It has been shown that making numerous decisions, even unimportant ones, in a given time span reduces your ability to exercise good judgment and self-control. The phenomenon is commonly called “decision fatigue”.
This is part of why you see many people in powerful executive positions (e.g. Steve Jobs, POTUS) tend to favor a simple wardrobe. Whether they realize it or not, wearing a similar outfit every day saves them the mental energy for an extra decision or two.
Here is an interesting article on the subject, where parole officers demonstrated how applicants who met later in the day (a time when judges were already fatigued from making important decisions) were much less likely to receive parole than those who met earlier, regardless of ethnicity and the length of original sentence.
Do you do anything to save your mental energy for more important decisions?
How important do you think it is to be aware of this psychological principle?
Absolutely don’t consider this in the least bit and to me it just seems like another study that’s nonsense and wasters time.
It does state important decisions but then it talks to a wardrobe choice.
Every person makes so many decisions within each hour of their day that they don’t even realize that it’s actually a decision that they’re making.
The link that was attached with the paroles of three individuals being 70% were paroled at a higher rate early in the morning. This is simply due to hired attorneys, better attorneys, are seen at the beginning of the day. Court systems schedule this way because it’s the preference of the lawyers who schedule it. I think a lot is said for all sources the were included on the research, simple to leave out key factors.
I believe many statistics are formed based on studies that were completed by people who performed the study already were favored one way or the other.
It’s easy to find stats to support your opinion, open minded studies are tough to find.
If this was truly the case, large corporations would not have meetings into the afternoon for this reason.
Applicants with hearings after the lunch break were also released at a higher rate, but that rate diminished again as the day went on. Did you read the rest of the article?
I also read this statement" Prisoners who appeared early in the morning received parole about 70 percent of the time, while those who appeared late in the day were paroled less than 10 percent of the time"
Also listed quarterback making poorer decisions later in a game due to the same desicion fatigue.
In that case i’d say it to be more of a physical fatigue. Your not throwing with the same strength and accuracy after 50 throws? Your just getting tired.
I would say it’s a given that physical fatigue will show decreased physical performance, and mental fatigue results in diminished mental performance.
Since making decisions is mentally taxing, then it seems logical the more decisions a person is forced to make, the more likely he/she will be to follow the path of least resistance that requires less consideration and force of will to execute.
Mental fatigue is physical fatigue.
Mental illness is physical illness.
Mentality is an intangible product of the physical processes in the brain. It’s just that because the physics are chemical secretions and electrical pulses rather than muscle fibers and organ tissue, we don’t think of it as physical.
Thus, just like depression or anxiety or ADHD or OCD or Tourette, decision fatigue would really be a physical problem. 'Mental" is more just jargon.
This may or may not be the original test from the study, but it will give you an idea of your personality. There are 4 types of personalities. Driver, Analytical, Expressive and Amiable. I fell into the driver / amiable category. Some of the questions make you think.
