Setting up to fail
Encyclopedia
Setting up to fail is a psychological manipulation
performed on a target in which the target is given a task which is designed to fail as it has an unrealistic objective - "the setting of impossible objectives... set up to fail". The target will become stress
ed trying to achieve the impossible, particularly if under pressure. Once the task attempt has failed, the outcome can then be used as ammunition to discredit
and blame
the target. A variation on this is that an otherwise achievable objective is covertly sabotage
d and undermined
to make it unachievable.
The same result may result unintentionally by way of a "negative spiral of expectations... the 'set-up-to-fail' syndrome".
, eternally doomed to roll the same rock up to the top of the hill. "But every time, as he was going to send it toppling over the crest, its sheer weight turned it back, and the misbegotten rock came bounding down again".
Eric Berne
has described how what he calls a latter-day "Sisyphus works very hard and gets right to the brink of success. At that point he gives up, and loses everything he has gained. Then he has to start over from the bottom." Berne linked the pattern to his upbringing as an orphan encouraged to be a star athlete by his (covertly) destructive uncle Homer: "What Homer really wanted was for [him] to try to be an athletic hero and fail."
tactic. One technique is to "overload a person with work...accompanied with little or no authority, and frequently by its removal or denial" - something which readily "falls into the category of being set up to fail". Again, "the withholding of information is a tool of control" for the workplace bully: "the victim is set up to fail... through not having the requisite knowledge or information to hand".
was set up to fail - see criticism of the 9/11 Commission
(set up to fail).
With the French Panama Canal Company
, by contrast, it has been suggested that "attempts to excavate a Suez-type canal without locks in the mountainous terrain of Panama... may have been set up to fail" from the inside, rather than the outside: certainly the founder "made a fortune at the expense of thousands of small French investors" at the project's failure.
".
complex".
In a similar way, "a child is also set up to fail when a parent perceives that her child will somehow make her whole or make her a more worthwhile person... fantasizes about the perfect child" - an impossible demand which may boomerang in those who subsequently "arrange their lives so that they suffer one reverse after another in miserable 'neuroses of destiny'" Sacrificed to "the mother's hidden desire for power... is the development of the child's autonomy - that source of action and self-knowledge that permits us to become self-determining adults".
The motives of such self-defeating may be complex, however. Adam Phillips
has highlighted the way that "anyone who is failing at one thing is always succeeding at another... If I fail my exams I successfully maintain myself as someone who is not ready for the next stage".
Psychological manipulation
Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
performed on a target in which the target is given a task which is designed to fail as it has an unrealistic objective - "the setting of impossible objectives... set up to fail". The target will become stress
Stress (biology)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
ed trying to achieve the impossible, particularly if under pressure. Once the task attempt has failed, the outcome can then be used as ammunition to discredit
Discrediting tactic
The expression discrediting tactics refers to personal attacks for example in politics and in court cases. Discredit also means to not give the credit that was deserved, to cheat someone out of credit.-In politics:...
and blame
Blame
Blame is the act of censuring, holding responsible, making negative statements about an individual or group that their action or actions are socially or morally irresponsible, the opposite of praise. When someone is morally responsible for doing something wrong their action is blameworthy...
the target. A variation on this is that an otherwise achievable objective is covertly sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
d and undermined
Social undermining
Social undermining is the opposite of social support. For example, in the context of the workplace, it refers to intentional offenses aimed at destroying another's favorable reputation, their ability to accomplish their work, or their ability to build and maintain positive relationships.-See also:...
to make it unachievable.
The same result may result unintentionally by way of a "negative spiral of expectations... the 'set-up-to-fail' syndrome".
Classical exemplar
The prototype of the set-up-to-fail syndrome is the figure of SisyphusSisyphus
In Greek mythology Sisyphus was a king punished by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity...
, eternally doomed to roll the same rock up to the top of the hill. "But every time, as he was going to send it toppling over the crest, its sheer weight turned it back, and the misbegotten rock came bounding down again".
Eric Berne
Eric Berne
Eric Berne was a Canadian-born psychiatrist best known as the creator of transactional analysis and the author of Games People Play.-Background and education:...
has described how what he calls a latter-day "Sisyphus works very hard and gets right to the brink of success. At that point he gives up, and loses everything he has gained. Then he has to start over from the bottom." Berne linked the pattern to his upbringing as an orphan encouraged to be a star athlete by his (covertly) destructive uncle Homer: "What Homer really wanted was for [him] to try to be an athletic hero and fail."
In the workplace
Setting up to fail is in particular a well established workplace bullyingWorkplace bullying
Workplace bullying, like childhood bullying, is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behaviour against a co-worker or subordinate. Workplace bullying can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation...
tactic. One technique is to "overload a person with work...accompanied with little or no authority, and frequently by its removal or denial" - something which readily "falls into the category of being set up to fail". Again, "the withholding of information is a tool of control" for the workplace bully: "the victim is set up to fail... through not having the requisite knowledge or information to hand".
Institutions
"Going through the motions" is another application of setting up to fail, for example a sham investigation in which the findings conveniently fail to find any evidence of wrong doing by the authorities involved with setting up the investigation: thus it has been argued that the 9/11 Commission9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
was set up to fail - see criticism of the 9/11 Commission
(set up to fail).
With the French Panama Canal Company
History of the Panama Canal
The history of the Panama Canal goes back almost to the earliest explorers of the Americas. The narrow land bridge between North and South America offers a unique opportunity to create a water passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans...
, by contrast, it has been suggested that "attempts to excavate a Suez-type canal without locks in the mountainous terrain of Panama... may have been set up to fail" from the inside, rather than the outside: certainly the founder "made a fortune at the expense of thousands of small French investors" at the project's failure.
Minorities
Minorities seeking acceptance into the mainstream are often concerned about being set up to fail: thus the first black US naval officers had been "concerned that they had been set up to fail... as a result of what [one] would call institutional racismRacism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
".
In parenting
Within parents, "unrealistic expectations can set up a child for certain failure", if for example the new baby is somehow expected to provide a magical solution to the parents' problems as a couple: "a sure-fire setup for failure in the first major job of the child's whole life. He naturally turns out to be a normal child, not a saviour". In such a situation, "the child is co-opted into an arrangement whereby he or she is to provide the parents with a certain magic" - something which may leave the child in later life "acting out impulses of rage, hostility, and self-destruction...the pathological residue of a Divine ChildChild (archetype)
The Child archetype, is an important Jungian archetype in Jungian psychology, first suggested by Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung. Recently, author Caroline Myss suggested Child, amongst four the Survival Archetypes , present in all of us...
complex".
In a similar way, "a child is also set up to fail when a parent perceives that her child will somehow make her whole or make her a more worthwhile person... fantasizes about the perfect child" - an impossible demand which may boomerang in those who subsequently "arrange their lives so that they suffer one reverse after another in miserable 'neuroses of destiny'" Sacrificed to "the mother's hidden desire for power... is the development of the child's autonomy - that source of action and self-knowledge that permits us to become self-determining adults".
Setting oneself up to fail
"People are set up to fail" by themselves "if they envision what they want to do before they figure out what kind of person they should be".The motives of such self-defeating may be complex, however. Adam Phillips
Adam Phillips (psychologist)
Adam Phillips is a British child psychotherapist, literary critic and essayist. He is known for his books dealing with topics related to psychoanalysis...
has highlighted the way that "anyone who is failing at one thing is always succeeding at another... If I fail my exams I successfully maintain myself as someone who is not ready for the next stage".
In popular culture
- In the film The ProducersThe Producers (1968 film)The Producers is a 1968 American satirical dark comedy cult classic film written and directed by Mel Brooks. The film is set in the late 1960s and it tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who want to produce a sure-fire Broadway flop...
, theater show producers tried to set a show up to fail by intentionally including bad taste themes. - Reginald Perrin tried to set himself up to fail by starting a shop called Grot, which only sold useless goods.
- In PippinPippinPippin, Peppin, and Pepin are variants of a single Frankish given name. It was the name of several important figures in the Carolingian family that ruled the Frankish Empire in what is now France and the western parts of Germany in the Middle Ages:* Pepin of Landen, nicknamed the Elder, sometimes...
, the Troupe give Pippin the goal of self-awareness and fulfillment, and completely undermine him, in order to make him do the "Finale".
See also
Further reading
- Gil E Foster parents: set up to fail - Child abuse & neglect, Child Abuse and Neglect, 8(1), Pages 121–123 (1984)
- Loftus K Set Up to Fail: 100 Things Wrong with America's Schools (2006)
- Manzoni J Barsoux J Set-up-to-fail Syndrome: Overcoming the Undertow of Expectations (2007)
- Pluto T False Start: How The New Browns Were Set Up To Fail (2004)
- Urbaczewski A Moore JE Setting up to fail: the case of Midwest MBA - Success and pitfalls of information (1999)