Willpower isn’t about exercising, it’s about OO

An interesting but very bittersweet study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research contents are as follows. A research team observed eight Israeli parole judges without prior notice. Judges reviewed applications for parole every day, each taking an average of six minutes. And on average, only 35% were granted parole. The research team accurately recorded and analyzed the amount of time judges spent making decisions.

However, a strange pattern was noticed in the judges’ decisions. After the judges ate, the parole approval rate rose significantly to 65%. On the other hand, for about two hours just before the next meal, the approval rate gradually decreased, dropping to almost 0% just before lunchtime.

If someone gets a parole hearing right before the judge eats lunch, the odds of being granted parole are close to zero. How did this absurd thing happen?

Mark Muraven of Case Western Reserve University conducted an experiment by dividing cookies and radishes into two groups under the theme of “What is willpower?” He told the students in group A to eat only cookies and ignore the radish, and the students in group B to eat only radishes and ignore the cookies. All the students who participated in the experiment were in a state of starvation, and they knew that this experiment was a taste recognition test.

The students ate their assigned food as instructed, but in very different ways. Group A’s students who ignoring the radish and ate the cookies showed a distinct sense of happiness on their faces. However, misery was evident on the faces of the students in Group B who skipped a meal and ignoring the hot cookies with a sweet scent and eating tasteless radishes. Others couldn’t completely ignore the cookie, picking it up and letting it go or sniffing it.

Five minutes after the tasting, Mooraven informed the students that it was time for the next experiment. But then, he said, you have to wait 15 minutes to let the taste of the food you ate go away. And he asked me to solve a riddle to have fun with those 15 minutes. The riddle was very simple. Without lifting the pencil from the paper, draw a geometric pattern without reciprocating the same line twice.

Moo Raven told him to ring the bell any time he wanted to give up, adding that it wouldn’t take much time to solve the riddle. However, the riddle was an unsolvable, very difficult problem. So it took a lot of willpower to solve the riddle.

As a result of the experiment, there was a huge difference between the students in Group A who ate the cookies and the students in Group B who ate the radish. However, group B who ate radishes and ignored cookies could not last 8 minutes on average, which was 60% shorter than group A who ate cookies. Even in group B, which only ate radish, there were students who expressed great displeasure and were nervous about this experiment.

Starting from this experiment, many studies have come to the following conclusions about willpower. Just as we need to rest when we use too much muscle, willpower is a finite resource and when it is used up, it needs rest until it is recharged. We usually think of willpower as something that cannot be developed through training, but in reality, like a muscle, it can be strengthened through training.

However, willpower can be exhausting and is a finite resource, so it must be managed appropriately. Let’s say you have a very important meeting or presentation this afternoon. Usually these very important tasks require a great deal of willpower. But if you’ve been doing work that requires a lot of willpower all morning, what will happen in the afternoon? Your odds of producing great results will drop as you expend willpower, and you may make mistakes. Therefore, you should reserve enough willpower before doing important things.

Goethe left this maxim.

“The most important should not be dictated by the smallest things.”

A parole ruling is a very important thing that a person’s life is at stake, and it is a very important egg for the judges in charge. However, looking at their ruling patterns, their willpower consumption due to fatigue and hunger undermined their expertise. Since each parole ruling is important, one judge should reduce the number of rulings per day, and the judge should take appropriate breaks between rulings to recharge the depleted willpower.

You have to manage your willpower. Boxer Michael Tyson, who boasted of great muscle, would not have run long before an important fight. No matter how good an athlete is, there is a limit to the strength of muscles.

Is there anything important to you today? Then manage your willpower carefully.