Negative Psychology

Negative Psychology (082318)

Theoretically, this is based on the Operant Conditioning of BF Skinner, specifically, the negative reinforcement.  People follow rules or conform, not because they like to be good but rather because they are afraid of punishment.  Rules and regulations tells them what do to but at the end or such rules and regulations, there is the penalty clause where the punishment is stipulated for those who will not follow.

Negative psychology is about failures.  It is about how one leap over failure and how one turn failures (which is negative) into a glowing success.  Failure is just a dress rehearsal for success, as they say in show business, hence instead of shunning failure, one must embrace failure.  One ought to own failure and shortcomings, learn from it and aspire to do better in the next round of opportunity.  Because opportunity is just around the corner if one knows to look for it.

Negative psychology is not the opposite of positive psychology, though a balance could be maintained so as to extract the maximum effect for behavior manipulation.  Negative psychology could be a tool in business psychology (increasing efficiency), academic setting (reverse psychology), and cognitive psychology (changing motivation and adding a layer of meaning to what one is currently experiencing). 

Negative psychology is not negative thinking, in fact, negative psychology changes the dynamics of thinking where things, people and events – that are initially deemed important, are not really that important as it was initially thought to be.  Negative psychology could even serve as an extension of existential psychology.  It is all a state of mind.

Popular aphorism that gives a glimmer of negative psychology:

Why commit suicide? You are eventually going to die anyway, just wait.

Everything changes, nothing last forever.

Why wake up? If you just intend to sleep the day away.

The pain tells you that you are alive.

These things will pass us by.  And you will remain standing.

If you think this is expensive now, just wait another year.  It is going to cost you more.