The Most Bizarre Name For A Psychological Effect And What To Do About It
Let your imagination run wild here. We used to get away with a lot of things in psychology in the 1970’s that we could never get away with now. What could this technique possibly be called?
The What-The-Hell Effect.
Well, to be fair, it is also known as counterregulatory eating in the area of overeating research, but that name isn’t nearly as fun!
So, what is the What-The-Hell Effect?
The What-The-Hell Effect occurs when we experience a lack of self-control after we have missed a goal we set. But the key is a rule must be broken along the way for this effect to occur.
Let’s look at an example to help make this breathe a little.
The Dinner Example
(insert an image here)
You have been following a healthy eating plan for several weeks and it has been going great! You are invited to a family function and you know there will be desserts to eat after dinner. You decide to have a slice of pie (you don’t want to be rude!) and it is a pretty big one.
Unfortunately, the rule you had set for yourself was healthy eating = no desserts.
Well, What-The-Hell, the eating plan is blown now! You have a second slice of pie, a few cookies and a nanaimo bar (yes, your sister-in-law had the audacity to load the table with other goodies!).
Now, it is time to sit around, chat and drink coffee. And, of course, the desserts haven’t gone anywhere. They remain on the table, mocking you. The eating plan is blown anyway – you decide to sample brownies, butter tarts and strawberry cheesecake (what can I say, your sister-in-law likes to bake!). By the time you are finished, you are loaded with guilt for waaaaaayyyy overdoing it.
That’s the What-The-Hell Effect!
And there are many research studies that have demonstrated and replicated this effect (e.g., Polivy et al., 2010, Baumeister & Tierney, 2011).
Interestingly, this effect isn’t limited to overeating. It can come into play anywhere in life where you have set a goal and broken a cardinal rule related to that goal.
This could involve following an exercise program religiously until you miss a scheduled day……that turns into a week, or perhaps, you have a goal of not pushing one of your partner’s buttons (a button related to a past indiscretion), but once you push that button you decide, “What-the-hell, I might as well push them all”.
Take Home Message
The What-The -Hell-Effect is a real psychological effect that can derail anyone’s goal. Let’s take a look at 4 quick tips to help overcome it.
- Prevention is key
If you know there are areas in your life where you are at risk of falling prey to the What-The-Hell Effect, have a plan going in. As Benjamin Franklin once famously said,
(turn this quote into an image)
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”
Once you have a plan, write it down….and take it with you. Review it before you enter a potentially difficult situation and review it again while you are in the situation (hey, nobody is going to stop you if you decide to suddenly call timeout, in your head of course, and go to the washroom to go over your plan).
- Have a contingency plan
With the healthy eating example above, it clearly would have been helpful to have a back-up plan once the initial rule of no desserts was broken. For those of you wondering if having a back-up plan will make it easier for you to break the initial rule of no desserts, that isn’t necessarily the case. However, if you break the first rule, you are much further ahead if you stop yourself from carrying on… to the next slice of pie, and cookies, and better tarts… get the picture!
- Forgive yourself
Feeling guilty after breaking your rule isn’t going to help matters. In actuality, you will probably experience fairly significant feelings of distress and look to seek comfort immediately, such as continuing to overeat.
Continuing with the overeating example, there is research by Adams & Leary, 2007 which shows that study participants who have committed the What-The-Hell effect were more likely to stop eating after breaking their first rule when they were given instructions to forgive themselves by the researchers.
- Play the long game whenever possible
Whenever we set short-term goals, there is added pressure to be relatively rigid and the expectation is that we don’t break any rules and follow the plan perfectly.
In the Polivy et al. 2010 study, the researchers hypothesized at the conclusion of the study that the What-The-Hell effect was more likely to occur with short-term goals. As such, it would be wise to take a long-term approach to goal-setting.
In keeping with the overeating example, it would have been better to massage the “no desserts” rule to “I can have a dessert (or two!) once a week”. This is a far more realistic approach, as it is unlikely you are going to be able to avoid desserts forever, and it lends well to self-talk when you are tempted to have a dessert but it isn’t the appropriate time (e.g., “Ok, I am just saying ‘no’ to this dessert for now, not forever”).