[eezurr]

There's a term for that type of thinking: "crab mentality". It's named after the behavior of crabs when they are placed in a bucket. When a crab tries to escape, the other crabs notice and begin pulling the escaping crab back into the bucket.

For us humans, when we manage to climb out of a bucket we land in a larger bucket that contains the one we climbed out of. Eventually we get our bearings and begin to see the new walls that surround us. Unhappy with the walls, we start climbing again. And so goes the story of Sysiphus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

I think the solution is to be happy with what you have. Not an easy task though.

[PikachuEXE]

Now I finally can refer it with a name "crab mentality"

I only knew it as "fish ball mentality" (inaccurate translation from Cantonese)

[eezurr]

What's the story/logic behind "fish ball mentality"?

[PikachuEXE]

Oh it's from a local show (in Cantonese) which is ~2x years ago. Here is the approximate content.

Supposed there is a merchant selling fish balls (in sticks). Then two people (A & B) buy one stick of fish balls. A gets a stick of 6 and B gets 5. B complains about it.

Merchant says: OK I will give you back one more. B: No I don't want one more. I want you to take away one of A's fish balls.

Since then all locals who watched the show would refer it as "fish ball mentality" and kept being used on local online forums/social media groups.

"crab mentality" was never mentioned anywhere (for me at least, until I see it here).

[eezurr]

Ha, interesting. Thanks for sharing!