Why do people break the rules

Every rule was invented for a reason

“I often walk in the park along the reservoir. There is a beach, and then everywhere there are signs: “Swimming is prohibited.” But I constantly see people swimming anyway. And in the winter season, fishermen pitch tents on the ice, right next to the signs that you can’t go on the ice. I don’t understand why they do this?”

“In front of our house, they made a four-lane crossing with a traffic light. It is surprising that there are those who want to cross the road literally ten meters from the zebra, and certainly at a red light. Is it hard to wait a few seconds?

“Next to our ponds, many people fry kebabs, although this is not allowed there. Moreover, no one cleans up after themselves. We arrived, ate, drank and left, but the garbage remained.”

“I was at the checkout in the supermarket. In front of me, a woman refused to put on a “muzzle” and quarreled with a poor cashier. And all the rest – in masks – stood and waited, in chorus convincing the brawler to either do what was supposed to be done, or leave and not delay the queue.

Unfortunately, such situations are not uncommon. We often see – under the signs that prohibit smoking, they smoke quite calmly, swim where it is impossible, do not fasten their children with a seat belt, put them in their arms, which is strictly prohibited. Why do they do this? Why is it hard to just do it the way it’s written?

After all, each rule was invented for a reason. For example, feeding animals in the zoo is not allowed because it can harm their health. And the “zebras” are not just painted on the road: the marking places are thought out by specially trained people, based on the load of a certain road junction.

Rules are made to keep us and others safe. Perhaps the desire to violate them is due to the fact that people do not take the trouble to analyze their act and the consequences to which it will lead?

We think little of the consequences

Ksenia Kukoleva, psychologist

Any rules create a framework that we perceive differently. We first encounter limitations at an early age. And children are most often powerless against the rules that parents impose.

Some adults explain to the child the essence of the prohibitions: for example, if you try to put your fingers into the socket, it will hurt. Others believe that children still do not understand, and do not explain the reasons for the restrictions.

In the first case, the child also feels his own responsibility for what can happen to him, he has a choice of what to do. In the second, all responsibility for the possible outcome belongs entirely to the parents. The child gets the idea that the rules are meaningless, and the only consequences that their violation entails are the displeasure of adults.

We grow up: now we are forced to obey the rules not of parents, but of society. But if we are used to the fact that restrictions often have no reason, then we unconsciously treat, for example, the prohibition to kindle a fire in the same way. The only thing that makes you be careful is the risk of being caught red-handed.

Children also reason in a similar way: you can do whatever you want, but in such a way that your parents do not know about it. We think little about the consequences, we forget that a fire in the forest can provoke a fire, which is much worse than a fine for building it.

For some, breaking the rules becomes a challenge, a chance to test their abilities, to defend themselves. There is an expression: “to spite my grandmother, I will freeze my ears.” Obviously, the goal of the child is not to freeze. He wants to quickly prove that he is independent and decides for himself whether to wear a hat or not.

Often this need to defend ourselves lives in us in adulthood. And we choose unexpected ways to satisfy it, for example, ignoring the rules, we decide to run a red light.