2.2: PERVERSE MOTIVATION

People often end up doing exactly what they tell themselves not to do. The intention to suppress a response has the perverse effect of making that response more likely. Edgar Allan Poe labeled this phenomenon: the Imp of the Perverse.
Thought Experiment #2
Try not to scratch your nose. Continue reading, but be aware that even letting your nose itch would indicate personal weakness. So try not to even think about your nose, and see if you can read to the end of this chapter without once touching your face in the area around your nose.

Trying to prevent your nose from itching may, perversely, produce the very thing you are trying to prevent. The more seriously you try the greater is the effect. Two interpretations of this perverse phenomenon:

Negative Suggestion: Negative representations are defined in terms of positive representations [their opposite], but positive representations are defined directly. For example, the statement: "It is not raining" requires one to conceptualize the meaning of the statement: "It is raining." Likewise, the statement: "Chester is not a pedophile" requires the conceptualization of Chester molesting a child. After hearing such an assertion you may feel uneasy about letting him play with your children. To understand the instruction: "Don’t let your nose itch!" the reader must access a representation of an itchy nose, which evokes that very sensation.

Ironic process: To determine if you are successful at having a nose that is not itching, you must compare the current sensations with what they would be if your nose was itching. According to this interpretation, it is checking to make sure you are successful at preventing your nose from itching that causes the nose to itch. Ironic, isn't it?

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Reactance
Humans hate restrictions - especially of those freedoms they already have. Reactance refers to the motivation to react or rebel against restriction. In one study, two-year-old boys accompanied their mothers into a room containing equally attractive toys. The toys were arranged so that one was easily available to the child while the other stood behind a transparent Plexiglas barrier, out of reach. Which toy do you think the little boys wanted? This is one among many examples of the general rule: Forbidden something increases its desirability.
Attribution Theory: The Insult Is the Injury
Smoking cessation research shows that it takes on average seven attempts to finally quit. Most smokers, however, interpret a failure to quit as an indication of their personal weakness. The belief that the cause of the failure is within the self is called: an internal attribution for failure. Explanations of one’s failure, which appeal to motivation, intelligence, or character defect are examples of internal attribution for failure. The belief that the same inadequacy that caused me to fail in the past will cause me to fail in the future is an example of a stable attribution for failure.

Internal, stable attributions for failure are associated with low self-efficacy. If you believe that you don’t have what it takes to succeed at this challenge, and, moreover, that you are not going to change, then it is understandable that you would want to turn yourself over to a treatment provider or a higher power. Self-determination requires that you persevere through difficult challenges. Internal, stable attributions for past failures are demoralizing and will rob you of the energy and clear-headedness required for good outcome. Efficacy enhancing imagery, contemplation, and other trance formative exercises are included in the kit. These tools are especially useful during times of crisis when your self-efficacy may be threatened.

Paradoxically, the belief that: "I am unable to achieve good outcome" generally results from an initial underestimate of the difficulty of this task. "It shouldn't be that difficult to change my ways once I make up my mind, so my history of relapse means there must be something wrong with me." This misattribution is based on popular misconceptions about what it takes to end an addictive relationship.
Attribution and Self Image
Consider the following study1 which demonstrates how internal attribution and counter-regulatory motivation can work together to affect one's self-perception. Teen-aged boys were told that a book was too sexually explicit to be read by those under 21. This restriction had the effect of dramatically increasing their desire to read the book. The experimenters knew that the attractiveness of the book was enhanced because the book was forbidden. But the boys had a different perspective; they attributed their motivation to read the book to a personal weakness - to be attracted to lewd content. Forbidding the book had the perverse consequence of causing the subjects to believe that they were perverse.






Footnotes:

1. Influence: Science and Practice - Cialdini - 1988