Re:Seth's Blog: The problem with positive thinking
by ektimo on Saturday September 05, 2009 @06:32PM
(#807150)
Still the people who never do that are, in honesty, feeling bad not good.
I hypothesize the reason humans perform worse after failing a hard question versus passing an easy question is that by keeping yourself down, you avoid getting into trouble claiming a higher status in the tribe than you can pull off if it comes to a confrontation. But you feel bad so that you keep looking for an opportunity to claim the higher status/more resources position. Perhaps explaining this (if it is true) and that this doesn't confer any benefit in our current environment would be just as effective.
I hypothesize the reason humans perform worse after failing a hard question versus passing an easy question is that by keeping yourself down, you avoid getting into trouble claiming a higher status in the tribe than you can pull off if it comes to a confrontation. But you feel bad so that you keep looking for an opportunity to claim the higher status/more resources position. Perhaps explaining this (if it is true) and that this doesn't confer any benefit in our current environment would be just as effective.