Psychology Can smaller vices help us avoid bigger ones?

[Second Summer]

Are the sum total of a person's vices constant?

If so, could we avoid getting hooked on bigger vices by practising many smaller vices?

 

[Poppy]

My guess is that most vices tend to build upon each other and it's probably not a great idea to cultivate smaller vices in the hopes that you avoid the bigger ones.

 

[Joe]

Are the sum total of a person's vices constant?

If so, could we avoid getting hooked on bigger vices by practising many smaller vices?

You mean, if you pick your nose to your heart's content and belch loudly and often at table, you will lose your desire to commit adultery with Ingrid Newkirk?

 

[Second Summer]

You mean, if you pick your nose to your heart's content and belch loudly and often at table, you will lose your desire to commit adultery with Ingrid Newkirk?

Exactly! I'm thinking vices are all about getting a release from built-up frustration. If one can get that release by picking one's nose or cursing, then that is surely the better option.

My guess is that most vices tend to build upon each other and it's probably not a great idea to cultivate smaller vices in the hopes that you avoid the bigger ones.

Maybe so. How about all those ministers and clergy who are supposed to be leading perfectly vice-free lives, and then end up committing horrible abuses? Maybe if they'd just tried to live more in harmony with their true selves, then maybe they wouldn't have gone so astray.

 

[Mischief]

I think it depends on what kind of vices you're talking about. Small vices often lead to big ones. For example, the people who end up stealing/defrauding others out of huge sums of money mostly start out small, getting away with a little here, then stealing bigger and bigger sums until they finally get caught. The same with acts of cruelty.