WEBVTT - Decision Fatigue: Death by 1,000 Choices 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to stuff to Blow your Mind from how stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:14.000 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.479 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:18.640 what would you like in your sandwich? Would you like? Wait? 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.360 First of all, would you like rye bread, wheat bread, 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:27.480 white bread, pumpernickel bread, or banana bread? JUNI sour do? Yes? 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.319 Sour dough? Would you like it wheat Saturday? Yes? And 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.080 would you like European wheat sour dough. You're a sweet 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:38.520 sour dough. Um, I will like the European sweet sour dough. Okay, 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.320 so you're already feeling tired. Well, yeah, this is the 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:43.720 This is the way I feel whenever I go to 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.280 a place where they do like any kind of a 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.720 sandwich assembly line, where you go in and there's there's 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:52.960 an individual there that's gonna build you a sandwich. Sometimes 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.720 they have the hilarious title of sandwich artists. Uh, and 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:00.000 but they are sandwich artists. Well, an artist doesn't add 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.000 for my input on the art. I'm just like, hey, 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.280 give me, give me one art, and they're like, here's 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.640 the art, and I'm like, that's great. You're so creative 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:08.560 in your creation of that you don't go into an 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:11.320 art gallery and then there's an artist standing there and uh, 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.760 he's like, so do you like usurrealist or you know, 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:17.520 there's there's no of that. So you go through this line. 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:18.920 You have to pick the bread, you have to pick 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:21.000 which vegetables, you have to pick which meat if you're 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:22.600 going with meat, or which fake meat if you don't 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:27.080 want to go with that. Cheese options, different dressings, Um 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:29.200 you want to heat it up or not? Do you 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:31.160 want to cut in half? I mean, it just it 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:32.800 goes on and on, and by the end of it, 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:34.959 you just feel exhausted because you had to make so 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:39.080 many decisions and generally for a very limited uh you know, payoff, 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:42.039 especially if you're on some of the some of the 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.960 more you know, mainstream sandwich shops. I like this analogy 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:47.840 of the way that we move through life, right, because 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:49.480 that's what it feels like. You feel like you've got 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.320 to backup people behind you, right, and you're getting rushed 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:56.400 through your decisions. A NonStop sandwich line for a really 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:02.440 crappy sub that's life right. Possibly, possibly, hopefully you have 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.920 a sandwich artist who could perhaps liven it up a 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:11.680 little bit. Um, but this actually nawse on thist, These 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:16.240 constant choices, these being bombarded by what we have to 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.000 move through every day just to to sort of get 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.120 things done. Yeah, it's called the decision fatigue. And it's 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:23.799 a real thing. It's a real thing, and it's it's 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.440 been sort of making the rounds are recently over the 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:28.400 past few years, but but especially in the last few 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.240 days because and by the time this says the last 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.080 few weeks, because there was a New York Times article 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.040 about it, and it forced everyone to re examine their 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:40.520 lives and the decisions, the multiple decisions that make up 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.400 every hour of the day, and what it's doing to 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.359 us on a on an emotional and physical level. It's 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:48.440 really interesting. So we are going to draw from this 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:52.160 article h called do you Suffer from Decision Fatigue? In 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:55.959 New York Times. UM, and I recommend that you guys 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.400 check it out. It's pretty long, but it's definitely worth it, 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:03.760 you know, like ten or so. UM. I mean, I 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:05.840 thought it was interesting that the article pointed out that 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:09.720 the word decide shares the same etymological route with the 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:14.320 word homicide, meaning that on a linguistic level, we realize 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.240 that we're killing off all of our other options, which 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.200 sort of float away into some sort of unseen parallel 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:23.359 universe for us. Exactly, it's kind of like every time 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:28.400 we make a decision, we're we're we're extrapolating, We're imagining 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:30.880 a future in which we make the choice. Be it 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.640 something like I wonder if what would happen if I 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.360 decide to go with the rye bread or if I 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.280 go with the plain bread. What if I get the 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.040 salad opposed to what if I get the soup? And 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:42.880 then with larger things too, it's like, well, what have 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:47.160 I major in in English versus what if I major 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:48.920 in pre law? That kind of thing, right, And of 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:51.360 course you can even see instances of this in quantum 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:55.120 suicide for instance. Right. Um, But from you know, our 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:57.200 day to day basis of having to deal with the 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:01.160 minutia um, it's really easy to start to over inflate 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.640 the importance of a choice, right because we can think, 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.040 you know, all of the storylines and books and movies 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.040 for helping us to feel that every single choice we 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.680 make could alter the reality that we are living well. 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:14.360 But the thing is that it kind of could. It 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:18.159 may not know, but mostly probably not right. And that's 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:20.960 the problem with it is we were not omniscient beings, right, right, 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.280 But but there is you know, it's like the butterfly effect, 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:27.560 which is which relates to chaos theory, um, which is 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:30.599 on the surface, the idea that say, a butterfly flaps 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.360 its wings on one side of the world and the 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:37.400 cascading effects from that one little um of action will 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.119 cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:44.880 And this was created by a weatherman, right, um, neurologists 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:48.120 working with computer models. Yeah, okay, Edward Lawrence, right. And 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:50.200 so it's just a theory right obviously that we we 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.280 don't know if the action of a butterfly's wings and 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.839 just example you know, yea of how this works, of 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:01.440 how chaos theory works. Um. But it again, you apply 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:03.440 your day to day decisions and you can really start 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:06.880 to perhaps overweigh them. Yeah. There's a great line from 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.960 Coral McCarthy. I believe this one is in No Country 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:12.679 for Old Men, where a character says that every moment 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.560 in your life is is a turning and everyone at 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.680 choosing somewhere you made a choice, and all followed to this. 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:23.159 The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn, no line 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.799 can be erased. I had no belief in your ability 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:27.680 to move a coin to your bidding. How could you. 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.760 A person's path through the world seldom changes, and even 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.960 more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.680 your path was visible from the beginning. There's a lot 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:38.280 of this kind of thing, and Court McCarthy with him 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:41.720 ruminating over um, the effects of choices and the choices 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.960 we make. There's a there's a part in UM all 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.919 the Pretty Horses where characters, Uh. There are two characters 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:50.960 and they're about to make a decision regarding a third 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:53.320 character and um, and one of the characters turns to 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:55.680 the other and says, you know, every time you do 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.040 something stupid in your in your life, you can always 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.839 trace it back to one decision. And that decision is 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.719 never like the stupid decision, but it's the decider, uh, 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.160 in this timeline. It's where you split off from the 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.080 timeline where you wouldn't make this really dumb choice versus 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:12.920 the one where you do well. But in this explains 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:17.200 why we drive ourselves exactly, because in retrospect we can 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:19.760 always trace it back and say that was you know, 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.240 it was insignificant, But what have I done the other thing? 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:24.400 It's I mean, it's a big part of grief too. 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:28.160 Like whenever someone dies, um that we care about, we 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.279 can always trace it back to these little insignificant moments 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.279 and be like, what if that had gone the other way? 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:36.360 And you know what have it had? Uh? It's still 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.520 an insignificant moment out of many insignificant moments. It just 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.720 sort of happens to loop into a very elaborate um 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.640 timeline of events, uh when we look back at it 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.880 from the present. So so yeah, it's easy to get 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.640 strung out over choices to the point where we end 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.719 up fretting over which bread to order with our sandwich, 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.080 even though generally this is not the kind of thing 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:00.520 that the spirals out of control, one thing that you 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.680 wouldn't normally worry about. Um. The New York Times article 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.760 again that do you suffer from decision fatigue? Says that 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:10.000 we have a finite store of mental energy for exercising 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.960 self control. And this was basically witnessed time and again 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.680 through a series of experiments carried out by social psychologist 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.400 Roy Baumeister. And we're gonna talk a lot about some 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:24.400 of the experiments that that he and his colleagues undertook. Um. 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:28.160 It is the reason why otherwise reasonable people do illogical things, 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:30.280 right from flying off the handle and rage to buying 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.000 junk food when you didn't mean to, or flying off 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.520 the handle and rage at junk food right right, slapping 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:40.640 that junk food upside it's head um, to spending big 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.360 bucks on stuff that you regret later you think, why 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.920 in the world did I do that? Kind Yeah, impulse splies. 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:53.760 It's because, as bow Master says, you are experiencing ego depletion. Yeah. 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.440 To to run some of this down again, it's to 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:59.040 really simplify it. It's kind of like the idea that 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:01.840 the mind is this hustle. And anyone who ever has 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:04.679 ever worked out knows, um, you know, with with weights 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:06.560 or anything, knows that there's like this whole idea of 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.320 you know, it's like reps versus weight. Are you gonna 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:11.520 are you gonna pick up a ten pound weight? Like 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:13.960 ten times? Are you gonna pick up a hundred pound 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:16.920 weight once? That sort of thing. Again, I'm not a weightlifter, 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:21.360 so maybe this may not be a perfect example, but 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:22.760 but still it's like if you pick up a small 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:25.160 weight enough times, your arms will get as tired as 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.040 if you picked up something really heavy once. Well you 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.160 know what. And and as a side note on the 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:34.120 mind body connection, did you know that if you are 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:38.520 exercising and say doing reps and really focusing on your 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.079 arms that day, that when you go to sleep at night, 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.560 the part of the brain that controls the functions of 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:47.120 your arms is actually going to be much more active 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.120 in sleep than the other parts of your brain. So 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:55.439 there there's connections. Idea that energy expended is being manifested 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.640 in the body. And again this is this is borne 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:01.120 out by a lot of about Masters research, which is 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.400 really cool. So if I have to go through a 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:06.800 line and choose every single option that goes into the 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:09.520 creation of my sandwich, and then I have to make 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:11.920 a decision about like who to fire at work or 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:14.599 something later on, I'm picturing like a big wig and 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:16.640 you know, New York going through a sandwich line here, 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.199 cigar in here. Yeah, so let's just do that. Let's 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:21.800 give him a cigar. Yeah, I was giving a cigar 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:23.560 as well. Yeah. By by the by the time that 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:26.160 you have picked out your sandwich, you have made all 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:30.480 these choices. You're less um prepared to make a big 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.000 choice later in the day. Well, that's the problem is 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.840 that when you have been bombarded by all these little decisions, 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:37.920 by the time four o'clock rolls around, you do not 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.880 want to make the big decision that you have to 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:42.040 make for the day. You do don't want to have 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.720 to push the red button, so to speak, because you're 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.679 seriously going to be incapacitated, because your mental energy is 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.040 already going to fold up on top of itself and say, 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:53.320 I want to batten down the hatches. I want to 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.160 make the safest choice for myself, which is not always 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:58.360 the right choice, right, and I don't want to think 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.720 about it that much. UM. Usually, like you would want 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:03.640 to be the kind of person who was like someone's like, hey, 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:04.800 you want to I need you to come help me 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:06.800 move furniture, and you're like, great, I'm gonna go lift 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:11.000 some weights first, Like that wouldn't make any sense, right, Well, 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:14.280 but you could immediately before it, right right. I understand 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:15.800 what you're saying is that you don't want to fatigue 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:17.800 yourself in the muscle. I mean, the brain is like 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.440 a muscle, and and you don't necessarily want to do that. Um, 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.080 but I think it's really interesting because it does explain 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.520 why we do what we do. Bau Master says, no 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:27.720 matter how rational and high minded you try to be, 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:30.320 you can't make a decision of decision without paying a 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.520 biological price. It's different from ordinary physical fatigue. You're not 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.920 consciously aware of being tired, but you're low and mental energy. 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:40.199 The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:44.120 each one becomes for your brain. Eventually it looks for shortcuts, 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:48.520 usually in either one of two very different ways. One 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:52.520 shortcut is to become reckless okay, to act impulsively instead 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.760 of expending the energy to first think through the consequences. 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:59.040 Um And they use this example in the article sure 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:02.360 tweet that Phoe know what could go wrong? Right? The 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:06.680 other shortcut is the ultimate energy saver, do nothing instead 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:10.360 of agonizing over decisions, avoid any choice. Ducking a decision 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.360 often creates bigger problems in the long run, but for 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:14.760 the moment, it eases the mental string. You're you're basically 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:18.400 differring mental anguish. And you've talked. You said something about 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:23.160 a Japanese proverb. Japanese proverb that basically says, by by 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.840 doing nothing, all problems are solved by by refusing to 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.760 come to a decision. You're solving that problem one way 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:30.599 or another, but probably not in the way that is 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.560 beneficial to you. Right, And I'm sure we've all been 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.000 there at one point or another and understand that. So um, 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.120 a bunch of studies have basically carried out this this 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:43.359 um idea that ego depletion and its effect on willpower 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.480 is actually pretty stunning. Um. Initially these studies would focus 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.760 on food, right, because how what better way could you 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:55.240 study at someone's willpower and the ability to self censured 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:58.079 than by throwing a bunch of donuts at exactly literally 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:01.280 throwing them at them. That there was a postdoc fellow 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:04.559 in bomb Muster's lab and she had an epiphany about 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:08.480 the laboriousness of all those choices. After going through the 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:12.160 process of registering for gifts for her upcoming wedding, she 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.760 found that she was incredibly exhausted just when she went 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.000 to go and register for gifts. Yeah, weddings are a 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:23.640 huge suck on the whole decision portion of the brain 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.000 because it's it's NonStop decisions beforehand and then afterwards to 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.240 is you're deciding, Uh, you know which, like which picture 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.640 you're gonna pick up for your album's situations where people 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.080 don't get their wedding album actually completed until you know, 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.600 years after the marriage or you know, begins or after 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:42.880 the marriage ends. Yeah. Well, and I will tell you 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:44.280 too that the first time I went to get register 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:46.120 with my husband, I kind of had a not a 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:48.160 melt down in which I was crying, but I was like, 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.520 you know, we need to leave. I don't know what 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.800 towels to get. I don't I never considered towels. I 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.560 never considered this. I'm picturing you being physically removed in 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.679 tears from Craton Barrel by security. Yeah. Yeah, I mean 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.080 I can't go there anymore, which is fine, but I 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.800 can shop online. Um. But basically she had a hunt here. 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.640 So the labs set out to replicate a sort of 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.480 quasi department store of wedding gifts, and they had two 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.680 groups peruce the offerings. Group one had to make a 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.319 decision about what one item they could keep at the 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:22.840 end of the experiment, okay, Group two was asked to 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:25.480 give their opinions on the products and if they had 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.000 ever used similar products in the last six months. So 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.679 Group one has to make decision, group too not so much. Um. 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.800 Both groups were then given a classic impulse control test. 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.440 I love us holding your hand in ice water for 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:41.120 as long as you can so group one. The deciders 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.400 I lasted for just twenty eight seconds, but the non 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:53.160 deciders sixty seconds on average, so almost double. You know, this, 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.760 this physical manifestation was found in this, this very simple 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.839 impulse control test. Now they did this over and over 0:13:59.880 --> 0:14:02.480 a so the more decisions you make, the less control 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:04.280 you have over holding your hand and water. Right, So 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.960 it's not just that you're making decisions, but your actual 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.600 physical being is going to be decided by this as well. Right, 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:15.000 So it's not the abstract you know, becomes a concrete thing. 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.240 So when g Gordon Liddy did the famous thing with 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.800 the cigarette lighter under his palm, he was basically saying, 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:23.320 try me, I haven't made a decision in weeks. You know, 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:28.960 It's like he's got that's never find Um, I'll go 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:33.040 with it. But anyway, this is an illuminating study. Yeah yeah, yeah, 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.320 And it was a sea change in studying the ego 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.920 uh depletion effect because it really had this idea of 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.640 no matter what it was tied to um, you know, 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:47.000 these choices could have an effect on your willpower, even 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:50.120 if it was just something that wasn't that important. Um. 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:52.440 So they began to do this over and over again, 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.120 and they even saw this and car buyers. Right, there 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.360 was an experiment in which they had real customers spending 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.320 their own money and they had to choose, for instance, 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:05.120 among four styles of gearship gearshif not, thirteen kinds of 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.080 wheel rims, twenty five configurations of the engine and gearbox, 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.440 and a palette of fifty six colors for the interior. 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:15.480 See I'm already I'm feeling fatigued and um. As they 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.960 started picking out features, customers would like carefully weigh the 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:21.800 choices at first, but then fatigue would set in and 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.280 they'd start to go into default options. Okay, well you know, 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:28.840 essentially at the end of this exercise they were like, okay, 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:33.320 give me whatever, um, And they left the dealership by 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:36.960 paying extra two thousand dollars in options that they probably 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.560 didn't want, but because they had this barrage of choices 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.400 put forth, which is sort of a typical sales technique, right, 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.200 especially at car dealerships. Yeah, a nefarious tactic of the 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:49.720 hard self like get somebody in a room and do 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.800 not let them leave until they make a decision, or 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.240 rather make the decision you want them to make. Right. 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.400 And at this point you've probably put a lot of 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:00.400 research in time into finding the car that you want, 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:04.880 negotiating it UM, and then trying to meet out these 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:08.280 details about what you want the final project to look like. 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:10.640 You know, you've probably been there for five hours and 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:12.760 you're like, fine, if you will let me leave this 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.480 dealership with my car, I will pay two thousand dollars. 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:17.640 It's essentially what you're saying, without even knowing that you're saying. 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:21.400 There's I actually ran across another study that also involves UM. 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:25.200 This one involves cake as well, UH, which is which 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.160 is always fun. And this was a Stanford University Graduate 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:31.440 School of Business test where they had they had two 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:34.800 groups UH in one. In one group, the subjects were 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.320 asked to remember a one digit number, which is pretty easy, 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:40.920 and then the other group was asked to remember seven 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:44.520 digit number and H Then they were asked to walk 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.640 down the hallway to where they would have to report 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.680 this number, and along the way UH coworkers would come 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:51.560 to them and offer them either a big slice of 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:55.440 chocolate cake or a bowl of fruit salad, and uh 0:16:55.920 --> 0:17:00.440 by by a huge, huge percentage, those who were trying 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.720 to remember the seven the seven digit numbers picked the 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.679 cake over the fruit salad. So the idea was that 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:09.199 the people trying to remember the seven digit number were 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:13.480 already taxing their brain enough to where they lacked sufficient 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.040 mental energy to stand up to the temptation of the cake, 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.719 and therefore their impulse control was compromised. Well, yeah, they 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.000 haven't remember a seven digit number. There just wasn't enough 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:27.000 gas in the tank to resist cake. Also, it should 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.640 note that again in this article that's on long. Um, Yeah, 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.000 I can intend. Uh. There are instances of these studies 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:35.600 over and over again, and we're not obviously going to 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:37.720 talk about all of them. All of them involved cake 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.960 is weird. Yeah, a lot of suites in these studies, Um, 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.399 but they do bear out this familiar idea that you know, 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:48.160 your willpower is going to be greatly affected and um, 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:51.159 so much so that there's something called the Marti Gras effect. 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:52.919 And we're going to get to that right after this break. 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.840 This podcast is brought to you by Intel, the sponsors 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:01.679 of Tomorrow and the Discovery Channel at Intel. We believe 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:05.800 curiosity is the spark which drives innovation. Join us at 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.520 curiosity dot com and explore the answers to life's questions. 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.320 And we're back the Mardy Gras effect. So let's let's 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:20.679 get down to it. This involves beads and streets lined 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:24.359 with people and partial nudity, partial nudity and a string 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:30.439 of parades and spicy food right. M Yes, to the 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.239 degree that it is a metaphor for this idea that 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:38.520 you could exert better willpower later if you indulge yourself 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.160 with something pleasurable. Now, this is the idea that bown 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:45.240 Master and into his colleagues had, so to refresh it's 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:49.879 with Mardy Gras. Marty Gras immediately proceeds lent, which is 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:54.240 a period of of fasting or what, Well, you're giving 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.320 up something you choose what you're going to give up. 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:59.240 For a lot of people, this may be alcohol, um 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:03.000 or it maybe something kind of weenye like well, I'm 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.119 going to give up fried foods or using the word 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.520 cloaca in a podcast, why would you do that? Well, 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:11.280 that's what that's what we're doing next year. Get ready. 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.160 That's the thing. In accordance with the Marty Gras fact though, 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:17.639 before we gave up using the word floaca in a podcast, 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:22.040 we would have an all out cloaca blowout podcast edition 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:24.760 where it was just NonStop discussion of feel like cloaca 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:28.960 and articles, right, yeah, so the a yeah and then 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:32.600 yeah exactly. So if you could make for a fascinating podcast, 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.240 which but the but the idea with Marty Grays you 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:37.240 have the big old party because you're going to be 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:40.960 good for over a month afterwards, with occasional breaks for 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:46.800 feast days beef steaks, Feast days, Feast days beef steaks 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:50.080 like beef steaks coming to the equation. There are different 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:52.480 feast days where they're like holy celebrated days. So it's 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:56.159 all right to break your lent faster. We'll see. Now, 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:57.520 I don't know a lot about this lent thing, but 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:00.520 that just seems like cheating. We'll see. Nine. My mother 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:03.480 in law thought the same thing. She was like, she 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:04.960 was like, I don't know about these feast days in 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.119 and I'm like, but but but a priest told me this. 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:11.479 This is this is legit. But anyway, but yes, they 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.280 so they you know, in this lab, they took the 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:16.960 same tact, right like we're gonna go ahead and try 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:19.800 to get these groups to indulge. And so what they 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:24.320 did is they gave two groups milkshakes. Sounds good right. Um. 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:30.400 One was tasteless, low fat glop, absolute glop, right, a glock, 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:34.680 but a milkshake nonetheless tas. The other one was decadent, 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:39.720 calorie laden and and yummy. Right. So the researchers expected 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:44.240 that the decadent milkshakes would perform better on willpower tesk right. 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:49.199 So the result is that both groups performed well on 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.840 these these tasks that they were given after they consumed this, 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:55.360 and it was a head scratch until they figured out 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:59.280 that the gluca glucas was mitigating the ego depletion and 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:03.600 sometimes completely reversing it both of the milk shapes. So 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.000 basically you had is you had these two groups and 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:08.640 they were going through similar to the other study where 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:13.400