The ratchet effect means that people’s consumption habits are irreversible after they are formed, that is, they are easy to adjust upwards but difficult to adjust downwards. Especially in the short term, consumption is irreversible, and its habitual effect is large.
This effect was proposed by economist Dusen Bailey. In fact, the ratchet effect can be summarized by a famous saying of Sima Guang, a politician and writer in the Song Dynasty: "It is easy to move from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to move from luxury to frugality."
The ratchet effect is like a wheel with teeth. Every time you turn a wheel, you can't turn it back.
Negative cases of the ratchet effect:
During the Shang Dynasty, when King Zhou came to the throne, everyone in the world believed that under the governance of this wise king, the Shang Dynasty was as strong as rock.
One day, King Zhou ordered his people to make a pair of ivory chopsticks, and he was very happy to use these ivory chopsticks to eat. His uncle Jizi saw it and advised him to keep it, but King Zhou didn't care. The civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty also didn't care, thinking that it was a very ordinary thing.
Jizi was very worried about this. Some ministers asked him why. Jizi replied:
"King Zhou used ivory to make chopsticks, so he would not use earthen earthen pots to hold soup. For rice, we must use cups made of rhinoceros horns and rice bowls made of beautiful jade. With ivory chopsticks, rhinoceros cups and beautiful jade bowls, will we still use them to eat simple rice and soup made with beans?
From now on, the king's table will be filled with fine wine and delicacies. He will eat fine wine and fine food, and his clothes will naturally be made of silk and silk. His residence will be luxurious, and he will build pavilions and pavilions for his enjoyment. I feel shuddering at the consequences."
In just five years, Jizi's prediction came true. King Zhou of Shang was extravagant and the Shang Dynasty perished.
A positive example of the ratchet effect in evolution.
A book "The Red Queen" written by the famous popular science author Matt Ridley proposed the Red Queen hypothesis, which originated from the conversation between Alice and the Red Queen. The Red Queen said that in order to stop where she was The Red Queen hypothesis refers specifically to the evolution of species, that is, the driving force for the evolution of species does not come from changes in the natural environment, but from the evolution of other organisms. If the evolution of a species cannot keep up with the evolution speed of other organisms, then this species will be eliminated.
The evolution of species follows a ratchet effect, and one can only force its own evolution based on the evolution of other organisms.
The application of the ratchet effect in goal setting.
Yu Minhong once said: Excellence is a habit.
If a person is used to excellence, it will be difficult for him to lower his standards, so we will see that talented people will become more and more talented.
We must learn to set goals for ourselves, and we must have a big goal worthy of lifelong struggle. When each goal is achieved, we will become a better version of ourselves, and it will be difficult for us to endure it anymore My past self was not good enough.
The manifestation of the ratchet effect in cognition.
Once a person's cognition improves, it is difficult to go back. The obvious manifestation is aesthetic cognition.