Baumeister and Tice introduced the concept that willpower is a finite resource that can be exhausted when used because it requires mental energy. The original experiments involved a willpower depleting task that requires self-control (e.g. don’t eat that cookie) followed by a task that requires a lot of mental effort (e.g. a quiz). They found that participants performed better when they were not first given the willpower depleting task.
See also:
- Ego depletion theory has been debunked—failed to reproduce in large scale experiments and meta analysis found flaws in the interpretation of findings.
- Operant conditioning as a possible alternative explanation where the priority of a reward changes based on other motivations
Links to this note
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Decision Fatigue Leads to Bad Decision Making
It takes effort to make decisions and when confronted with numerous decisions to make, people get fatigued. These aren’t just big decisions (what should I do with my life?), but also small ones (what should I wear? what should I eat for dinner). This impairs a person’s ability to make further decisions (or avoid them).