Response of The Willpower Distinct: Chapter 6

Part 1: Recap

Core idea: Feeling bad leads to giving in, and dropping guilt makes you stronger.

Ironic Phenomenon: ?Frightening cigarette warnings can make smokers crave a cigarette; economics can make people shop.

Analysis: the mechanism below leads to the ironic phenomenon

(1) Constraint behavior leads to stress/feelbad

(2) Stress/feeling bad activates the brain’s reward system; most common used strategies for dealing with stress are eating, drinking, shopping, watching television, surfing the Web, and playing video games

(3) Brain want to protect our mood and point toward whatever it thinks will make us happy.

(4) Our body executives the strategies mentioned in (2)

(5) Giving up behavioral constriction

The explanation above breaks down the ironic phenomenon. It sounds illogical but it is utterly human.

Part2: My Thoughts & Key Points

·“Your brain isn’t just motivated to protect your life – it wants to protect your mood, too … your brain is going to point you toward whatever it thinks will make you happy.” This statement does not match evolutionism. Based on evolutionism, the result of evolution is to do what is good for our survival but not what “make you happy”. The features of happiness do not lead to higher chance to survive.

·Effective stress-relief strategy: exercising or playing sport, praying or attending a religious service, reading, listening to music, spending time with friends or family, getting a message, going outside for a walk, meditating or doing yoga, and spending time with a creative hobby.

·Feelingis not reliable. This chapter takes yoga as an example. The subject knew that yoga would make her feel relaxed and refreshed, but whenever she thought about going to a yoga class, it seems like too much trouble. When she was tempted to skip a yoga class, she listened to the memo to remind herself, knowing that she could not trust her impulses when she was stressed. I have the exact same feeling in running.

·Terror-managementtheory: human beings are naturally terrified when we think about our own deaths. It is out of our conscious awareness. This terror creates an immediate need to do something to counter our feeling of powerlessness. The most common implication of this theory is warnings on cigarette packages can increase a smoker’s urge to light up. Base on the same logic, A dieter would like to eat more if he was warned by serious disease.

·What-the-helleffect: a cycle of indulgence, regret, and greater indulgence. Stress leads to indulgence; indulgence leads to guilt; guilt leads to bigger stress; stress causes even bigger indulgence. The essence of what-the-hell effect is same as ironic phenomenon explains at the beginning. We may think that guilt motivates us to correct our mistakes, but it is just one more way that feeling bad leads to giving in. The cycle can happen with any willpower challenge and once you step in, it can seem like there is no way out except to keep going.

·Self-forgivenessis associated with more motivation and better self-control. It is an effective way to break out the what-the-hell effect.

·Unrealisticoptimism is a good strategy for feeling better but not a good strategy for change. The decision to change is the ultimate in instant gratification – you get all the good feelings before anything has been done. The effort of actually making the change cannot compare to the rush of imagining that you will change.The high we get from imagining our own extreme makeovers is a difficult drug to quit. As we face our first setbacks, the initial feeling will be replaced with disappointment and frustration. Consequently, the terrible feeling leads to the next imagination. So, we are trapped in another circle.

·Both feeling good and feeling bad are traps in some ways.

·Aphilosophy question: if imagination keeps us feeling good again and again, we can consider we feel better in a long term. If this is the case, why unrealistic optimism cannot be considered as a good strategy to have a better life? Perhaps, the ultimate question I have is what is a “good life”.

最后編輯于
?著作權歸作者所有,轉載或內容合作請聯(lián)系作者
  • 序言:七十年代末绘梦,一起剝皮案震驚了整個濱河市康震,隨后出現(xiàn)的幾起案子幅狮,更是在濱河造成了極大的恐慌日丹,老刑警劉巖赛蔫,帶你破解...
    沈念sama閱讀 216,591評論 6 501
  • 序言:濱河連續(xù)發(fā)生了三起死亡事件社露,死亡現(xiàn)場離奇詭異青柄,居然都是意外死亡毅整,警方通過查閱死者的電腦和手機,發(fā)現(xiàn)死者居然都...
    沈念sama閱讀 92,448評論 3 392
  • 文/潘曉璐 我一進店門驻民,熙熙樓的掌柜王于貴愁眉苦臉地迎上來腺怯,“玉大人,你說我怎么就攤上這事川无。” “怎么了虑乖?”我有些...
    開封第一講書人閱讀 162,823評論 0 353
  • 文/不壞的土叔 我叫張陵懦趋,是天一觀的道長。 經常有香客問我疹味,道長仅叫,這世上最難降的妖魔是什么? 我笑而不...
    開封第一講書人閱讀 58,204評論 1 292
  • 正文 為了忘掉前任糙捺,我火速辦了婚禮诫咱,結果婚禮上,老公的妹妹穿的比我還像新娘洪灯。我一直安慰自己坎缭,他們只是感情好,可當我...
    茶點故事閱讀 67,228評論 6 388
  • 文/花漫 我一把揭開白布签钩。 她就那樣靜靜地躺著掏呼,像睡著了一般。 火紅的嫁衣襯著肌膚如雪铅檩。 梳的紋絲不亂的頭發(fā)上憎夷,一...
    開封第一講書人閱讀 51,190評論 1 299
  • 那天,我揣著相機與錄音昧旨,去河邊找鬼拾给。 笑死,一個胖子當著我的面吹牛兔沃,可吹牛的內容都是我干的蒋得。 我是一名探鬼主播,決...
    沈念sama閱讀 40,078評論 3 418
  • 文/蒼蘭香墨 我猛地睜開眼粘拾,長吁一口氣:“原來是場噩夢啊……” “哼窄锅!你這毒婦竟也來了?” 一聲冷哼從身側響起,我...
    開封第一講書人閱讀 38,923評論 0 274
  • 序言:老撾萬榮一對情侶失蹤入偷,失蹤者是張志新(化名)和其女友劉穎追驴,沒想到半個月后,有當?shù)厝嗽跇淞掷锇l(fā)現(xiàn)了一具尸體疏之,經...
    沈念sama閱讀 45,334評論 1 310
  • 正文 獨居荒郊野嶺守林人離奇死亡殿雪,尸身上長有42處帶血的膿包…… 初始之章·張勛 以下內容為張勛視角 年9月15日...
    茶點故事閱讀 37,550評論 2 333
  • 正文 我和宋清朗相戀三年,在試婚紗的時候發(fā)現(xiàn)自己被綠了锋爪。 大學時的朋友給我發(fā)了我未婚夫和他白月光在一起吃飯的照片丙曙。...
    茶點故事閱讀 39,727評論 1 348
  • 序言:一個原本活蹦亂跳的男人離奇死亡,死狀恐怖其骄,靈堂內的尸體忽然破棺而出亏镰,到底是詐尸還是另有隱情,我是刑警寧澤拯爽,帶...
    沈念sama閱讀 35,428評論 5 343
  • 正文 年R本政府宣布索抓,位于F島的核電站,受9級特大地震影響毯炮,放射性物質發(fā)生泄漏逼肯。R本人自食惡果不足惜,卻給世界環(huán)境...
    茶點故事閱讀 41,022評論 3 326
  • 文/蒙蒙 一桃煎、第九天 我趴在偏房一處隱蔽的房頂上張望篮幢。 院中可真熱鬧,春花似錦为迈、人聲如沸三椿。這莊子的主人今日做“春日...
    開封第一講書人閱讀 31,672評論 0 22
  • 文/蒼蘭香墨 我抬頭看了看天上的太陽赋续。三九已至,卻和暖如春另患,著一層夾襖步出監(jiān)牢的瞬間纽乱,已是汗流浹背。 一陣腳步聲響...
    開封第一講書人閱讀 32,826評論 1 269
  • 我被黑心中介騙來泰國打工昆箕, 沒想到剛下飛機就差點兒被人妖公主榨干…… 1. 我叫王不留鸦列,地道東北人。 一個月前我還...
    沈念sama閱讀 47,734評論 2 368
  • 正文 我出身青樓鹏倘,卻偏偏與公主長得像薯嗤,于是被迫代替她去往敵國和親。 傳聞我的和親對象是個殘疾皇子纤泵,可洞房花燭夜當晚...
    茶點故事閱讀 44,619評論 2 354

推薦閱讀更多精彩內容