People expect suffering to result in a greater likelihood of attaining future rewards

Post by **TheCatt** » Wed Nov 04, 2020 3:33 pm

A study published in the British journal of Social Psychology proposes that people expect suffering to result in a greater likelihood of attaining future rewards. This research was carried out by Dr. How Hwee Ong, Dr. Rob M. A. Nelissen and Dr. Ilja van Beest from the Department of Social Psychology at Tilburg University.

There are two primary theories for why people believe that suffering in the present will lead to fortuitous rewards in the future. The first is known as the “just-world maintenance” explanation. This explanation states that individuals often believe that they’re living in a world where people get what they deserve.

Thus, people who suffer unnecessarily will be compensated for the pain they’ve endured. In doing so, this will restore balance to a supposed just-world.

The alternative theory is known as the “virtuous suffering” explanation. This suggests that experiencing suffering can improve one’s moral character.

This belief has been highlighted in previous studies which suggest that committing self-punishment can make an individual appear increasingly moral. This explanation further suggests that the universe rewards these individuals for behaving morally.

The researchers hypothesized that individuals expect to be rewarded after experiencing suffering due to either the just-world maintenance explanation or the virtuous suffering explanation.

Study

Yeah, that's settings yourself up for disappointment.

Post by **GORDON** » Wed Nov 04, 2020 4:09 pm

Kinda. "Delayed gratification" is a thing that a lot of people never learn, usually to their detriment.

Post by **TheCatt** » Wed Nov 04, 2020 4:20 pm

GORDON wrote: Kinda. "Delayed gratification" is a thing that a lot of people never learn, usually to their detriment.

Delayed gratification is different than "I am owed for suffering." Or that "each gets what they deserve" imho.

Post by **GORDON** » Wed Nov 04, 2020 4:26 pm

I suggest it's same ballpark. I could spend all of my savings right now on drugs, and have a really good time, for a while. But instead I will save my money and continue to suffer the world while sober, in the hopes of someday buying a spaceship and going to Mars where my beer making and chicken raising skills will make me a cherished member of society.

Or something to that effect.

Post by **GORDON** » Wed Nov 04, 2020 4:28 pm

I don't know that "each gets what they deserve," but I have seen many, many people go from one bad decision to another with the fervor of a North Korean soldier marching in formation. People often get exactly what they chose to get.

Post by **TheCatt** » Wed Nov 04, 2020 4:31 pm

I would say that the topic under discussion implies external suffering, not self-imposed suffering, and that is the difference.

Post by **GORDON** » Wed Nov 04, 2020 4:39 pm

Fair enough. I spose peeps probably use "this will all be worth it in the end" as a coping method. probably. I've speculated in the past that this would explain the cliché of the old man yelling at kids to stay off his lawn. A lifetime of people trespassing on his property, tearing up grass he worked on to be nice, trodding on the newly planted flowers, littering their Monster energy drink cans every week, for years on end, for the old man to pick up before he mows. The old man says to himself, "Someday those little turds will grow up and move away, and I won't have to pick up after them any more." But by the time the little turds grow up and move away, there are new little turds littering in his yard. Thus, "GET THE FUCK OFF MY LAWN." The suffering never pays off, and bitterness fills that emptiness. Bitter old men don't always develop in a void.