Notes on Life 040222

 Embracing your sense of purpose can involve overcoming personal obstacles, including shyness.

Your personal identity lends unique perspective and authenticity to any personal or professional endeavor. Embrace it to stand out.

People learn better when given life stories as examples. Don't just prescribe; show that you practice what you preach.

COBRA EFFECT A perverse incentive is an incentive that has an unintended and undesirable result that is contrary to the intentions of its designers. The cobra effect is the most direct kind of perverse incentive, typically because the incentive unintentionally rewards people for making the issue worse.[1][2] The term is used to illustrate how incorrect stimulation in economics and politics can cause unintended consequences,[2] and is an example of the proverb "the road to hell is paved with good intentions".

The term cobra effect was coined by economist Horst Siebert based on an anecdote of a (possibly ahistorical) occurrence in India during British rule.[2][3][4] The British government, concerned about the number of venomous cobras in Delhi, offered a bounty for every dead cobra. Initially, this was a successful strategy; large numbers of snakes were killed for the reward. Eventually, however, enterprising people began to breed cobras for the income. When the government became aware of this, the reward program was scrapped. When cobra breeders set their now-worthless snakes free, the wild cobra population further increased

PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE Have you ever known someone, perhaps a young person, who seemed to do exactly the opposite of what he or she was asked to do? Sometimes it seems like it would be easier to tell them to do the opposite of what you want them to do; this is commonly known as reverse psychology. Usually, we think of children behaving in this manner, but the phenomenon has been observed in adults, as well. In psychology, this type of behavior is an example of reactance.

While reverse psychology is more of a layperson's concept than an actual part of psychology, it does help to illustrate the basic premise behind reactance. In psychology, reactance refers to a way in which a person thinks or behaves when perceiving a threat to his or her freedom. There are several types of reactance, as we'll see here now.

For instance, Charlie's mom tells him to wear his dress shoes instead of his sneakers to church. Suddenly, wearing the sneakers seems like a much more attractive choice because of his mother's insistence that he not wear them. In choosing to wear sneakers instead, Charlie protects his freedom by doing what his mother told him not to do.