1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production of 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:19,799 Speaker 1: and we're back with part two of our series on 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:22,279 Speaker 1: the seven day Week. What is it? Where did it 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: come from? What? What's it doing in our brains? All 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: right now? When we cut off in the previous part 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: of this series about the week, you were talking a 9 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,879 Speaker 1: bit about some sources you were reading about the history 10 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 1: of the week, where the seven day week comes from, 11 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,639 Speaker 1: because obviously, you know, one of the main things we 12 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: we talked about in the last episode is that other 13 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: major blocks that we use for measuring times, such as 14 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 1: the month, the year, and the day, are all based 15 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: on facts about nature. Are usually about astronomy. You know, 16 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: how the Earth moves, Earth moves around the Sun, or 17 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: how the moon moves around the Earth. But the week 18 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: has no such basis in physical reality. It's an artificial construction, 19 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: with the possible exception that some people think there may 20 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: be some underlying biological uh rhythms that contribute to it. 21 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 1: One hypothesis that's been offered is the minstrual cycle or 22 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: things like that. But it's hard to know for sure. 23 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: So we know at least that the week is not 24 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: based in astronomy. So where does it come from historically? Yeah? 25 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 1: And in that we were getting into this idea of 26 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: the market week, the time it takes for vegetables or 27 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: fruits to uh to travel in from market, uh, be 28 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: sold in market, and then for uh the individuals who 29 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: brought it there to return then to the fields. Um. 30 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: This would be just a basic market cycle, a market week. Uh. 31 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: And one of the sources that I was discussing here 32 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: was um Avatar Zarubaville is the seven day circle. UM. 33 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: So you know, point the author here points to the 34 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: ten day market week of ancient southern China. Various other 35 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: systems as well. UM. Because again there's nothing set in 36 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: stone about it taking seven days to reach any given 37 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: market anywhere in the world. It's going to vary obviously. Uh. 38 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: So you have you have different systems that were in place, 39 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: the ten day system. We also see the eight day 40 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: system that emerged in what is now Italy. This is 41 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:21,360 Speaker 1: the Etruscan system. And so the Truscan system that that 42 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: the name of that would come from the Etruscan culture, 43 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: a culture that inhabited the Italian peninsula before the Roman period, right, 44 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 1: and then the Romans would of course inherit the Intruscan system, 45 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: and this eventually became the internudenum tempests or the period 46 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: between the ninth day affairs, which Zaruberville rights involves the 47 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:48,239 Speaker 1: Roman practice of inclusive counting, in which the last day 48 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: of one cycle is the first day of the next. 49 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: So this involves a market day held every eight days. 50 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: Market and social life revolved around this market day, and 51 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 1: schools and courts were closed for the day as well. 52 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: It was also a day to set work aside to 53 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: go to the baths um, and the cap limit for 54 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: guests was raised as well, so you could have more 55 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:13,640 Speaker 1: people over on this market day. Now, the decline of 56 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: the eight day week, the author rights, coincided with the 57 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: expansion of Rome. It simply became too big for this 58 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: system to logistically work anymore. Um. And you know this 59 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: comes down to the fact that a true urban economy 60 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:31,239 Speaker 1: ends up demanding continuous commerce. But this this was interesting 61 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: as well. I'm gonna read a quote from the seven 62 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: day circle here, uh quote. Coincidentally, the astrological and Christians 63 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: seven day weeks that had just been introduced into Rome, 64 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: were also becoming increasingly popular. There is evidence indicating that 65 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: the Roman eight day week and those two seven day 66 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: cycles were used simultaneously for some time. However, the coexistence 67 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: of two weekly rhythms that were entirely out of phase 68 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: with one another obviously could not be sustained for long. 69 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: One of them clearly had to give way. As we 70 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: all know, it was the eight day week that soon 71 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: disappeared from the pages of history forever. Okay, so you're 72 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: positing a time here where there exists such things as weeks, 73 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:19,839 Speaker 1: sort of like the weeks we imagine, but not everybody's 74 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,600 Speaker 1: using the same weeks at the same time, so they're 75 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:26,799 Speaker 1: just sort of like overlapping different systems that different people 76 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:31,599 Speaker 1: are using, which sounds incredibly chaotic and not especially useful. Yeah, yeah, 77 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,919 Speaker 1: because it's it's it's hard to exactly imagine what this 78 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: would have been like because we think that the week 79 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:39,719 Speaker 1: is just set in stone, it's just this this grid 80 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 1: work that arranges our lives. But too and and then 81 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: I'm tempted to try and think of it, well, maybe 82 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: would be like using both uh, you know, pounds and 83 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: uh and and and grahams or something, you know, having 84 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: to to use two different systems of measurement. But it's 85 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: not quite that either because because there's still like you know, 86 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: there's still a certain length to uh, you know, to 87 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: to some fencing or care at, etcetera. Um. But but 88 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: when you're dealing with with time here and you're dealing 89 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: with these market cycles, it it seems like you would 90 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: just you know, would just be this confusing arrangement to 91 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,599 Speaker 1: have these two or more overlapping systems of different different 92 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: amounts of time. Well, it's a big difference. Is that. Say, 93 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,239 Speaker 1: if you're converting from standard to metric, there's a fixed 94 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: conversion rate. It's not like how many pints go into 95 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: a leader changes every day. But if you but if 96 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,479 Speaker 1: you have weeks of different numbers of days and everybody's 97 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: not on the same one, you can't just line it 98 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: up and say, oh, okay, this day in our cycle 99 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,039 Speaker 1: is the is this other day and somebody else's cycle. 100 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: It would change every cycle because they're not the same numbers. Right. 101 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: Like imagine like thinking back on on like TV, uh, 102 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: just like TV programs and TV schedules, like what do 103 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:57,480 Speaker 1: you have NBC and CBS um had not only like 104 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:01,599 Speaker 1: different schedules of what's coming, but they had different calendars, 105 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 1: like different days of the week, like one did an 106 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: eight day cycle and the other one day to seven 107 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: day cycle. Like that would be that would be incredibly confusing, 108 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: you know, trying to figure out like what what is 109 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: on what day and what is opposite another show. It's 110 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: it's it's just like again, it's it's it's interesting to 111 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:19,599 Speaker 1: try and imagine what this would have been like. But 112 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:22,599 Speaker 1: if I'm understanding zarubaval right in this quote, what he's 113 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: saying is that, um, so you had this original sort 114 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: of eight day cycle, the Etruscan system that was inherited 115 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: by the Romans, but then you had these other systems 116 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: of seven day weeks, the the astrological, the Roman astrological 117 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: seven day week, and the Christian seven day week, which 118 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 1: I believe would be inherited at least in part from 119 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: the from the Jewish Sabbath observance. Yeah. That that all 120 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: this being said, it is important to realize that there 121 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: is still a reality to a market week cycle. In 122 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: many cases, you know, you have other four forces haven't changed. 123 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 1: What's happening with people actually ringing in crops and in 124 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:06,279 Speaker 1: the in the economic activities surrounding the sale of those crops. Um. 125 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: Then even if you end up adopting, say a seven 126 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: day week, you can still see these other market cycles 127 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: uh coexisting with it, and he points to some examples 128 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: of this. Points out that both Christian and Islamic use 129 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: of the seven day week heavily influenced the continent of Africa. 130 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: But you still see four day market cycles in parts 131 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,280 Speaker 1: of Africa, as well as eight and sixteen day weeks 132 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: as well. So these economic rhythms in many cases still 133 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: remain um or even if those economic rhythms shift like 134 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 1: they're still not going to necessarily uh you know, conform 135 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: completely to the seven day week cycle that has been 136 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: superimposed on a region. Now, he he points to in 137 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: UH some other week cycles that are that are pretty interesting. 138 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: He points uh for instance, to the nineteen day behind 139 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: cycle goal of social and religious activity, who was introduced 140 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty four by the Persian prophet uh Saeed 141 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: Ali Mohammed also known as Bob b a b Uh. 142 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: It's generally spelled in English. UH. Nineteen is apparently a 143 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 1: mystical number in the Behigh Faith, and we see that 144 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 1: in the use of a nineteen week year in the 145 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: Behidh faith as well as a nineteen year va head 146 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: UM and then three hundred sixty one years make a 147 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:31,080 Speaker 1: kola shay. And that's because nineteen times nineteen equals three 148 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: d sixty one UH. So UM all that's interesting as well. 149 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: Here's an entire system that's based on UH nineteen four 150 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: mystical purposes UH, spiritual purposes UH, similar to the the 151 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,679 Speaker 1: adoption of the seven within UH, you know, the the 152 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:53,200 Speaker 1: cycle that we we know and are immersed in. He 153 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: also mentions that the Maya, on the other hand, used 154 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:01,719 Speaker 1: a twenty day um unital, which was the quote cornerstone 155 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: of the entire Maya time measuring system. UH. The Mayan 156 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,080 Speaker 1: and the Aztecs solar calendars consisted of three hundred sixty 157 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: five days made up essentially of eighteen twenty day weeks 158 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:15,200 Speaker 1: plus five blank days UH. They also had a two 159 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: hundred sixty day UH divination calendar year that was used 160 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: exclusively for divination. There's also a ninth century Indonesian system 161 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: that he mentions that they made use of both a 162 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 1: five day market week. Six five and seven day weeks 163 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: were used then to chronicle events and the Indonesian system 164 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: had several uses, but the main function, according to Zerubaville, 165 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:40,960 Speaker 1: was divination. Uh. There were the right days to do 166 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: various things, both inherently sacred things such as say, bearing 167 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: the dead, and things that we might think of in 168 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: a sort of modern life as being mundane, things like 169 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: moving or starting a new business, but of course, within 170 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,000 Speaker 1: the confines of a given culture, those things too may 171 00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:00,120 Speaker 1: be considered highly sacred. So these are more examples of 172 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,880 Speaker 1: the what we talked about in the last episode, which 173 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: is that you know it depends on how you define 174 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 1: a week, to say where the week comes from. Because 175 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:11,560 Speaker 1: there's a there's a history you can track of our 176 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: current unbroken system of seven day cycles, but there also 177 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,079 Speaker 1: have been just lots of other things throughout the world, 178 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 1: throughout history that subdivided the month into some number of days, 179 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: but it wasn't necessarily the same as our seven day week, right. 180 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: And And I think it's interesting to think about how, 181 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 1: on on one hand, you have very practical, very real 182 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:35,880 Speaker 1: world considerations and arranging these days in two weeks, uh 183 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: and and saying well, I need to know what we're 184 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 1: calling four days from today, I need to know what 185 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 1: we're calling eight days from today so that I can 186 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: plan things out, but then also getting into this divination 187 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,560 Speaker 1: area of well, is there something about the day after 188 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:53,680 Speaker 1: tomorrow that makes it more appropriate for me to do 189 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:56,560 Speaker 1: this act or this other act or to make a 190 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: certain decision on that day. Um, and you kind of 191 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: get into the sort of the roots of divination that 192 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: we've discussed on the show before, where it becomes this 193 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: kind of um system that you know, you may and 194 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: it certainly entails supernatural ideas about seeing into the future 195 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: and using impulling luck uh and uh and you know 196 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: perhaps the uh, you know, the good will of various deities. 197 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: But it also is about like making uh, making space 198 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: for decision and like helping decisions be made, and and 199 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,160 Speaker 1: and in introducing randomness in some cases. Yeah. Actually got 200 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: me wondering about the same thing, about whether a cycle 201 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 1: of days in a week, whether that's seven days or 202 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: whatever other numbers, just having a named day within the 203 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:45,200 Speaker 1: cycle could aid in productivity and in spurring action uh 204 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:49,280 Speaker 1: instead as opposed to say differring action forever, because if 205 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:52,280 Speaker 1: you live in a system where you don't have named 206 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: days within a cycle. Again, I don't know this, I 207 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: don't have direct evidence of it. But I wonder if 208 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: that's sort of just um, we allow you to have, well, 209 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:03,600 Speaker 1: you have right now, and then maybe you have a 210 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: concept like tomorrow, and then beyond that you've just got 211 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 1: the future. And so like it does having a named 212 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: day that's, you know, a predictable number of days ahead 213 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,839 Speaker 1: of now allow you to plan action in a way 214 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 1: that you're more likely to follow through on an execute. Yeah, 215 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:23,959 Speaker 1: I mean it reminds me of some studies that I've 216 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: I've seen about the importance of having deadlines just for 217 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: productivity reasons. And I mean to a certain extent. I 218 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,200 Speaker 1: guess this varies depending on what one's you know, job is, 219 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: what one's industry is. But the basic seven day week 220 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 1: kind of has a built in deadline, like Friday is, 221 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: at least to a certain extent, always a deadline. Like 222 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: it's assuming again that you have a job where you 223 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 1: don't have to work on Saturday and Sunday, like that's 224 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: the last day of the week. So in many cases 225 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 1: you're trying to get something done, you're trying to reach 226 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 1: like some level of finality, right, or at least it 227 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:01,920 Speaker 1: leans at it. It allows you to lean into that 228 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: interpretation anyway. Yeah, yeah, well it at least it gives 229 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: you a principle on which to organize those those timelines. 230 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,839 Speaker 1: I mean again, I wonder like if we didn't have weeks, 231 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:15,200 Speaker 1: and we just you know, just worked whenever, and you 232 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: were like, how long is it gonna take me to 233 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:18,719 Speaker 1: do this? I mean, how how long do we We 234 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:21,439 Speaker 1: would usually say, I don't know, one week, two weeks, 235 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: and what would you say that I'm gonna say, thirteen 236 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: days is how long it will take me. Yeah, there's 237 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,680 Speaker 1: something weird about like a thirteen day estimate on something, right, 238 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: Why why not bump it up to fourteen days? Like 239 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: it would seem equally wrong to give a fifteen day 240 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 1: estimate on something like why is it taking two weeks 241 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: and one day? Why didn't it just take two weeks? 242 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:51,920 Speaker 1: That just seems like trolling. Yeah, well, maybe here is 243 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 1: a good place to come back to some psychology research 244 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:59,199 Speaker 1: about the effects of the week, because in the previous episode, 245 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:03,280 Speaker 1: I may say, psychology paper that looked into what it 246 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,959 Speaker 1: called mental representations of week days. This was by Ellis 247 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:09,640 Speaker 1: at All, and we talked about it in the context 248 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: of the idea that while the week is broken into 249 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,840 Speaker 1: different types of days, weekends and week days. Each day 250 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: is also its own distinct concept, and this paper examined 251 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: this in a number of ways. Overall, I'd say it's 252 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: findings would be not very surprising to anybody who's ever 253 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,640 Speaker 1: been to school or had a full time job that 254 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:32,160 Speaker 1: was organized on regular bank hours. But it's good to 255 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,760 Speaker 1: have that information anyway, because a lot of times, you know, 256 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: I often have this thought where like, you do a 257 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: study and then the results come back and people say, like, 258 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: that's obvious. Why do you need to do a study 259 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:47,080 Speaker 1: to know that. It's like, well, because if you if 260 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:49,040 Speaker 1: you just go by your assumptions all the time, you're 261 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 1: actually going to turn out to be wrong a good bit, 262 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,960 Speaker 1: so it's worth checking. But it did find that, for example, 263 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: people were most conscious of what day it was on 264 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 1: Mondays and on Fridays, as measured by reaction times when 265 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: asked to name the day. It found that people were 266 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 1: most likely to feel like it was the wrong day. 267 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: I feel like it was a different day than it 268 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,080 Speaker 1: was on days that were in the midweek, so Tuesday, Wednesday, 269 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: and Thursdays. That's also not very surprising. Those are sort 270 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: of the the middle days. The days that are you know, 271 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 1: easy to get lost in the shuffle. It found that 272 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: in terms of affective response, people really really like Fridays 273 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: and really dislike Mondays, and the other days in between 274 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,960 Speaker 1: basically just kind of slope up and down between those extremes. 275 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,040 Speaker 1: And of course the standard note that these responses, as 276 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:38,120 Speaker 1: well as the ones in the um uh studies I'm 277 00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: about to mention here are are primarily, I think, from 278 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 1: industrialized societies in North America and Europe, where the seven 279 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,480 Speaker 1: day work week is highly salient. I have no way 280 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: to prove it, but I strongly suspect that you would 281 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,400 Speaker 1: not find these same patterns at all if you were 282 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 1: to exclusively survey populations that were less connected to this 283 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:02,240 Speaker 1: type of of economic work cycle, for example rural farmers 284 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 1: or hunter gatherers. But since then, I just wanted to 285 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: talk about a bunch more studies I was looking at 286 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: about the days of the week and how we represent 287 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: them in our brains, how we feel about them, and 288 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: how they affect our behavior. Uh So, a couple that 289 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 1: I looked at had to do with people's feelings about 290 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: days of the week. Following up on that, you know 291 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: idea from the previous study that people like Fridays they 292 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: don't like Mondays. So one study I looked at was 293 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 1: from twenty eleven published in Psychological Reports by Charles s Irrany, 294 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 1: Mitchell Burger, and Natalina as Latevska called factors affecting the 295 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 1: extent of Monday Blues evidence from a meta analysis. This 296 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: was a meta analysis that looked at a bunch of 297 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 1: samples from previous studies that tracked both mood and days 298 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: of the week and tried to see if there were correlations, 299 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: and they said they did find evidence of a small 300 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: but reliable quote Monday blues effect, so people had worse 301 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: moods on Mondays, but the size of the effect varied 302 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 1: greatly depending on what types of demographic groups featured in 303 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: the sample. So for contrasts, they mentioned that samples focused 304 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 1: on university students showed a large and consistent Monday Blues 305 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:19,919 Speaker 1: effect college students really hated Mondays, whereas samples limited to 306 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: a smaller, different cohort. The one they single out is 307 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:26,960 Speaker 1: married men who were not students showed a smaller effect. 308 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,680 Speaker 1: It was still there, but much smaller and with greater 309 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:33,400 Speaker 1: variation between the samples. Rob, does this track with your 310 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,159 Speaker 1: experience that you hated Mondays more when you were like 311 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,520 Speaker 1: a college student or younger in general. Yeah. Yeah, and 312 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: it I mean, it's it's easy to sort of fall 313 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 1: on on sort of stereotypes when thinking about this. You know, 314 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,400 Speaker 1: you think of like the college student is is out 315 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,440 Speaker 1: partying all weekend and then open and they've got to 316 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,879 Speaker 1: go to class Monday morning, and uh and the married 317 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: adult is maybe not partying all weekend. Um yeah, I um, 318 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think I ever remembered necessarily just 319 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,760 Speaker 1: hating Mondays. But if I if I didn't like my job, 320 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:11,120 Speaker 1: then I was probably adverse to going back on Monday 321 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: to work there. I feel like nowadays, though, like Monday, 322 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:18,320 Speaker 1: I really don't have a problem with in large part 323 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,240 Speaker 1: because I feel like I'm actually well rested on a Monday, 324 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:25,879 Speaker 1: whereas I'm I'm less' not that I'm I'm like losing 325 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: a lot of sleep, but during the course of the week, 326 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:30,560 Speaker 1: I feel like I kind of steadily lose a little 327 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,160 Speaker 1: bit of sleep towards the end, so that Fridays I'm 328 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: a little more worn out, um, and then I catch 329 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: up in my sleep over the weekend, and by Monday, 330 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:39,920 Speaker 1: I'm good to go. Yeah, that's something I think might 331 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: be underappreciated, especially when it gets to a study we'll 332 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:46,320 Speaker 1: look at in a minute on um on on behavior 333 00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:49,200 Speaker 1: the the effects of cumulative fatigue over the course of 334 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 1: week days. I think that that is a very good idea. 335 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,040 Speaker 1: But okay, so so that was that one study. Another 336 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,199 Speaker 1: one I looked at was by Stone, Schneider, and Harder 337 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: I published in twelve of in the Journal of Positive Psychology. 338 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,360 Speaker 1: This one used a huge telephone survey with like hundreds 339 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:09,360 Speaker 1: of thousands of participants, tested for demographic variables and how 340 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,200 Speaker 1: people felt about different days of the week. They found, 341 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:16,639 Speaker 1: again unsurprisingly, a strong preference for weekends. People really really 342 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: love Fridays. They like weekends. Uh. This study found weaker 343 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,240 Speaker 1: evidence that people really hate Mondays. Uh. It was it 344 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 1: was a more reduced Monday blues effect, but they did 345 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: find some variations. This one also found that day of 346 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: the week effects on mood in general were more pronounced 347 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 1: in younger people generally, and that day of the week 348 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:42,360 Speaker 1: had less effect on mood for older people and especially 349 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,679 Speaker 1: retired people. So that might not be surprising because I 350 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: think a lot of these day of the week effects 351 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:50,520 Speaker 1: probably have to do with when you have to go 352 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,680 Speaker 1: to work. Uh. They found no differences on the basis 353 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: of gender or on the basis of the presence of 354 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,479 Speaker 1: a romantic partner. Now, it does seem strange that there 355 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:02,560 Speaker 1: wouldn't be much emphasis put on Wednesday, though, because it 356 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:05,359 Speaker 1: seems like Wednesday is hump Day, right, Like Wednesday is 357 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: the day where you may, uh, you know, feel the 358 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 1: satisfaction of knowing that the the you're you're halfway there, 359 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:14,639 Speaker 1: You're you're more than halfway there, you are over the 360 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,160 Speaker 1: hump and headed in towards that Friday that you're looking 361 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 1: forward to. You want scientific confirmation of hump day, hump 362 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,360 Speaker 1: Day confirmed. It's like if hump day is I mean 363 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: this kind of we come into our assumptions, right, I 364 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 1: have these assumptions about hump days. But if those assumptions 365 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:30,400 Speaker 1: are not borne out in uh, in the data, then 366 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 1: then maybe it's just like it's a silly notion. Anyway, Well, 367 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: there may be some ways in which hump day is 368 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,560 Speaker 1: a salient effect, but it just kind of gets lost 369 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: in the noise of this this big study with a 370 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:43,919 Speaker 1: bunch of other things going on. Maybe it doesn't show up, 371 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: just fades into the noise when you're asking people, how 372 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 1: do you feel about today, about this day of the week, 373 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:51,520 Speaker 1: or how do you feel today on the day that 374 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 1: I'm asking you this as opposed to other more targeted 375 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,159 Speaker 1: questions that may pull out the hump day nous of 376 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: hump day, maybe questions about like optimism about the future 377 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: or something. Now you could ask another question. Again, we've 378 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:08,120 Speaker 1: been talking about, well, what's obvious or what we would 379 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,399 Speaker 1: just assume, But here's another question. Seems like it has 380 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,680 Speaker 1: an obvious answer. Why do people seem to like weekends 381 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,160 Speaker 1: so much more than week days? I think I think 382 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 1: both common intuition as well as some of the data 383 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,200 Speaker 1: we've looked at already would tell us it's because people 384 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:25,119 Speaker 1: like being off work. Uh though interestingly, of course, not 385 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,359 Speaker 1: everybody's work hours conformed to the standard Monday to Friday 386 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,320 Speaker 1: nine to five, and some people and some people also, 387 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: you know, even if they do conform to that, really 388 00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:35,560 Speaker 1: enjoy their work. But at least at the population level, 389 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:37,960 Speaker 1: this effect shows up strongly anyway. So I don't know 390 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 1: if you know people who are restaurant servers whose busiest 391 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:43,119 Speaker 1: work is on the weekends or something like that, if 392 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: they're just not enough of them to balance out the 393 00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:49,119 Speaker 1: survey data, or maybe somehow, even though it's their busy 394 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,240 Speaker 1: work times, they that they prefer weekends as well. I 395 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,439 Speaker 1: don't know. I I haven't found data on that. But 396 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:57,679 Speaker 1: this question of what causes people to enjoy weekends the 397 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:02,240 Speaker 1: most has also been analyzed in psychology research, sometimes referred 398 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,640 Speaker 1: to as the weekend effect. And I was looking at 399 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:08,359 Speaker 1: a study from ten in the Journal of Social and 400 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:13,680 Speaker 1: Clinical Psychology by Ryan Bernstein and Brown called weekends work 401 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: and well being psychological need satisfactions in the day of 402 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:20,360 Speaker 1: the week effects on mood, vitality, and physical symptoms. Uh. 403 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 1: The sells true for all different kinds of jobs, no 404 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: matter you know what kind of work you had. In general, 405 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:31,080 Speaker 1: on average, people like weekends better than week days and 406 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:35,440 Speaker 1: uh and not just like them better. Like that. They reported, say, 407 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:40,560 Speaker 1: fewer physical aches and pains on the weekends and reported 408 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: feeling that this. I thought this was really interesting. People 409 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: reported that they generally felt more quote competent on weekends 410 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:50,600 Speaker 1: than week days. You might assume the opposite would be true, 411 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: that people feel like, Okay, I'm competent in my job, 412 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,879 Speaker 1: so I'm competent on week days. But no people felt 413 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:01,400 Speaker 1: competent on the weekends. Maybe that's just because jobs are overwhelming, 414 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,119 Speaker 1: or because the nature of work is often such that 415 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,080 Speaker 1: it interferes with your ability to do your job as 416 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:09,480 Speaker 1: well as you could be doing it. But anyway, this 417 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,720 Speaker 1: study looked at different factors that could be influencing why 418 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,760 Speaker 1: people have such a strong preference for weekends, and the 419 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:20,400 Speaker 1: researchers concluded that the most important factors were probably too 420 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: One of them is the ability to spend quality time 421 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:26,000 Speaker 1: with friends and family with loved ones, and the other 422 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: is the freedom to choose one's own activities. People like 423 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 1: self determination in what activities they engage in. So you 424 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,119 Speaker 1: might imagine a scenario where somebody is off work for 425 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 1: the weekend. They don't have to go to their job, 426 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: but they don't get to spend quality time with loved ones, 427 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,080 Speaker 1: and their time is taken up with some kind of 428 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: obligatory activity that they don't choose themselves. And in that case, 429 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:49,760 Speaker 1: it might not actually feel like a weekend at all. 430 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:52,120 Speaker 1: It might be just as bad as work or worse. 431 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:54,879 Speaker 1: I know I have this experience. I can get really 432 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 1: down about like a weekend that is just jammed up 433 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:04,960 Speaker 1: with unwanted obligatory act activities. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I know, 434 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:07,800 Speaker 1: for my own part, there are things like, for instance, 435 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,919 Speaker 1: listening to music. I might I almost certainly listen to 436 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: music more on my own during the work week, Uh, 437 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,120 Speaker 1: just because I'm plugged in more or and in some 438 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,120 Speaker 1: cases or released in the past. You know, I've I've 439 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,639 Speaker 1: been commuting and so there will be more sort of 440 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,399 Speaker 1: designated media time during the commute. And then on the 441 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,879 Speaker 1: weekends you don't have that. So not not not that 442 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,359 Speaker 1: that necessarily pushes weekend good or bad, but it certainly 443 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,960 Speaker 1: gives it a slightly different flavor. There there are things 444 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 1: that the weekend cannot offer that the that than the 445 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,239 Speaker 1: normal weekdays do. Yeah, yeah, totally. So, I don't know. 446 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 1: The ability to determine one's own activities and the ability 447 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,200 Speaker 1: to spend quality time with loved ones whenever that happens. 448 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,240 Speaker 1: It seems like those are are major factors that increase 449 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: people's feeling of well being along multiple axes. Um. But 450 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,080 Speaker 1: it just so happens that those things on average and 451 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,600 Speaker 1: the most on weekends for people. But you know, individual 452 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:07,000 Speaker 1: mileage may vary. But but while the previous results might 453 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,360 Speaker 1: be pretty obvious, you could also imagine that there could 454 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,639 Speaker 1: be other effects of the seven day week on human 455 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:17,600 Speaker 1: psychology and particularly on behavior. Now, again, these would be 456 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,160 Speaker 1: highly dependent on a person's economic and cultural surroundings, because, 457 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,760 Speaker 1: as we talked about in the last episode, basically all 458 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,119 Speaker 1: the evidence indicates that the seven day week is is 459 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: not a fact of nature, but but a mental technology, 460 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,439 Speaker 1: something we have created. So it will depend on what 461 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:33,919 Speaker 1: kind of week you use and what the week is 462 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 1: used for in the place where you live. A couple 463 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,200 Speaker 1: of random examples that have been observed over the years 464 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: that I wanted to point out. So one is the 465 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:46,119 Speaker 1: question of does the stock market behave differently depending on 466 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:49,840 Speaker 1: what day of the week it is other factors being equal. Uh, 467 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:52,879 Speaker 1: this one doesn't seem totally clear. It. It looks to 468 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,200 Speaker 1: me like some studies looking into this have found a correlation. 469 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 1: Others have have not, or have argued that the correlations 470 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,760 Speaker 1: that have been found can be explained away. Um. But 471 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,360 Speaker 1: just as one example of of a study that did 472 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,240 Speaker 1: find a correlation and said it couldn't be explained away, 473 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: there was Gibbons and Hess from the Journal of Business 474 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:16,120 Speaker 1: in nineteen one. The article was titled day of the Week, 475 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:20,320 Speaker 1: effects and asset returns, and this found against prediction that 476 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:24,520 Speaker 1: expected returns for stocks and bills on Mondays were lower 477 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: than for other days of the week, or perhaps sometimes 478 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:29,919 Speaker 1: even negative. And they were just like, we don't know 479 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,080 Speaker 1: how to explain this. We don't know of what factor 480 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: would would explain this. Another example I found in a 481 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 1: paper by Ellis and Jenkins published in UH plus one 482 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: in twelve and for many years I've been calling this 483 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:46,880 Speaker 1: journal p l OS one. A lot of people say 484 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,880 Speaker 1: that way, but I just read an article saying that 485 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,120 Speaker 1: the pronunciation, of course that stands for Public Library of Science. 486 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: But so it is an acronym. But but they say 487 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:58,600 Speaker 1: plas rhyming with FLOSS. So from now on, I'm gonna 488 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:02,639 Speaker 1: try to remember to flaw us like plas plus instead 489 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,360 Speaker 1: of p l O S. Yeah, but how about plos 490 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,240 Speaker 1: sometimes it's kind of since we have like often a 491 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,359 Speaker 1: capital P lower case L O than capital S, it 492 00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:16,879 Speaker 1: seems like that would be US. I know now that 493 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: I've said it, I'm gonna get it wrong in the 494 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: future and look stupid. Plus plus plus like floss. Okay, 495 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: so plus one UH. The the articles titled weekday effects 496 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:30,640 Speaker 1: Attendance Rate for medical appointments Large scale data analysis and implications. 497 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,240 Speaker 1: This study examined over four point five million hospital appointment 498 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:37,400 Speaker 1: records from Scotland between two thousand eight and two thousand ten, 499 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,359 Speaker 1: and it definitely found a trend. They found that the 500 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:45,359 Speaker 1: the did not attend rate was quote highest for Mondays 501 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: eleven percent and lowest for Friday's nine point seven percent, 502 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 1: and decreased monotonically over the week. So it went down 503 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,359 Speaker 1: over the week until it got to the lowest on Fridays. 504 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,000 Speaker 1: And in keeping with the trend, we've we've seen a 505 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,879 Speaker 1: few times here that there may be a day of 506 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:04,359 Speaker 1: week effects difference by age. The study found that the 507 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 1: pattern was steeper for younger age groups than for older ones. Well, 508 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:12,680 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's one is tempted to fall back 509 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: on stereotypes there as well and say, well, maybe younger 510 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:20,520 Speaker 1: people are less concerned about about health matters versus older people. 511 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,239 Speaker 1: But that's those are generalities and I'm not sure if 512 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:26,440 Speaker 1: we can really lean too heavily on those. But why 513 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:28,240 Speaker 1: would that affect today of the week? I mean it 514 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:30,320 Speaker 1: would still it would mean that younger people are less 515 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 1: concerned about health matters, maybe on Mondays, Tuesdays and do 516 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 1: they get more concerned as they've been partying all weekend. 517 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: I guess I don't know, but I know that that 518 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:44,720 Speaker 1: even as a as an adult, um, I uh, there 519 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 1: have been times where I reached Sunday and then I say, 520 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 1: I look at the calendars, like, all right, what's coming 521 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,400 Speaker 1: up this week? What did I what did I you know, 522 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: put in the books for the week ahead, And then 523 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:57,840 Speaker 1: I'll say, oh, I have a dental appointment on Monday, 524 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:00,320 Speaker 1: and I and there might be a temptation to want 525 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 1: to rearrange that just because you know, the nature of 526 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 1: the Monday is that you know, maybe you're not maybe 527 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: you're not excited about Monday, or maybe you are excited 528 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,360 Speaker 1: about actually getting some work done on on Monday, kicking 529 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,320 Speaker 1: the week off right, and it doesn't feel appropriate maybe 530 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: to then spend an hour or more somewhere else, even 531 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,240 Speaker 1: if it is something important like a medical appointment. I 532 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: know exactly what you're talking about. Man, When you know 533 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: you're scheduling six months out at the dentist or something, 534 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 1: and you're like, uh, yeah, Monday, that sounds good, and 535 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 1: then it's that Sunday and you're like, oh, no, I 536 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:33,760 Speaker 1: can do this. Yeah, I should have put it on 537 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:44,400 Speaker 1: a Thursday. The two examples I was just talking about 538 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: of possible weekly fluctuations and human behavior with the stock 539 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 1: markets and with missed appointments missed medical appointments. Those were 540 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,959 Speaker 1: both mentioned in the background of a paper from sixteen 541 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 1: which I want to talk about because I found it interesting. 542 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 1: And this paper, uh, experimentally explored a unifying concept that 543 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 1: might explain a number of weekly changes in behavior patterns, 544 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:13,959 Speaker 1: and that explanation would be in risk tolerance. So this 545 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 1: paper is by Jet G. Sanders and Rob Jenkins published 546 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 1: in Plus one in called weekly Fluctuations and Risk tolerance 547 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:27,360 Speaker 1: and voting behavior. And so the authors of this paper 548 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:31,080 Speaker 1: point out several observed trends in human behavior across days 549 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,080 Speaker 1: of the week, including the two I mentioned a minute 550 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 1: ago with stocks and and medical appointments, But they also 551 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 1: point out things as serious as rates of attempted suicide. 552 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,400 Speaker 1: There are there are, uh you know, you can observe 553 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: trends throughout the week in all kinds of human behaviors. 554 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,080 Speaker 1: But they argue that despite these observations, there has not 555 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 1: yet been a unified psychological explanation for them. There's not 556 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:55,400 Speaker 1: one uh, explanation that people have been able to give 557 00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 1: yet it would say, here's why we're observing these trends. 558 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: And in this paper, the author's hypothesized that one psychological 559 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,600 Speaker 1: factor which could influence a wide range of behaviors by 560 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 1: fluctuating throughout the week is risk tolerance. Now, they did 561 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: multiple studies to look at this, but the first one 562 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,360 Speaker 1: that was like a direct lab study I thought was 563 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: interesting because it involved a computer game that is designed 564 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,959 Speaker 1: to measure risk tolerance. And this is called the BART test. 565 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 1: BART is an acronym. It stands for Balloon Analog Risk 566 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:30,360 Speaker 1: Task And as with a lot of these psychological tools, 567 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,520 Speaker 1: so the BART is really designed to try to reduce 568 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:37,160 Speaker 1: or eliminate the influence of other variables to get as 569 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,800 Speaker 1: close as possible to testing just the factor in question, 570 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:44,719 Speaker 1: in this case, risk tolerance. And the test works like this. Okay, 571 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,400 Speaker 1: so Rob you imagine you sit down at a computer 572 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 1: and you've been told in advance that you're gonna play 573 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,880 Speaker 1: a computer game that will lead to a variable cash 574 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 1: payout at the end. You're gonna get some money by 575 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: playing this game, but the money depends on your performance, 576 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: and so the game works like this, In the game, 577 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:05,880 Speaker 1: you have a series of twenty balloons that you get 578 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 1: to inflate one at a time. So you start on 579 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,600 Speaker 1: the first balloon and you press a button I think 580 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:15,640 Speaker 1: space bar to inflate this cartoon balloon. And every time 581 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: you press the button there is a money value contained 582 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:21,840 Speaker 1: in the balloon that goes up, so say it's increasing 583 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,400 Speaker 1: by a penny every time you hit the space bar, 584 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:27,280 Speaker 1: So you're hitting the space you're increasing your payout. But 585 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,480 Speaker 1: as you keep inflating the balloon, you get closer and 586 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: closer to some randomized point where the balloon will pop. 587 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:38,720 Speaker 1: And if you reach that point in the balloon pops, 588 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: you lose all the money you've earned so far, it 589 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,400 Speaker 1: all goes away. So what you're trying to do is 590 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:47,959 Speaker 1: inflated as much as you can without it popping, and 591 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,840 Speaker 1: then get and then you're gonna do something called banking it, 592 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 1: which means you say, Okay, I'm done with this balloon. 593 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,080 Speaker 1: I'm not going to inflate it anymore. I'll just take 594 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:58,480 Speaker 1: whatever money is in there now. Yeah, And there's similar 595 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,720 Speaker 1: I've seen some stals of what these, uh, the simple 596 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:03,200 Speaker 1: games tend to look like, and they tend to be 597 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,040 Speaker 1: very simple because it's not about believing that you're looking 598 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,320 Speaker 1: at a balloon. It's about like the basic risk, like 599 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: do do I risk it now? Do I risk it now? 600 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:13,000 Speaker 1: But you you find a similar mechanic in some games 601 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:15,920 Speaker 1: as well, where it'll be something on the line, and 602 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:17,960 Speaker 1: do you keep pushing it, do you keep holding or 603 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:19,880 Speaker 1: do you go ahead and cash out? It's the basic 604 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: double down principle. Yeah, and so I think, yeah, a 605 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 1: game like this is a is a pretty good attempt 606 00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 1: to isolate risk tolerance as as its own variable like that, 607 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 1: there's that's pretty much directly what it's testing. There's not 608 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: a lot else that you could imagine is going into this. 609 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 1: So every single moment of the game, you can either 610 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:41,480 Speaker 1: gamble by inflating the balloon more, potentially increasing your ultimate payout, 611 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,480 Speaker 1: but also risking losing everything you've you've gotten on this 612 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 1: balloon so far, or you can bank it and and 613 00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: keep that money start the next balloon. The obvious correlation 614 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,320 Speaker 1: is that people with a lower risk tolerance at the 615 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,480 Speaker 1: time they're playing the game will tend to bank balloons 616 00:33:56,520 --> 00:34:00,120 Speaker 1: earlier and protect the gains they've already made, whereas but 617 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:03,000 Speaker 1: with a higher risk tolerance while they're playing the game 618 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,719 Speaker 1: will tend to keep inflating to make the payouts bigger, 619 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 1: you know, with the increased risk of losing the whole pot. 620 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,200 Speaker 1: And of course, you know, risk tolerance is going to 621 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:16,720 Speaker 1: vary to some degree by by like fixed personality traits, 622 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:19,160 Speaker 1: like some people are just more risk tolerant than other 623 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,400 Speaker 1: people across the board. But then it's also going to 624 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,839 Speaker 1: vary moment to moment by but within a person. So 625 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:28,680 Speaker 1: a person might have a generally high, low, or average 626 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,480 Speaker 1: risk tolerance, but other factors I don't know. Maybe if 627 00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:34,680 Speaker 1: you give somebody a few alcoholic beverages, their risk tolerance 628 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:37,719 Speaker 1: probably goes up. This is why casinos like to give 629 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:42,319 Speaker 1: people free drinks. And apparently the Bart test has has 630 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:45,360 Speaker 1: been shown to predict real world risk taking in domains 631 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 1: like health and economics, so it seems like this is 632 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,480 Speaker 1: probably a pretty good test. People who take more risks 633 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,440 Speaker 1: in the game also take more risks in real life. 634 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:55,840 Speaker 1: So in this study they played this game with a 635 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,319 Speaker 1: number of controls in place to try to isolate day 636 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,759 Speaker 1: of the week as the only relevant difference. Now a 637 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,360 Speaker 1: caveat the sample size on the study was not huge. 638 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,359 Speaker 1: It was twenty five players across five sessions each, so 639 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:10,520 Speaker 1: a total of a hundred and twenty five barts um. 640 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,320 Speaker 1: So I wouldn't put too much confidence on this result 641 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:16,080 Speaker 1: until I see it confirmed in follow ups. But the 642 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,600 Speaker 1: study did find an effect, and it was an interesting 643 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:22,000 Speaker 1: one one that is not exactly what I would have predicted. 644 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:25,000 Speaker 1: Because Rob, if you had to guess in terms of 645 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:28,799 Speaker 1: risk tolerance fluctuations during the week, what what would you 646 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 1: guess the day that one would take the most risks, 647 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:35,680 Speaker 1: the most and the least. I would say most on Friday, 648 00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:38,560 Speaker 1: least on Monday. I would guess exactly the same thing. 649 00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:41,279 Speaker 1: I would think that people are most risk tolerant on 650 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:44,400 Speaker 1: Friday and Saturday. Those are the YOLO days that's canonical, 651 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,800 Speaker 1: and people would probably mean the most risk risk averse 652 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,160 Speaker 1: on Mondays. You know, that's like the hunker down and 653 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:54,120 Speaker 1: get through this day. But strangely, this is not exactly 654 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,160 Speaker 1: what the researchers found that it's there's some partial overlap 655 00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:59,719 Speaker 1: with what we just guessed. So first of all, they 656 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 1: did not test on weekends. We don't have data on 657 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:05,400 Speaker 1: Saturdays and Sundays. They were just testing variations between week days, 658 00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: and they found that risk tolerance. People are willing to 659 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,680 Speaker 1: take the most risks to inflate the balloons the most 660 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:18,440 Speaker 1: on Fridays and Mondays. But then after Monday's risk tolerance 661 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:24,000 Speaker 1: went down, and then it reached its lowest average on Thursdays. 662 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,000 Speaker 1: So that was a hum moment for me. I don't know, 663 00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:29,520 Speaker 1: Like Thursdays, they're supposed to sort of blend in with 664 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:33,640 Speaker 1: the other midweek days. They're very similar to Tuesdays and Wednesdays. 665 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 1: Why would people be the most cautious, the most averse 666 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:42,239 Speaker 1: to taking risks on Thursdays. I mean, maybe it comes 667 00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:44,799 Speaker 1: down to just sort of the finish line view of 668 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:48,279 Speaker 1: the calendar week, where it's like, all right on Thursday. Uh, 669 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:50,400 Speaker 1: you know, I'm over the hump, I'm coming in towards 670 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:53,000 Speaker 1: the finish. I I need to actually get some stuff 671 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,080 Speaker 1: done today. I need to I don't need to take 672 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:58,480 Speaker 1: a bunch of risks. Uh. Tomorrow, maybe when the finish 673 00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:01,560 Speaker 1: line is in sight, feel risk here, but today is 674 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,640 Speaker 1: all business. That's just a guess. I don't know. I 675 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:06,640 Speaker 1: think there might be something to that. I mean, we 676 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:08,600 Speaker 1: can talk about a few options here, I guess. First 677 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:12,279 Speaker 1: let's talk about what the authors themselves offer as as 678 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:16,040 Speaker 1: their preferred explanation. Um So, for one thing, they hypothesize 679 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:19,479 Speaker 1: in their introduction that if risk tolerance varies throughout the week, 680 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:23,160 Speaker 1: it might be related to mood, since previous studies have 681 00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 1: found that mood has an influence on decision making. And 682 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:30,360 Speaker 1: I thought this part was also strange because the link 683 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:34,040 Speaker 1: between mood and risk tolerance is counterintuitive to me. But 684 00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:38,360 Speaker 1: they cite multiple studies existing research showing that on average, 685 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:42,320 Speaker 1: people are more risk tolerance it will take more risks 686 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:48,520 Speaker 1: when experiencing certain negative moods, such as sadness. So apparently 687 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:52,120 Speaker 1: people experiencing sadness are more likely to inflate the balloon 688 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,160 Speaker 1: higher take more risks, whereas people experiencing happiness are more 689 00:37:56,200 --> 00:38:00,240 Speaker 1: likely to be cautious and risk averse. This is another 690 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:02,520 Speaker 1: thing that's kind of the opposite of what I would 691 00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 1: have guessed from a gut feeling, though in looking at 692 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,359 Speaker 1: the research they site, I guess it sort of makes 693 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:12,439 Speaker 1: sense maybe that like feelings of sadness or despair can 694 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,120 Speaker 1: lead to a a what what do I have to lose? 695 00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:18,759 Speaker 1: Kind of thinking? Right, right, And if you're optimistic, you're like, well, 696 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:21,399 Speaker 1: why should I be taking a risk tomorrow's Friday. Yeah, 697 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:25,160 Speaker 1: I think this balloon. Yeah it's fine. So so that's 698 00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:29,400 Speaker 1: kind of surprising already. But anyway, this fact, uh would 699 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,040 Speaker 1: partially match the results they found in the balloon game, 700 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:35,200 Speaker 1: because okay, you assume people are generally in the worst 701 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:37,520 Speaker 1: mood on Monday is a lot of studies have found that, 702 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:40,880 Speaker 1: and then their mood gets gradually better throughout the week 703 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:43,799 Speaker 1: and then gets to its highest point on Friday. This 704 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,840 Speaker 1: would track with their finding that people take the most 705 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,760 Speaker 1: risks on Monday's and then get more and more cautious 706 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:53,560 Speaker 1: up to Thursday. Though then on Friday that correlation breaks 707 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:57,239 Speaker 1: because if the same pattern held, people should actually be 708 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,680 Speaker 1: the most cautious on Fridays of the lowest risk tolerance 709 00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:03,440 Speaker 1: on Friday's because that's when they're in the best mood. 710 00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 1: But that's not what happens. Friday looks more kind of 711 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,360 Speaker 1: like the Yolo day that you and I would have guessed. 712 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:11,480 Speaker 1: It's it's on par with Mondays in terms of having 713 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:15,720 Speaker 1: high risk tolerance. So the authors explained this by saying, quote, 714 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:20,359 Speaker 1: the Friday recovery suggests that risk tolerance may track prospective 715 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:24,719 Speaker 1: mood more closely than it tracts current mood. On this account, 716 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,600 Speaker 1: risk tolerance is lowest on Thursday because that is when 717 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,839 Speaker 1: the most rewarding part of the week is imminent. When 718 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:35,680 Speaker 1: gain is expected, change is resisted risk aversion. When loss 719 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:41,520 Speaker 1: is expected, change is welcomed risk tolerance. And I don't 720 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:43,719 Speaker 1: know on this. I'm kind of halfway there on that 721 00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:46,040 Speaker 1: explanation that that makes a certain kind of sense to me. 722 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:50,520 Speaker 1: But then again, isn't Friday already the highest mood because 723 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:57,280 Speaker 1: of prospective analysis, Like Friday itself is prospective happiness. People 724 00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:00,520 Speaker 1: who work jobs with Monday to Friday schedules still have 725 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,280 Speaker 1: to go to work on Friday, but we love Friday's 726 00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:07,640 Speaker 1: because we are thinking about the weekend being ahead of us. Yeah, yeah, 727 00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:09,920 Speaker 1: I mean, and unless it creeps even further back in 728 00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:13,520 Speaker 1: the week here, and like so basically you're, uh, you're 729 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:16,480 Speaker 1: most optimistic on Thursday because it's about to be Friday. 730 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:20,279 Speaker 1: And then of course when it's actually Friday, maybe there 731 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 1: are some realizations that, well, you know, Friday is just 732 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:28,600 Speaker 1: another day and it's it's nothing magical about it. Maybe, Yeah, 733 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:30,640 Speaker 1: I don't know. I think this is curious. I would 734 00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:33,480 Speaker 1: say if more people test the same thing if the 735 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:36,800 Speaker 1: same pattern the authors found here holds up in other studies, 736 00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:40,759 Speaker 1: I would wonder if it's indicative of a multi variable input, 737 00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:45,640 Speaker 1: Like maybe improving mood explains decreasing risk tolerance throughout the week, 738 00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:49,759 Speaker 1: but then when Friday comes, some other psychological influence takes over. 739 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:51,719 Speaker 1: I don't know what that would be, but it's sort 740 00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:56,600 Speaker 1: of overwhelms the the effective mood on risk tolerance. But 741 00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 1: but yeah, I I don't know. Yeah, I mean it's 742 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:02,680 Speaker 1: sometimes it's it's hard for humans to live in the moment, 743 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:06,520 Speaker 1: Like a I think about like the ramp up to Halloween. 744 00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:09,839 Speaker 1: You spend all of October moving towards Halloween and getting 745 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:13,000 Speaker 1: into the Halloween spirit and all. Sometimes I've found that 746 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,799 Speaker 1: when it's actually Halloween, it's still a lot of fun, 747 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:20,360 Speaker 1: but there's also the the the you know, the sadness 748 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:23,719 Speaker 1: that Halloween is about to be over, that that there's 749 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:25,399 Speaker 1: going to be the sharp cut off. And now it's 750 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:28,160 Speaker 1: November and now all these other factors are in play. 751 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,120 Speaker 1: I know exactly what you're talking about there. With two 752 00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:34,600 Speaker 1: October files here, I feel like I get the most 753 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:37,800 Speaker 1: pleasure in like the first two weeks of October. Yeah, 754 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:40,239 Speaker 1: because then it's like there's so much October still ahead 755 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:42,759 Speaker 1: of us. Yeah. But and then again, I don't know 756 00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:46,479 Speaker 1: if this really this can really relate to the week 757 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:49,440 Speaker 1: by week experience, But yeah, I don't know. Now, another 758 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:52,680 Speaker 1: interesting thing that goes along with this, I was reading 759 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:55,680 Speaker 1: a short article by one of the authors of this study, 760 00:41:55,960 --> 00:41:59,799 Speaker 1: uh Rob Jenkins, and he also said that the same 761 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:05,319 Speaker 1: pattern was born out in analyzes of historical chess games. 762 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:09,680 Speaker 1: That they they had done an analysis of big archives 763 00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:13,399 Speaker 1: of chess games and try to quantify risky moves within 764 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:15,719 Speaker 1: those games and then correlate that with what day of 765 00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:18,000 Speaker 1: the week the games took place on, and they found 766 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:21,120 Speaker 1: they say, they found the same thing that uh moves 767 00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:25,480 Speaker 1: got uh more and more cautious on the on the 768 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:28,719 Speaker 1: trend from Monday to Thursday, so you know, riskier moves 769 00:42:28,719 --> 00:42:32,120 Speaker 1: on Monday, and then Thursday very conservative playing, and then 770 00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:35,480 Speaker 1: Friday suddenly risky moves again. So that was not a 771 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:38,120 Speaker 1: part of this paper. That was just something i'd read 772 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:41,200 Speaker 1: the author talking about. But within this same paper, the 773 00:42:41,239 --> 00:42:44,440 Speaker 1: authors also looked at how days of the week correlated 774 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:48,200 Speaker 1: with the voting preferences as expressed in opinion polls on 775 00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:51,440 Speaker 1: a couple of big issues in UM in UK politics 776 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:55,560 Speaker 1: in recent years Scottish independence and bregsit And from the moment, 777 00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:57,400 Speaker 1: I think I'm not going to focus on that because 778 00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:00,520 Speaker 1: I feel like those kinds of issues have they're so 779 00:43:00,719 --> 00:43:03,800 Speaker 1: noisy with real world data and so full of variables 780 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:06,640 Speaker 1: that are hard to control for uh. And of course 781 00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:08,719 Speaker 1: the authors are aware of this, they make note of it, 782 00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:12,000 Speaker 1: but I feel like that that may be harder to 783 00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:14,560 Speaker 1: fix on day of the week effects and and things 784 00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:17,359 Speaker 1: like risk aversion, because especially when you're looking at something 785 00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:21,680 Speaker 1: like a big contentious political issue, like a huge part 786 00:43:21,719 --> 00:43:25,520 Speaker 1: of political rhetoric is specifically aimed at manipulating how people 787 00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:29,359 Speaker 1: frame political and voting choices in terms of risks. So 788 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,680 Speaker 1: it's hard to pick one side of a political issue 789 00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:34,799 Speaker 1: and say, well, this is the one that's the more 790 00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:37,279 Speaker 1: risk averse option and the other one is the one 791 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:40,000 Speaker 1: that's more risk tolerant, because there may be lots of 792 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,960 Speaker 1: cases where voters on opposite sides of an issue in 793 00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:46,200 Speaker 1: roughly equal proportions both believe their side to be the 794 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:49,440 Speaker 1: less risky one. Yeah, it's gonna debend on on what 795 00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:53,880 Speaker 1: sort of media you're consuming. One side is going to 796 00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,400 Speaker 1: frame this is the obviously the risky choice, and that 797 00:43:56,560 --> 00:43:58,480 Speaker 1: side's gonna say no, this is the this is the 798 00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:02,360 Speaker 1: risk adverse. Wise, though, they point out something interesting that 799 00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,319 Speaker 1: does rely on a couple of conditionals. So if if 800 00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:07,520 Speaker 1: they're finding is indeed true, if it is borne out 801 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:10,760 Speaker 1: that people's risk tolerance on average fluctuates throughout the week, 802 00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:14,239 Speaker 1: and if it's true that there are consistent patterns that 803 00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:18,200 Speaker 1: show up in populations, such as Thursday being consistently the 804 00:44:18,239 --> 00:44:22,160 Speaker 1: most cautious day, the most risk averse day, then what 805 00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:25,720 Speaker 1: day you hold elections or referenda on could actually affect 806 00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:28,799 Speaker 1: the outcome, which I think is interesting. But another thing 807 00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:30,600 Speaker 1: I was thinking about in the light of these assessments 808 00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:32,960 Speaker 1: of risk aversion is coming back to your idea of 809 00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:37,120 Speaker 1: the effective week days being an effect of cumulative fatigue. 810 00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:39,560 Speaker 1: I mean, I wonder how that would play into risk 811 00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:43,279 Speaker 1: tolerance as expressed throughout the week. Does like, okay, could 812 00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:47,560 Speaker 1: it be that being progressively more tired as you go 813 00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:51,000 Speaker 1: through the week and getting to Thursday, you've you've most 814 00:44:51,080 --> 00:44:53,080 Speaker 1: likely had the most nights in a row where you 815 00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:55,319 Speaker 1: didn't get as much sleep as you wanted, where you 816 00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:57,600 Speaker 1: were trying to pack things in and get through the 817 00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:01,400 Speaker 1: days that came before. Could that some how express itself 818 00:45:01,440 --> 00:45:03,440 Speaker 1: in terms of what kind of risks you're willing to 819 00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:06,200 Speaker 1: take by Thursday? And then maybe some kind of mood 820 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:10,359 Speaker 1: effect takes over on Friday that overwhelms that fatigue. Right, 821 00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:14,920 Speaker 1: And then likewise, if, if, if you're more prone to 822 00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:17,680 Speaker 1: lose sleep over the weekend, would you have have this 823 00:45:17,719 --> 00:45:21,560 Speaker 1: sort of scenario playing out, you know, moving into Monday 824 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:23,080 Speaker 1: where yeah, you didn't you didn't get a lot of 825 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:26,319 Speaker 1: sleep last night and the night before, uh, and here 826 00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:29,080 Speaker 1: you are catching up. Another question I have is I 827 00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:34,160 Speaker 1: wonder about interactions between between risk aversion as expressed over 828 00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:37,800 Speaker 1: different days of the week and our feeling of freedom 829 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:40,799 Speaker 1: about what we get to do on on each day 830 00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:43,840 Speaker 1: of the week. So, like, how is your risk aversion 831 00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:47,600 Speaker 1: affected by it being a day where that is full 832 00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:49,640 Speaker 1: of tasks that are not really up to you you 833 00:45:49,719 --> 00:45:52,560 Speaker 1: just have to do them, versus on a day where 834 00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:55,640 Speaker 1: you can do whatever you want. Yeah? Yeah, I mean 835 00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:58,200 Speaker 1: I could imagine a scenario in which, yeah, you haven't 836 00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:00,400 Speaker 1: really had much in the way of cho voice, So 837 00:46:00,560 --> 00:46:03,160 Speaker 1: now I have the choice to take a risk. Well, 838 00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:05,040 Speaker 1: maybe I'm gonna take it. I don't know, it kind 839 00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:07,239 Speaker 1: of comes back to the what we're talking about though, 840 00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:09,840 Speaker 1: is that there's seems like there's a fair amount of 841 00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:12,719 Speaker 1: noise in any of these considerations, and and so much 842 00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:16,680 Speaker 1: just room for subjective interpretation. You know, it's just gonna 843 00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:21,440 Speaker 1: vary so much depending on what an individual's life structure 844 00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:24,000 Speaker 1: happens to be. Right, So if the pattern holds up, 845 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:26,640 Speaker 1: I do think that's really interesting with this Thursday thing, 846 00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:31,320 Speaker 1: but I'm not convinced of any particular explanation yet. Yeah, 847 00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:33,160 Speaker 1: but this does just make me want to, like, I 848 00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:36,239 Speaker 1: don't know, do Bart tests on myself, will, you know, 849 00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:39,239 Speaker 1: all the time figure out what's what's going on in 850 00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:41,759 Speaker 1: my brain? I guess it's hard to. I don't know. 851 00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:44,640 Speaker 1: I guess knowing what I'm testing for would affect the outcome, 852 00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:46,640 Speaker 1: So I can't really do that, but I want to 853 00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:50,200 Speaker 1: Bart myself. Well, there's gotta be a good pen and 854 00:46:50,239 --> 00:46:53,120 Speaker 1: paper kind of Bart scenario you can use. Well, I'd 855 00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:55,680 Speaker 1: still know that I was taking the test, and I couldn't, like, 856 00:46:55,960 --> 00:46:58,879 Speaker 1: you know, do it blinded. But yeah, in any case, 857 00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:01,839 Speaker 1: I do hope the risk tolerance researchers use BART as 858 00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:04,360 Speaker 1: a verb. But the way we have been doing I 859 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:08,759 Speaker 1: barted I barted twenty five participants today. You know, I 860 00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:11,920 Speaker 1: haven't had a chance to really research this, but it 861 00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:15,720 Speaker 1: looks like there there are a few um balloon analog 862 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:19,239 Speaker 1: risk task tests BART tests that you can find online. 863 00:47:19,640 --> 00:47:21,400 Speaker 1: Uh though, I will warn you that the one I 864 00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:23,880 Speaker 1: clicked on it had some really loud sound effects. I 865 00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:27,799 Speaker 1: don't know that we really need alloud air hissing sound 866 00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:30,200 Speaker 1: effect every time I pump up the money balloon, so 867 00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:35,200 Speaker 1: it only works if it's deafening pops, pops and pumps. Okay, 868 00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:37,000 Speaker 1: I think maybe we got to call this episode here 869 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:40,359 Speaker 1: and then come back later this week. That's right, we'll 870 00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:43,279 Speaker 1: have more to discuss about the seven day week. We'll 871 00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:46,120 Speaker 1: get into some more and probably some expected territory concerning 872 00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:51,520 Speaker 1: more historical data. Will probably get into some unexpected areas 873 00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:54,959 Speaker 1: as well concerning the seven day week period. Obviously, we'd 874 00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:57,760 Speaker 1: love to hear from everyone. In the meantime, we've already 875 00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:00,360 Speaker 1: been hearing from a number of people about does these aisodes, 876 00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:04,239 Speaker 1: so keep it coming. Will remind you that our core 877 00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:06,120 Speaker 1: episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind published on two 878 00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:10,160 Speaker 1: season Thursdays. Monday. We do listener mail. Wednesday is a 879 00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:13,399 Speaker 1: short form Artifact episode and on Friday, that's our time 880 00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:15,399 Speaker 1: to do weird House Cinema, where we set aside most 881 00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:18,280 Speaker 1: serious concerns and just focus on a strange film. Huge 882 00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:21,840 Speaker 1: thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. 883 00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:23,839 Speaker 1: If you would love to get in touch with us 884 00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:26,320 Speaker 1: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 885 00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:28,520 Speaker 1: topic for the future, just to say hello, you can 886 00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:31,320 Speaker 1: email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind 887 00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:41,319 Speaker 1: dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of 888 00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:44,000 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio 889 00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:46,880 Speaker 1: with the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 890 00:48:46,920 --> 00:49:04,200 Speaker 1: you're listening to your favorite shows by raps Chas