College students enjoy brand new freedoms – being able to design their schedules, pick their majors, and engage in new social activities. However, in this new quest of separation and individuation – natural to adolescence – you often hear students still doing what their parents want.
Now this may be out of love, but I want to consider the deeper reason why a “latent” group like newly solo college students may still respond to their parents’ desires: selective incentives. Olson writes that the only “organizations” with the ability to be coercive or have positive incentives. And parents have both of those! They pay for your tuition and provide a place to sleep during break – so that’s quite the coercive power. They are also (generally) very loving – and may even show extra affection should you follow their wishes – like my mom when I promise her not to ride Veo scooters.
The idea that kids generally grow to be harmonious and obedient is not new. Becker explored this in his Rotten Kid Theorem, holding that due to the selective incentive power of parents, even your most rotten kids will be heavily incentivized to be well-behaved in the eyes of their parents.
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