Chengyu

一曝十寒 (yī pù shí hán)

Characters

一 yī: One

曝 pù: Sun

十 shí: Ten

寒 hán: Cold

Story

孟子 (Mèng Zǐ, aka Mencius) was a sage who lived during the 戰國時代 Warring States period (1).  He believed in destiny, innate goodness, and advocated free trade and low taxes. Legend says he was a pupil of Confucius‘ grandson, 子思 (Zi Sī), and travelled across China to provide advice to feudal lords. 

During his time as an official for the State of 齊 (Qí), he took three years leave of absence to mourn his mother’s death.  Consequently, some officials of Qi grew resentful of Mencius and criticized him as lazy and apathetic to the lord of Qi.  Mencius then replied, “There are some plants that thrive on Earth. However, if you dry them for a day then freeze them for ten days they are still going to die despite their strong vitality.  I am seeing the lord less often now.  Even if I give him good advice, it would be in vain when I leave because many people here do not support my opinions. How do I improve the quality of the lord’s thinking then?”

After forty years of wandering, Mencius became disappointed in his ability to impact China and retired from public life.  Thousands of years later, Mencius cannot be more wrong.

Lesson

With 一暴十寒 (yī pù shí hán) – literally, dry for one day and freeze for ten – Mencius conveyed how some people work hard for a while then get lazy and fail.  Indeed, this proverb would serve well to those setting goals.  For example, it is common for people who diet to have a “cheat day”.  No, that oozing cheese pizza and beer will not be neutralized by a week-long salad binge.  Thus, if you see a friend who is about to drink a soda after a long workout, remind your friend of the story behind 一暴十寒 (yī pù shí hán).  

Research

Moral licensing occurs when a good deed increases the chance one would perform a future questionable behaviour (2).  Expressly, it is the tendency to do something “bad” after doing something “good”.  Moreover, moral licensing is seen in everyday activities such as exercising and can influence one’s racial attitudes.  In one study for instance, participants who received feedback that they were egalitarian toward Black people actually set farther away from a Black confederate than those who didn’t receive such feedback (3). 

Further, the good and bad behaviours can be in different areas. In one example study, participants who bought eco-friendly items instead of regular items later offered less money in an ultimatum game and stole more money (4).  Here, the good act of buying green products is in the area of sustainability while the bad act of stealing relates to the virtue of honesty.     

Regarding the good deed, it doesn’t need to be done for moral licensing to occur!  Merely thinking about past and future moral behaviour or writing about oneself as moral is enough to decrease moral behaviour (5, 6, 7).  For example, participants who committed verbally or in writing to volunteer in a fundraiser became more prejudiced against hiring a Black candidate for a police officer position (6). Thus, the study showed prospective moral licensing and that the good deed (ie. volunteering) does not need to be in the same domain as the bad deed (ie. hiring).  Accordingly, thoughts of good behaviour may demotivate people to follow through the good act (8).  This means that thinking of exercising can make one less likely to exercise – in one’s mind, the exercise has already been done.

Again, one way to counter moral licensing is to think of 一暴十寒 (yī pù shí hán).  From weight loss to going green, success in goal achievement begins with awareness.  Surprise – Mencius just helped save the environment.  

<img class="aligncenter wp-image-2883 size-full" src="https://ancientchengyu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/yellow-mountains-532857_1920.jpg" alt="The environment that Mencius helped save" width="1920" height="1280" srcset="https://ancientchengyu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/yellow-mountains-532857_1920.jpg 1920w, https://ancientchengyu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/yellow-mountains-532857_1920-300x200.jpg 300w, https://ancientchengyu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/yellow-mountains-532857_1920-768x512.jpg 768w, https://ancientchengy