this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

Modern "wellness" has gone too far to where people experiencing any hardship or adversity of any kind is "trauma" .

Negative reinforcement is a massively powerful motivator, but it doesn't feel good while it's happening.

Ideally there's also positive reinforcement in your life to make a nice balanced stew, but we need to be able to survive off negative, especially in professional pursuits.

Every emotion you experience isn't a condition, even if you feel it often.

If you feel it CONSTANTLY, then yeah something is wrong.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Small counter point: while it is heavily important to be able to shake off life hardships, we should still fight for the world with less unnecessary harm.

Particularly, when you go about professional pursuits, we shouldn't turn them into a fierce competition that would benefit no one, but should instead stand together and collaborate to make this world better for us all. And in that regard, comfort culture is a much better fit than the culture of the grind; granted, you don't crank it up to the extremes and still develop and learn new stuff to become better at what you love.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Fair points but you're assuming the opportunity to influence the culture in a 2 way scenario. I'm generally referring to situations where you do not have that opportunity via hierarchy or other reason.

Over time you should move towards healthier environs but until then not everyone needs to be nice to you for you to drive on success.

If you are in a position of leadership or influence, indeed you should seek to reduce unwarrented negativity

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Agreed here.

We should be ready for the harsh reality - we just should strive to improve it ourselves.

It takes a big heart to treat people differently from how you were treated, but that's what makes us humans.

And for as long as the reality is the way it is, we have to brace up to have a chance in challenging it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

My stand-against-the-world take: Negative reinforcement feels good, too, because it's the withdrawal of an unpleasant stimulus. It's punishment—positive or negative—that feels bad.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

People almost always mean positive punishment when they say negative reinforcement.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

do you mean negative reinforcement?

it's like a grid right

  • positive = add
  • negative = remove
  • reinforcement = good thing
  • punishment = bad thing

so things that we want:

  • positive reinforcement = add good thing
  • negative punishment= remove bad thing

things we don't want

  • negative reinforcement= remove good thing
  • positive punishment= add bad thing
[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Close, but in operant conditioning, reinforcement encourages good behavior, and punishment discourages bad. So it's:

Positive reinforcement: add good thing in response to desirable behavior Negative reinforcement: remove bad thing in response to desirable behavior

Positive punishment: add bad thing in response to undesirable behavior Negative punishment: remove good thing in response to undesirable behavior

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

ah that's right, been a while since sociology courses lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Folks should be prepared to deal with all of those. And even operate normally while only experiencing the negative varieties, without thinking the sky is falling on them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

At the same time, people shouldn't tolerate toxic environment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I don't remember when, but there was this PBS interview with a chronic pain specialist, talking about his inability to effectively medicate pain away. The line I remember is "You have to stop worshipping the volcano gods of pain." I've kept that line in my back pocket for years.

That said, there's a massive problem with both exploitation and managerial incompetence in the professional world. I'd never suggest putting up with that any longer than is financially necessary. Being overworked, underpaid, or boxed-in is a poison that eats away at your future.