Loss/Gains function

What that is, is the Loss/Gains function. I learned about it in my Thinking Seminar last semester. It relates to Tversky and Kahneman (2 psychologists) theory, called Prospect Theory, as well as their Loss Aversion theory.

An overview of what this is: the function for losses is steeper, meaning losses are experienced much more than gains. What this function recommends practically is that it is better to experience lots of losses at the same time, because as you can see, the more losses, the more the loss function levels out. Basically, a lot of losses lumped together don't effect you as much as if you experienced each one on its own. However, it is better to experience gains individually, as the same thing happens if you lump them all together- there's less of an impact. The more you have, the less of an effect gaining more will have.

It's true though. When I have the most in my life, each thing I acquire means less to me. Those moments when you have nothing at all, one good thing means so much.

After school ended I took a mental break and read a few books about perception. A lot of these books said that positivity and negativity are just states of mind, neither is more true than the other, and the lucky thing for humans is that you can consciously choose which to abide by. With every situation there can be two interpretations, and those who are more oriented to negative will experience it negatively while the positive person will see the good.

I noticed that when I am feeling the most negative, bad things happen. Then it's a snowball effect, the more I feel badly, the more bad things happen, which makes me feel even worse, then more bad things happen!

A week ago, it seemed that everything was going wrong. I started feeling anxious and crappy, then I learned that the girl I was subletting from wasn't paying the rent that I had been wiring her, and I was about to be evicted. I was let down by a few people in my life. I woke up one morning with a scratched cornea and could barely see anything.

But then I remembered that function, and I realized that it's better to experience all of these bad things at the same time so I can move on from them faster, plus they have less of an impact. Though logically we would think that having one good thing happen, then one bad thing happen, over a span of time would balance better- false. Lots of bad things then one good thing balances better.

When I realized this, I realized that was my first beacon of positivity.

I also noticed that.. You know those people who are so stuck in their negativity and they''re just helpless victims, and you try to get them to see the light but it seems they don't even want to change and they tell you it's reality and you're in denial? You can put those people at the bottom of the function and then it all makes sense. They've gotten to a point where it's pretty stable where they are, and they're pretty numb to all the bad things that happen. Climbing upwards is very steep though, and it's daunting, and they don't want to do it. It is hardest when making those first few steps up the function. Then after those preliminary first few weeks, it's easier and easier to stay positive as the function levels out. It's like those first few weeks when you've let yourself go and are starting to eat healthy again and work out. Working out is a bummer, it's hard, all you want to do is sit around instead, and it's hard to kick those sugar/salt/dairy cravings. But once you overcome it and pass the 0 point, it's easy.