Trap Happy

[Outsiderchild]

I've just learned from a friend who is wildlife management professor at a big California university.  He told me that when they are collecting data (such as bloodwork) from rodents in any study the have to make sure that they aren't getting skewed results because of a condition they call being Trap Happy.  Basically the animal just wants to be in that trap.  The animal keeps running back and getting trapped over and over again.  Even if there is no longer any reward in that trap, in fact only the negative experience of being handled and tested by humans the animals goes back in.  In fact they can be so bad that when they are released, they wait for that trap to be put down again so they can run right back into it!  It creates a false reality the scientists have to guard against.

I think I am Trap Happy. 😕.   I need to work harder to stay out of the trap my PD's have laid out for me. 

[Lauren17]

This is an interesting find. It's a scientific explanation of "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't." I think it's human nature to stick with the familiar. (Sounds like rat nature too). 

[WinterStar]

Interesting! I think it can apply to the traps PDs leave, but it also seems like a good metaphor for at least some PD people. They are in some ways trapped by their own rotten behavior and go back again and again.