One Cannot Afford To Be

The Difficulty In Judging What Type Of Behavior Works Well Arises Not Only Because A Given Course Of Action Does Not Always Produce The Outcomes. Similar Outcomes Can Occur For Reasons Other Than The Person's Actions, Which Further Complicates Inferential Judgment. Effects That Arise Independently Of One's Actions Distort The Influence Of Similar Effects Produced By The Actions, But Only On Some Occasions. Given A Strong Cognitive Set To Perceive Regularities, Even Chance Joint Occurrences Of Events Can Be Easily Misjudged As Genuine Relationships Of Low Contingent Probability

Gaining Insight Into One's Underlying Motives, It Seems, Is More Like A Belief Conversion Than A Self-discovery Process

People Who Are Burdened By Acute Misgivings About Their Coping Capabilities Suffer Much Distress And Expend Much Effort In Defensive Action... They Cannot Get Themselves To Do Things They Find Subjectively Threatening Even Though They Are Objectively Safe. They May Even Shun Easily Manageable Activities Because They See Them As Leading To More Threatening Events Over Which They Will Be Unable To Exercise Adequate Control.

From The Social Cognitive Perspective, It Is Mainly Perceived Inefficacy To Cope With Potentially Aversive Events That Makes Them Fearsome. To The Extent That People Believe They Can Prevent, Terminate, Or Lessen The Severity Of Aversive Events, They Have Little Reason To Be Perturbed By Them. But If They Believe They Are Unable To Manage Threats Safely, They Have Much Cause For Apprehension.

Ironically, It Is The Talented Who Have High Aspirations, Which Are Possible But Exceedingly Difficult To Realize, Who Are Especially Vulnerable To Self-dissatisfaction Despite Notable Achievements.