THE TRAGIC PARADOX OF SELF-DESTRUCTION - MYTH AND REALITY

Human self-destructive tendencies have fascinated yet misled psycholog ists. Myths about self-destructive patterns have included mistaken not ions about masochism, suicide, spouse abuse, and guilt. Many myths hav e shared the assumption that people come to want suffering and failure , but the present essay argues on the basis of an extensive literature review that there is no empirical support for such a motivational pat tern. Instead, many behaviors that seem superficially to reflect self- destructive motives can in fact be better understood as arising from o ther, more positive motives, such as the desire to escape from self-aw areness. Empirical work has found systematic patterns of self-defeatin g behaviors, particularly emphasizing tradeoffs that burden desirable rewards with risks and costs, and systematic patterns of misregulation of self that involve counterproductive strategies. Contrary to the fa miliar view of self-destruction as arising from low self-esteem, it is shown that egotism and high self-esteem, typically combined with some threat of losing esteem, can be a cause of self-destructive actions.