What exactly is hamstering?

karmasutur3 · 2015-03-23T18:35:11+00:00

It used to be called 'The Rationalization hamster'.

That describes it better.

Here's an example.

Woman goes out, get obliterated on vodka, fucks a lumberjack biker out on parole, who doesn't return her calls after.

The irresponsible CHOICE she made Getting hammered.

The resulting situation Plowed by lumberjack.

The rationalization hamster Uh, he sort of took advantage of me, maybe roofied me. BULLSHIT!

The final result "This isn't my fault"

Except......it IS her fucking fault, and she WANTED the fucking lumberjack to plow her. But, she hamsters it out, because her desires are conflicting with her other desires (see: Cognitive dissonance) . In this case, her desire to get hammered and plowed by a lumberjack is conflicting with her desire to appear non-slutty.

This is not limited to women (although men do it waaaaay less natively)

An example in a guy would be a dude who refuses to approach women, he says it's because 'all the chicks at this party aren't hot anyhow.' He's really failing to approach because of approach anxiety.

RunawayGrain · 2015-03-23T18:32:15+00:00

Cognitive acrobatics to absolve oneself of blame or to ignore facts.

third-eye-brown · 2015-03-23T22:35:41+00:00

Short answer: Rationalization leading to a conclusion supporting her lack of personal responsibility for what she sees as a mistake.

For example, saying to herself "well, it wasn't really cheating because I only sucked his dick and my bf was out of town and didn't text me back and it didn't mean anything to me anyway so I don't need to feel guilty.

It's really about absolving guilt about something that goes against her own morals or that she knows would hurt someone.

bohemian_fappsody · 2015-03-24T01:14:53+00:00

It's pretty what these other commenters are saying, but it's more than that too. As one commenter said, it used to be called the rationalization hamster, but it seems these other commenters are fixating on the rationalization element without implicating the hamster element.

Picture the hamster wheel spinning - that's figuratively what is going on in a woman's mind when she's confronted with facts and reasoning she simply cannot accept as true (because they don't comport with her view of reality, because they don't facilitate her agenda, because they paint her in a bad light, because they contradict her feelings, because they force her to take responsibility, etc., etc., etc.). No matter what is presented to her, she will - over and over again - go through the mental gymnastics, denial, whatever, to avoid confronting the reality of a situation, and it doesn't stop. You say one thing - she deflects. You say another thing - she accuses you of lacking sympathy. You say another thing - she blames you. You say another thing, she blames something else. You say another thing - she changes her story. You say another thing - she says you just don't get it. That's the hamster wheel spinning: unyielding motion, but never advancing the hamster forward.

fnordsnord · 2015-03-23T18:34:38+00:00

Very specifically, hamstering is when a woman makes a decision based on how something FEELS, and then back-rationalizes it to have been the right decision because of any number of modified "facts" or changed priorities.

www777com · 2015-03-24T04:59:44+00:00

It's justification. It's the same thing as when someone commits a crime and explains why it's not really a crime or the crime is actually good (or not as bad as it sounds), or the crime was plain and simply justified. For example, "Yeah, I stole from that business but it's really not that bad because their insurance is going to pay for it anyways." Or, "I had to steal so I could eat." Or, "I prostitute to put myself through college."

Title	What exactly is hamstering?
Author	Dzuari
Upvotes	6
Comments	6
Date	March 23, 2015 6:23 PM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/301eae/what_exactly_is_hamstering/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/what-exactly-is-hamstering.147270 https://theredarchive.com/post/147270

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