During
an experiment, pigeons were put in cages with one green and one red
button. In one cage, if the birds pecked the green button they would get
food every time. In the other, the green button yielded food erratically
and the pigeons had to persist to get enough food. In both cases, pecking
the red button did nothing. Both sets of birds thrived, learning what
they had to do to survive and to ignore the red button that yielded no
food. But when the birds that were used to getting a reward every time
were put in the cage that fed them only occasionally, they failed to adapt;
they hit their heads against the cage and pecked wildly at everything in sight.
There
are two worthwhile lessons from this study. First, the pigeons quickly
learned from experience to avoid the red button because it was
unproductive. There are lots of people who would lead smoother and
happier lives if they just stopped pushing red buttons that never give them
what they want.
Second,
even birds that have it too easy get spoiled and develop an entitlement
mentality that prevents them from adapting to situations where they can solve
their problems if they just work harder. Some people are like that
too. They don’t deal well with new circumstances especially those that
require persistence.
Part
of being responsible is learning from experience to appreciate the benefits of
tenacity and the wisdom of avoiding useless, harmful and self-defeating
patterns of behavior.
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