The More People Want Something, the Less They’ll Like It

From Harvard Business Review:

"Denying people access to a product will make them desire it more and work harder to get it—but will also make them less likely to keep it."

Oh... So irrational of them, you say.

While these findings are discussed from a marketing point of view, they can be applied to all sorts of human relationships, including courtship and even parent-child relationship. E.g. The parent likes to claim that he loves all his children equally, but secretly, the most willing kid is not his favourite, while he yearns for the attention of that aloof child.

Because of the influence of classical economists and clever people of our time who have been exposed to and so like to stick with classical economics theories, we like to believe in the general rule that people are 'rational'. This 'rationality' alludes to 'purposive/instrumental' rationality, i.e. ends are rationally pursued and calculated.

Why you ignore me?!

However, what we fail to see is that there are not one but many types of rationality. Weber has already laid them out for us to learn and apply, but most of us, as usual, have not been listening.

(Read about Max Weber.)

Weber's 4 ideal types of rationality are:

• Purposive/instrumental rationality
• Value/belief-oriented rationality
• Affectual rationality
• Traditional/ingrained rationality

Most of us make decisions based on a mixed of the above and more. In other words, we ain't too disciplined when going about decision-making at all levels, from personal space to commercial decisions to professional decisions.

And as one ages, one's skin becomes thinner and ego becomes bigger. One begins to think and believe that he is now more experienced and therefore more 'right' than before. This obviously does not help with strengthening of 'rationality' in the way we like to believe.