Crab Mentality

The term “crab mentality” is used to describe a kind of selfish, short-sighted thinking which runs along the lines of “if I can't have it, neither can you.” This term is especially widely used among Filipinos, who use it specifically to refer to people who pull other people down, denigrating them rather than letting them get ahead or pursue their dreams. As a general rule, an accusation of having a crab mentality is a poor reflection on someone's personality.

This concept references an interesting phenomenon which occurs in buckets of crabs. If one crab attempts to escape from a bucket of live crabs, the other crabs will pull it back down, rather than allowing it to get free. Sometimes, the crabs seem almost malicious, waiting until the crab has almost escaped before yanking it back into the pot. All of the crabs are undoubtedly aware of the fact that their fate is probably not going to be very pleasurable, so people are led to wonder why they pull each other back into the bucket, instead of congratulating the clever escape artist.

This term is broadly associated with short-sighted, non-constructive thinking rather than a unified, long-term, constructive mentality. It is also often used colloquially in reference to individuals or communities attempting to "escape" a so-called "underprivileged life", but kept from doing so by those others of the same community or nation attempting to ride upon their coat-tails or who simply resent their success.

For Filipinos, crab mentality is the tendency to "outdo another at the other's expense"or to "pull down those who strive to be better."An overzealous leader becomes morally shamed.It "became a call for community leaders to acknowledge indebtedness to others and to work for the good of the entire community and not just for themselves."

Sad to say other people doesn't think of the challenges of that person experiences to have that success. They just think of their selfish reason. Just a little advice: learning to recognize the crab mentality in others is a very good idea. Early as posibble learn to be aware of that attitude especially if you work or live in a highly competitive environment.