalia. While he was giving the sexual harrassment seminar (Season 2, Episode 2, “Sexual Harrassment”) everyone agreed with his comments and he seemed comfortable leading the presentation until Michael stepped in. He seems generally liked and respected by the others in the warehouse and office alike. We heard Darryl mention that he’s a cool guy and everyone in the office seems to treat him very fairly. In fact, despite limited interaction between Toby and other employees, they show more respect for him than for Michael.

Our team was divided on the ongoing Toby/Pam drama: awkward/creepy or natural/kinda cute? Read on:
Pam seems to notice, talk, and listen to Toby, which may be a reason for him trying to branch out. Likely his divorce has played a huge effect on his noticeable depression. Pam may be his outlet that helps him through the difficult times. Toby makes a point to come up to her desk and chat with her, spends all night trying to win her a stuffed animal which she thinks is for his daughter, and even pretended to like chai lattes to get closer to Pam in a deleted scene from “Traveling Salesmen”.

Once Jim was out of the way in the beginning of season three, Toby tried to reel her in, possibly because she’s not only pretty but has qualities that would make her a terrific mother. There was a noticeable drop in his interaction with her once Jim returned, the only time he tried to hit on her being when they were all at the bar and Jim was, obviously, not there. During the “fashion show, fashion show, fashion show at lunch” when Pam put the low cut shirt on, he clearly stared, making her super uncomfortable. Toby’s not so great at hiding his emotions, which is probably why we see so much of his pain. And let’s not forget Beach Games, when Toby was so disappointed he couldn’t see her in her two-piece, you almost felt bad for him.

Psychologically the Pam/Toby progression demonstrates Toby getting over his divorce. Pam is his first “crush” since his wife. It’s clearly been a while for him — the whole dating scene — so that’s probably why he’s so awkward and uncomfortable. Someone who’s been married for a number of years would probably have settled into the mindset of not having to date again. Now that he’s been thrown back into the single life, that’s a lot of added pressure. Toby just hasn’t figured out how to get back into dating, probably because he’s scared (and possibly scarred) from his first marriage. He’s probably not seeking other women at this point and for some odd reason thinks Pam is a good starting point. Possibly because being middle aged and having a daughter, he doesn’t get many chances to put himself in social situations where he’s likely to find a girl to date, and therefore feels like the office is his entire dating pool. I think this also comes back to courage and confidence, of which he has little. He wants to ask Pam out, he just can’t seem to work up the courage to follow through on it. Speaking of courage, we all want to know about his date to Phyllis’ wedding…you know, the one he met at the “gym.” We want to find out what happened after the wedding!

Being an HR rep, we speculate that Toby either enjoys or at least used to enjoy the interpersonal aspects of life and geared his profession towards that area. Speculation as to why he went into HR suggests he likes and is good at listening to others, as evident by his quiet nature. He seems to prefer the “easy” route to certain aspects of his job, particularly Dwight. The folders upon folders of complaints about Jim have led to no action on his part. It seems he has not disciplined Jim or even approached him over this. Mixed opinions on this one, too: does Toby get some amusement out of Jim’s pranks, or has he simply realized that he needed a system to placate Dwight, for everyone’s sanity?

Toby understands a lot of the undertones of the office, and has a pretty good read on people, except Pam, which is interesting. In so many ways he is very isolated, but he does seem to fit in with fellow staffers in one respect: skewed perceptions of love. Toby’s consistently been the character who kind of has the bird’s eye view of the office and just kind of observes and questions everything going on. Toby is a great foil to Michael’s ridiculousness. He brings some of the same slap-back-to-reality that Jim and Pam’s quick glances at the camera bring, but he flat out tells Michael he is nuts, while Jim and Pam egg him on or tolerate him. Toby adds a great comedic element we dubbed “wtf?!”

Despite Toby’s avoidance of confrontation, he can be persistent when necessary. When Michael locked everyone in the conference room (because they were saying that jail sounded better than work) he persisted until Michael listened to him (a rarity). Other situations that could be resolved with a polite confrontation, he simply avoids, however this one required action on his part and he came through. We all want to know if Michael’s deep hatred of Toby stems from a specific incident or just a general dislike. Michael may simply be bitter that Toby technically doesn’t work for him; he works for corporate. “Toby is in HR, which technically means he works for corporate, so he’s really not a part of our family. Also, he’s divorced, so he’s really not a part of his family” pretty much sums up poor, poor Toby.

Personality: We took the Myers-Briggs and chose answers for Toby and he scored as an ISTJ (very expressed introvert, moderately expressed sensing personality, moderately expressed thinking personality, distinctively expressed judging personality)

Possible Clinical Diagnoses: Toby is probably suffering from clinical depression. He’s divorced, he’s got a kid, and his work environment (and his boss especially) sucks - poor guy has a lot to deal with. It’s rather ironic and characteristic of his personality that he is the HR rep — most likely trained in counseling — yet he has probably not sought help getting through his own depression.

Further Reading
1. Wikipedia entry on Toby
2. IMDB entry for Paul Lieberstein
3. Paul Lieberstein’s Myspace

Barrett
Anyways, my name is Barrett. I’m 19 years old, from Canada. I am studying Computer Science at the University of Waterloo and considering minoring in psych. Hobbies include snowboarding, playing guitar and video games. I got into The Office early on in the second season — and it was love at first sight. My favourite (notice the extra ‘u’) character is probably … Jim and Dwight. I have a lot in common with Jim. I’ve been told I look like Jim, and I have his sense of humour. And Dwight is just awesome. Other favourite shows include Arrested Development, Clone High, and The Unit.

Tracey
My name is Tracey. I’m a 21 year old college student who has jumped around far too much course-wise. I’ve finally settled on being a Political Science major, which means I have doomed myself to a life of debating, ha! I’ve taken a couple of psychology courses in my day, and also study it for fun (I’m that kind of nerd), so this should be interesting. My other interests include writing, video gaming (Like I said, I’m a nerd. ), reading, and just basically hanging out and doin’ my thing. I am one of the fans who have been watching from the very beginning - I watched the very first showing when there was a preview on MySpace. My favorite Office character is now an official tie between Jim and Karen (:O). Jim’s been the long time winner, even with all his faults - maybe because of all his faults. Karen just kind of is awesome all around, and it’s real nice to see a female video gamer on TV. My other favorite shows include Mythbusters, Psych, Flight of the Conchords Arrested Development, and Bones.

Jodie
I’m 20 and a psych major and forensics minor at syracuse university, although i realllly love to bake too. other hobbies of mine are reading like it’s my job, shopping, and making ice cream. i’m from long island, outside nyc. ummm what else? my boss up at school schedules me to work on thursday nights so we can watch the office because i got him addicted. i started watching the office online out of boredom last summer, and i think i watched seasons 1 and 2 in about three days. i fell in love with jim and everyone else. but jim first. i hate karen (sorry, tracey!) and i think jim and pam are destined to be together. dwight may just be the funniest (fictional) person, ever. future dwight is my favorite prank to date. my other favorite shows are house, dexter, psych, burn notice, entourage, and anything on bravo or the discovery channel.

Marty
I guess I’m the old fart here at 24. I graduated with an Agribusiness degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 05 and am returning for an MBA in a month. I work in the marketing department at a fresh-cut vegetable processor, Apio, Inc. (our brand is Eat Smart…bagged veggies, party trays, and we’re trying to get some meals-to-go type of products out there too). Though I was born in Gilroy, CA, I’ve lived in SLO my whole life with the exception of some extended stays in Texas, Costa Rica, and the SF Bay Area. Hopefully I’ll spend the rest of my life here. I started watching the office in the beginning of season 2 (because it was on after My Name is Earl and Jason Lee is awesome) and it very quickly became my favorite show (the exact moment was when Dwight’s desk went into the Men’s room). Dwight and Jim are my favorite characters because of the way they interact. Like Jim, I absolutely love pranks. Back when I was an intern with nothing to do, I literally would spend entire days at work setting up and testing pranks. I also love the show because of the great characterization, which is why I was drawn to joining this team for the psychoanalysis. Though I’m no gamer, I love my Wii and think it’s the coolest thing since The Office. Favorite shows include the Simpsons, South Park, Scrubs, Rob & Big, most of Adult Swim, anything on the History, National Geographic, or Discovery Channels, and thanks to Jodie, I remembered that Dexter is a long lost favorite of mine.

Elyse
I’m Elyse, and I’m the outgoing main LITO writer. My undergrad major was Psychology (and pre-med, with minors in chem and bio) at CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY (Cleveland rocks!) and I’m still very interested in clinical and developmental psych. I’ve worked in neuroscience and psych labs that involved language development, ADHD, and learning…definitely good times Favorite all-time TV shows include The Office (of course!), Scrubs, Boy Meets World, Arrested Development, Once & Again, Cheers, FRIENDS, and The West Wing. I was also a major fan of Six Degrees and was TOTALLY sad when they cancelled it But yeah…I love good TV And I’m a JAMmer, for life!

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