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The Strangely Powerful Psychological Tactic of Developing An Imaginary or Anonymous Adversary
The forces that drive human nature can vary greatly from person to person. However, one of the most powerful and profound of those forces is one that speaks to our very core as human beings — competition as well as the desire to win. For certain personality types, adopting a me against the world mentality can have remarkably positive effects on their progress and growth. People with an inflated sense of belief that somebody, somewhere doesn’t want to see them succeed have an internally visceral advantage. One they essentially constructed. They are motivated by a primal drive to persevere and see their adversaries crushed beneath them, even if only metaphorically. And here’s the best part, as it turns out — these so called adversaries don’t even necessarily have to be specific, tangible or in some cases, even really exist.
While achieving success for the sake of bettering the lives of our loved ones as well as our own is nice — for some of us it’s not enough. It’s not as satisfying as the thought of doing what they said you couldn’t and proving all of them wrong. Perhaps it’s partly a practice of vanity. An inflated sense of self importance leads us to believe we’re slightly more often thought about than we actually are. But if we can use this belief — even if it’s a bit distorted — to our psychological advantage then why shouldn’t we?
It’s been well displayed throughout human history that we are a species that enjoys and thrives off of organized competition, in both the formal and informal variety. From the Ancient Greek Olympic games, to modern day politics, romantic pursuits and conquests and to the more obvious and direct competitive arenas such as professional sports. As Psychologist and writer Sander van der Linden, Ph.D. puts it in his article The Psychology of Competition on www.psychologytoday.com, “competitiveness is a biological trait that co evolved with the basic need for human survival”. The article states how economists credit competition as an essential driving force in maintaining efficient and productive markets. Which is obviously because the presence of competition forces us to hold ourselves to a higher standard. He also points out that competitions tend to be more enjoyable when one is victorious. It’s what drives us to…
