“Our worst misfortunes never happen, and most miseries lie in anticipation.” – Honore de Balzac
Don Draper reflects on this pessimistic tendency that we all share in the TV drama Mad Men and it would seem that this inclination to convince ourselves that the worst case scenario is our reality is part of an evolved threat/self protection system. This tendency which can also be understood as the 'better safe than sorry' approach has actually been designed to improve our chances of survival. Basically if we are in lion country and hear a sound in the bushes, we could assume that the noise is caused by a lion and run before seeing one. Nine times our of ten, our sense will be wrong - it wasn't a lion in the bushes but a bird. However, this mistake means that, while you might have lost some eating time that you can easily make up later, you are safe, whereas you can't undo a mistake in the opposite direction: underestimating a potential threat and becoming a predator's lunch. So our brains are actually designed to make mistakes to protect us; it will make assumptions rapidly, not caring if it is wrong. It can quite naturally overestimate threat and danger, reckoning that it's far better for you to run away from a possible lion ten times, nine of which are unnecessary, than to remain the one time when you really do need to run.
The Britsh CBT & Counselling Service
No comments:
Post a Comment