social acceptance and willpower

 

This was the actual experiment – measuring cookie consumption based on social acceptance.

They predicted the rejects would gorge themselves, and so they did. On average the rejects ate twice as many cookies as the popular people. To an outside observer, nothing was different – same setting, same work, similar students sitting alone in front of scrumptious cookies. In their heads though, they were on different planets. 


www.alternet.org/story/156037/is_it_hard_for_you_to_say_no_to_sweets_and_temptation_you_may_be_suffering_from_%22ego_depletion%22

Yep.  Any one of us could have predicted THAT outcome, LOL!

well duh! hope they didn't spend much money on this study. we all know its true. diane

anyone interested in the science of how willpower works should read the article.  but people don't so let me add this.

The current understanding of this is that all brain functions require fuel, but the executive functions seem to require the most. Or, if you prefer, the executive branch of the mind has the most expensive operating costs. Studies show that when low on glucose, those executive functions suffer, and the result is a state of mind called ego depletion....

Remember, no matter what the self-help books say, the research suggests that willpower isn’t a skill. If it was, there would be some consistency from one task to the next. Instead, every time you exert control over the giant system that is you, that control gets weaker. 


The only way to avoid this state of mind is to predict what might cause it in your own daily life and to avoid those things when you need the most volition. Modern life requires more self control than ever. 

Having an important job can lead to decision fatigue which may lead to ego depletion simply because big decisions require lots of energy, literally, and when you slump you go passive. A long day of dealing with bull**** often leads to an evening of no-decision television in which you don’t even feel like switching the channel to get Kim Kardashian’s face out of your television, or sitting and watching a censored Jurassic Park between commercials even though you own a copy of the movie five feet away. If so, no big deal, but if you find yourself in control of air traffic or a heart bypass, or you need to lose 200 pounds, that’s when it’s time to plan ahead. If you want the most control over your own mind so that you can alter your responses to the world instead of giving in and doing what comes naturally, stay fresh. Take breaks. Get some sleep. And until we understand just what ego depletion really is, don’t make important decisions on an empty stomach.

Imagine that.

Interesting, though, in a "proves what we all already thought we knew" kind of way.

I really enjoyed reading through that, thank you for posting. I was only going to read the summary but ended up going through the entire article. Most of it is common sense but some of the ideas they linked together were actually rather remarkable. I learned something this morning, yay!