Have you ever been frustrated with yourself for repeating a mistake? For trying to create a healthy habit and not sticking to it? I know I have, and my frustration lead me to think about the psychology behind repeating the same mistake over and over again. I didn’t think I was going to find anything interesting, but I came across an article that caught my attention.
Repeating the same mistake seems to be related to this idea of the “toddler brain”, which is associated with impulsiveness, poor judgment, volatile feelings and self-obsession.
The name toddler brain obviously relates to toddlers’ behavior, when toddlers purposely make noise when their parents are on the phone, or when they drop objects or start violent behavior to get attention or to get what they want, they’re acting on emotions, and responding based on what they feel in that moment. This phenomenon is called “state-dependent recall”, which is defined by the inability to feel or remember something unless the person is experiencing that thing in the current moment. For example, when one is feeling happy, they don’t ever remember feeling depressed.
State dependent recall happens to adults as well as toddlers. And it is more likely to happen when we experience negative emotions. Repeating an old mistake then, happens as we get stuck in the toddler brain and justify our feelings instead of learn and grow from them.
Being stuck and justifying our feelings can be dangerous, because it can create cycles of addiction. While learning to separate ourselves from our feelings helps us to move on and focus on what we really want to do or achieve in the moment.
Sources:
Stosny, Steven. “How We Make the Same Mistakes Over and Over.” Psychology Today. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.
Written by Maryam Alsadiq