Spoiling children doesn’t help them. It leads to exaggerated feelings of deservingness and superiority. Such entitlement may lead to chronic disappointment, and can throw people into a “perpetual loop of distress,” according to a new study. People with high levels of entitlement consistently fall victim to a three-part cycle: First, they don’t always get everything they think they deserve, leaving them constantly vulnerable to unmet expectations. Those unmet expectations are then perceived as injustices, leading to volatile emotions like anger and sadness. Finally, to justify those emotions, entitled people reassure themselves of their own specialness. This helps them feel better temporarily, but ultimately starts the process all over again.
This article was originally published on September 23, 2016
