Crab mentality describes a mindset in which people try to hold back or sabotage the success of others even when doing so brings them no direct benefit of their own. The name comes from the observed behavior of crabs placed together in a bucket: when one crab tries to climb out, the others pull it back down, so that none of them escape. Applied to people, the phenomenon describes group members undermining a successful individual out of envy, jealousy or spite rather than rational self-interest.
Facts
Core ClaimPeople try to prevent others from gaining a favorable position even when doing so would not directly affect them. 1 Classification
Type of PhenomenonSocial or Interpersonal Phenomenon 1 Connections
In Branch
Source Crab mentality (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Crab mentality (Wikipedia)
Lead paragraph
Crab mentality, also known as crab theory, crabs in a bucket mentality, or the crab-bucket effect, describes the mindset of people who try to prevent others from gaining a favorable position, even if attaining such position would not directly impact those trying to stop them.
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
The analogous theory in human behavior is that members of a group will attempt to reduce the self-confidence of any member who achieves success beyond others, out of envy, jealousy, resentment, spite, conspiracy, or competitive feelings, in order to halt their progress.
In Branch: Social Psychology, Categories
Wikipedia article 'Crab mentality' is filed under Category:Social psychology concepts.
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