“Out of fear we don’t widely accept the idea that bad things happen for uncontrollable reasons. How could that be? If it is true, we can’t make sense of it with our cognitive brains … And that is scary.”
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.
MistakesIHaveMade on November 4th, 2020 at 05:47 UTC »
Also known as a cognitive distortion referred to as the Heaven’s Reward Fallacy. Source
“the false belief that a person’s sacrifice and self-denial will eventually pay off, as if some global force is keeping score. This is a riff on the fallacy of fairness, because in a fair world, the people who work the hardest will get the largest reward.”
chromaZero on November 4th, 2020 at 05:22 UTC »
I swear there are people who believe that things that taste great must be bad for you, and bitter foods must be giving some sort of benefit. Their sense of diet is mixed up in some weird pleasure-pain morality theory.
Sy-Zygy on November 4th, 2020 at 04:01 UTC »
I'd wager this association forms the basis for most religions and has been used to great effect by rulers throughout history.