1 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,280 Speaker 1: your Mind. My name is Robert lamp and I'm Julie Douglas, 4 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: and this is our first recorded episode back from the 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: Christmas New Year's e break. You're gonna be getting this, 6 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: you know a little later in January, but this is 7 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: our the first episode we're recording of the New year. 8 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: So I have to ask, Julie, what did you get 9 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: for Christmas? Thank you for asking. I got an accordion? 10 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 1: Whoa button accordion? Now? What? Now? What is a button accordion? 11 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: Because with accordions I tend to picture like there's that 12 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: little the little deal that you see hoboes and monkeys playing, 13 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,559 Speaker 1: and then there's like the big, honking like weird Ari 14 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: Yankovic Polish Grandfather model. It's sort between those two. Cost 15 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 1: wise to you, by the way, I'm telling you this 16 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: is crazy. With accordions, they're either like they just go 17 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: up super high. So of course the model I have 18 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: is a reasonable dollar amount, um. But as a result 19 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: is the button one, and it's actually simpler and um. 20 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: The button one has buttons instead of keyboards on one side, 21 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: but it still has that delicious sound that it makes 22 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: when it's you know, um exhaling and inhaling air. That's 23 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: what I do. You have a history with with this 24 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,680 Speaker 1: versus a new endeavor that you're setting out on. Uh. 25 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: I've always been obsessed with them, and um, I always 26 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,960 Speaker 1: wanted one, and my my husband finally said, hey, because 27 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: it's one of the things I wasn't gonna go I 28 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: and buy for myself. Right, But what does this mean 29 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: for me? Yes, okay, it means that, Um, not only 30 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:34,960 Speaker 1: do I need to learn how to do you know 31 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 1: these great polka songs that I have to um, sit 32 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: down with a book and learn how to do this, 33 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: I need to use some self control, some willpower. Right. 34 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 1: And that's the at this time of year that's on 35 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: everyone's mind because New Year's I mean everybody's thinking what 36 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: am I going to do with my New Year? What's 37 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: going to be different this time? Um? You know, because 38 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: there are some people maybe thinking, oh, can I have 39 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: a little more. I knew where I stood in twelve, 40 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 1: I knew what was going on. I just want to 41 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: stick with that. Well, you can't new year, new things 42 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: going on, So we inevitably end up thinking about things 43 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: we can change. What are we going to do differently? 44 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: And uh and and ultimately we have to face the 45 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:17,920 Speaker 1: question do we have the the the stick with it? 46 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,799 Speaker 1: Do we have the willpower? Do we have the grit, 47 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: the grit to really make it happen? Do I have 48 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: the grit to poka? Yeah? And I have a feeling 49 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: you do? I think? I think? I think so too. Yeah, 50 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 1: we'll see. You know, if if I get decent at it, 51 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: maybe I'll play for you guys. That would be awesome 52 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:38,679 Speaker 1: in two years. Well, now now that everyone's going to 53 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,080 Speaker 1: be be wanting and wanting, if they're gonna ride in 54 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:42,519 Speaker 1: and they're gonna say when is you? Theyre going to 55 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: play the accordion on the part I know. And you guys, 56 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: don't encourage me because I'll just do it every single 57 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: podcast and you'll be like why uh, But yeah, I 58 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: mean this is something I really want to do. And 59 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: so right there there's some motivation, but it turns up 60 00:02:56,040 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: that's not going to be enough. It's not. No. I 61 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: need to bear down and figure out what willpower is 62 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: and how I can game it. And in order to 63 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: do so, we need to look at willpower and and 64 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: try to get at the bottom of it, scratch at it. 65 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: And one of the ways that we can do that 66 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: is we can look towards the American Psychological Association and 67 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: they define willpower as the ability to delay gratification, resisting 68 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: short term temptations in order to meet long term goals. 69 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:29,239 Speaker 1: The capacity to override an unwanted thought, feeling, or impulse. 70 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: So clearly, if I'm trying to play, I cannot listen 71 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: to my body if it says it has to get 72 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: up and go use the restroom. Right, if that sounds 73 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: reasonable for right? Um, the ability to employ a cool 74 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: cognitive system of behavior rather than a hot emotional system. 75 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: So I can't like go crazy with the according and 76 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: if I'm angry and I'm not doing well and like 77 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: smash it to smithereens right, I got to stay the course. Um. 78 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: And then a limited resource capable of being depleted. So 79 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: this is not something that I should probably undertake after 80 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: a day of crunching numbers, making big decisions. Um. Being 81 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: mentally fatigued. Yeah, this may remind some people of the 82 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: whole the whole idea of of ego depletion and decision 83 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: fatigue that we've touched on a number of times, and 84 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: and that the research into decision fatigue really stems from 85 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: research into willpower and temptation and and and we'll get 86 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: into more of that as as we us as we 87 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: moved through this this podcast. But you know, at this 88 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: time of year, I find like the the easiest models 89 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 1: that people tend to go to for understanding willpower. Of course, 90 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: it comes to do I have the will to go 91 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,280 Speaker 1: out and do something I don't want to do? Exercise? 92 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 1: Do I have the will to resist doing something I 93 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: really wanted to eat? Chocolate or junk food? I mean 94 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: right now that in in our brake room somebody brought 95 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:53,920 Speaker 1: in a big hanking box of like gourmet chocolates. Yeah. 96 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: I think they're Harry's chocolates or something. Yeah yeah, And 97 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: and and I know exactly what they were doing. They're like, 98 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:00,720 Speaker 1: I must get rid of this. The temptation is too 99 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: great for me to eat all of these. So they 100 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:04,599 Speaker 1: brought them into the break room, dumped them, and just 101 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: let everyone have at it. But the thing about those 102 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,039 Speaker 1: chocolates I have to at this point is that they've 103 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: probably been sitting there for six days. No, no, they've 104 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: been sitting there two days, only two days. Yeah, okay, sorry, 105 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: I'll tell you that because no, okay, because I I 106 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: considered having a bite, and then I thought, you know 107 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 1: what if it's just like the other stuff, it's been 108 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:25,279 Speaker 1: out for a while. Yeah, I put them there, and 109 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:29,039 Speaker 1: I keep I keep sneaking them back into into his office, 110 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: and I think he was just thrown away first. And 111 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 1: then I started like mashing them into the keyboard a little, 112 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: and then he had to dig him out with his fingers. 113 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: And by the end of it, he's so covered with 114 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: the chocolate. He just gives into the temptation. There you go. Yeah, 115 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,719 Speaker 1: but you know a lot of this, this idea of 116 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: like especially with chocolate things, things like chocolate. We've we've 117 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: discussed this before. It's something that our body wants and 118 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: our body needs. And in a simpler time it would 119 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: be harder to get that candy sugar rush. Now we 120 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: live in an age where you can pretty much eat 121 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: all the sugar you can possibly stand and uh, and 122 00:05:57,880 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: then our bodies have to pay the price for that. 123 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:04,599 Speaker 1: So temptation is uh. We see it in other animals 124 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 1: as well, as we'll discuss. But there's there's something distinctly 125 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: human about so much of this idea of temptation and 126 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: willpower about all right, In a simple sense, our body 127 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: is wanting something that our mind knows we shouldn't have. Now, 128 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: we've discussed the body mind connection in previous episodes, so 129 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:23,720 Speaker 1: I think we all know that it's a little more 130 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: complicated than that. We're not just this brain creature living 131 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: in this flesh body creature. If we look back at 132 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,919 Speaker 1: some of the philosophy of willpower and choice, if you 133 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: look back at the words of Plato, Plato argued that 134 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,039 Speaker 1: the human experience is one of constant struggle between the 135 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: intellect and the body, between rationality and desire. So along 136 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: those lines of truth, freedom is only available when willpower 137 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: unchanges from bodily emotional, instinctual slavery. So okay, well, I mean, 138 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: you know it's I think it's one of the things 139 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,599 Speaker 1: that is the tradeoff of having um, you know, highly 140 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: complex exprain. Right, is that these are all these sorts 141 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:06,800 Speaker 1: of things will present themselves as temptations to as humans, 142 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:09,479 Speaker 1: probably more so than other species. Right. And what did 143 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: Oscar while to say about temptation? He said, and this 144 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: is from Roy and Gray, and this is the character 145 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: in that book, a hedonistic character that shows up says 146 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: the only way to get rid of temptation is to 147 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,679 Speaker 1: yield to it, resist it, and your soul grows sick 148 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself. 149 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: So there's a bit of truth to that. It's interesting, 150 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: like the Platonic model and then this Oscar Wild model, 151 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 1: for lack of a better description, there's the idea that 152 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: will power is the victory of the mind over the body, 153 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: and it's a very it's a winnable thing if you're 154 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: smart enough and you're you have enough fortitude. And then 155 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: there's this Wild model where it's ultimately this hopeless battle. 156 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: Like you can think. You may think you're going to 157 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: defeat the chocolate. You may think you're gonna start going 158 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: to yoga or spin class every you know, three days 159 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: a week or whatever your your January first plan is. 160 00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: But wait, by the end of January, you're gonna be 161 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: facing a different story. Now this is jumping ahead a 162 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 1: little bit about we're going to discuss, but it would 163 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,679 Speaker 1: be interesting to look back at Klato's childhood and Oscar 164 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 1: Wild and see the amount of stability in each of 165 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: their childhood's and whether or not it was a good 166 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: predictor of their own ability to self control. So let's 167 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: talk about willpower across species, because this is interesting. Yes, 168 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: and as we as we mentioned, certainly humans have it 169 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: more complex than any other creature because we have this 170 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: this culture and these all these ideas about what we 171 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 1: need to do, and we're we're more self conscious in 172 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: a very real way. But we have performed experiments to 173 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: see if if willpower is exerted elsewhere in the animal kingdom. 174 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: So it turns out studies have shown that that dogs 175 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 1: can resist temptation. Chimpanzees can distract themselves from sweets with 176 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: other objects, which is particularly interesting because some people do that. 177 00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:58,959 Speaker 1: They try and just like, don't think about the chocolates 178 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,040 Speaker 1: in the brake room. Instead, let's focus on work. Let's 179 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: buffle down, or let's listen to some music or I'm 180 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: you know, something to distract me from the fact that 181 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: the temptation is there. You don't want to go and 182 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: bring the chocolate to your desk because then it's going 183 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: to be even harder. Yeah, mentally, out of sight, out 184 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: of mind. And it's also been found that, like the dog, 185 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,839 Speaker 1: dogs can resist temptation with a little extra glucose, and 186 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: we're gonna get into the glucose connection to all this 187 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: as well. But but that's again something we've touched on 188 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: when we've discussed a decision fatigue, the idea that you 189 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:27,360 Speaker 1: can take some glucose and then that will give you 190 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 1: a boost that you need. Yeah, that's right, because again, 191 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:34,719 Speaker 1: you've got a finite amount of mental resources and they 192 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:39,320 Speaker 1: are often taxed when you are hungry and fatigued, and 193 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: so giving yourself a shot of glucose is a nice 194 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: way to bolster your self control. Yeah, I mean, I 195 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: keep thinking of a video game model for all of this. 196 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: You know, where you're playing a video game and there's 197 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:51,560 Speaker 1: like maybe there's like a life meter that fills up 198 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: and depletes a little as you're injured, and then there's 199 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 1: maybe a stamina meter that depletes as your character runs 200 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: around in the game world, and ultimately a that's the 201 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:03,200 Speaker 1: way it is in the real world. You have these 202 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 1: finite resources that you use throughout the day, be it 203 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:10,439 Speaker 1: physical energy or this emotional intellectual energy, this ego, this 204 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:14,079 Speaker 1: cognitive load, and different things will take a notch out 205 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 1: of it. So in the same way that your life 206 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: depletes every time a Goblin statue in the gut with 207 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: a sword. Every time you have to deal with a 208 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:24,840 Speaker 1: really lofty decision or small decision, or just resisting the 209 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,079 Speaker 1: chocolate that's in the brake room, it depletes your your 210 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 1: willpower meet just a little more. And if that thing 211 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: bottoms out, then you're eating chocolate. Well, and I thought 212 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,080 Speaker 1: it was interesting too. Um. In the article that you 213 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: wrote how willpower Works, you talked about how they are 214 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:42,680 Speaker 1: different parts of the brain that respond to willpower into temptation, 215 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 1: and there's a couple of different parts of the brain. 216 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:48,960 Speaker 1: One is called the ventro medial prefrontal cortex and this 217 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,080 Speaker 1: is just behind the forehead. What we see is that 218 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: when people are choosing between sweets and health food, for instance. 219 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: I believe this was a two thousand and nine Celtech 220 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: study that you talked about. Um, theo who held out 221 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: against temptation. We're processing in this venture medial prefrontal cortex, 222 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: but they were also processing in something called the Dorso 223 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:14,560 Speaker 1: lateral prefrontal cortex. And it thought that this Dorset lateral 224 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:19,320 Speaker 1: prefrontal cortex allows the venture medial prefrontal cortex to weigh 225 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 1: both taste and health benefits. At this very same time 226 00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: as opposed to the test subjects who had low self control, 227 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:29,959 Speaker 1: who were only making value judgments with the help of 228 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 1: the venture medial prefrontal cortex. So there's this idea that 229 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: people can differ with self control possibly because of this 230 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: greater use of the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex. Now, of course, 231 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: we need more studies like this to really try to 232 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,679 Speaker 1: figure out whether or not these people are have just 233 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: become more adept at exercising self control and as a 234 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:53,679 Speaker 1: result they're using dorsal lateral more, or if they are 235 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: inherently more muscled up in that area. So let's talk 236 00:11:57,280 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 1: a little bit about what it wears down again the 237 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:01,959 Speaker 1: think of the video game, think of the life meter 238 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:03,640 Speaker 1: of the stamina meter, and now think of these two 239 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: other meters, cognitive load and ego depletion. So you have 240 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 1: cognitive capacity on one meter and then you have ego 241 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: on the other. First, we're gonna talk a little bit 242 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:19,320 Speaker 1: about cognitive capacity and cognitive load. All right, Cognitive capacity 243 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:22,480 Speaker 1: basically affects our ability to hold out against temptation. Uh, 244 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:26,679 Speaker 1: it's essential and working memory, which we use when resisting temptation. 245 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,320 Speaker 1: But also it's something we use when stay holding a 246 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 1: string of numbers in our heads. And this is this 247 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:34,679 Speaker 1: is where it gets really fascinating. There was a study 248 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 1: from the University of Iowa, specifically Professor A. Bob A. Shift, 249 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 1: and he found that people task with remembering a two 250 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: digit number held out better against temptation than people remembering 251 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:49,839 Speaker 1: a seven digit number when tempted with chocolate cake. So, 252 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 1: so again, there people are walking down the hall somebody 253 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:54,560 Speaker 1: comes out and says, all right, this is the number 254 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: you need to remember. You remember the number twelve. You 255 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:01,959 Speaker 1: you're remembering the number. You know seven, it would have 256 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: to be a million, wasn't it a million and something? Right? 257 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:08,960 Speaker 1: And nine? One? Two? Yeah, that sounds good. You gotta 258 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: remember that. And then they walk a little further down 259 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: the hallway and then somebody comes out with a big 260 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 1: chocolate cake. You know, it's Cindy's birthday in the office. 261 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:18,880 Speaker 1: Here have some cake. And then you have to continue. 262 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: And then at the end of the hallway, see if 263 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: you remember those numbers that were given to you. So 264 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: the idea here is that if if you distract the 265 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:30,079 Speaker 1: brain with a more difficult task memorizing seven instead of two, 266 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: it becomes harder for the participant in the study to 267 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:35,480 Speaker 1: make a healthy food choice, you're having to hold seven 268 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: numerals in your head. Your cognitive capacity is depleted enough 269 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:41,560 Speaker 1: to wear that chocolate cake may just do you in. 270 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:44,200 Speaker 1: Whereas if you're only having to remember too, then your 271 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:46,680 Speaker 1: meter is less depleted and therefore you may be able 272 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: to take the punch, take the hit of resisting that 273 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,160 Speaker 1: chocolate cake. So that's why I think ego depletion also 274 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 1: comes in because it's a nice sort of counterpart to this. Right, 275 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,439 Speaker 1: We've talked about this before. Roy F. Baumeister, he's a 276 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:02,280 Speaker 1: psychology us at Florida State University, and he's done quite 277 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: a bit of work on ego depletion. And here's a 278 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 1: pretty good example of how he proves its existence. He 279 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: had students sit down next to a plate of freshly 280 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: baked chocolate chip cookies. Okay, so imagine the smells wafting 281 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:20,320 Speaker 1: into your nose. Some were allowed to snack away and 282 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: others were ordered to abstain from the cookies. And afterwards, 283 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:27,160 Speaker 1: both groups were asked to complete difficult puzzles. So it 284 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: turns out that the students who had been forced to 285 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:33,000 Speaker 1: resist the cookies had so depleted their reserves of self 286 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: control and trying to do that that when they were 287 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: faced with this task, this puzzle, they quickly threw in 288 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: the towel, whereas their cookie chomping counterparts were able to 289 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: conserve their willpower and work on that puzzle. So again, 290 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:51,480 Speaker 1: what you're seeing here is the finite mental resources and 291 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: how to use them best. And this, you know, I 292 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:58,200 Speaker 1: think this also gives me a lot of insight into 293 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: how I work. Like I find we have a fair 294 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 1: fairly nice teleworking policy at work, which means, you know, 295 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:07,320 Speaker 1: we can work from home or from a coffee shop 296 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: or whatever. And I enjoy working from the actual house 297 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: a little bit, but I can't do it all the 298 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 1: time because there's just so many temptations I have to resist. 299 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:18,040 Speaker 1: And they're not all like bad. It's not just like 300 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,200 Speaker 1: should I drink alcohol at nine am? I mean there's 301 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: something like that, Or should I just sleep all day? 302 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 1: Not that kind of thing, but biscuit, isn't it. Well, 303 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: there's that there's like should I go check on the 304 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: cat and then and then in the afternoons when the 305 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,600 Speaker 1: cat is running wild and and that's also competing for 306 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: my attention or you know, temptations to to walk around, 307 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: temptations to go ahead and have lunch a little early, 308 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,520 Speaker 1: temptations to to go and turn on the TV for 309 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 1: a minute or something. You know, They're just all these 310 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:45,040 Speaker 1: things that I could do, and I'm having to resist 311 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 1: all of them, and it kind of builds up. Um. 312 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:49,880 Speaker 1: Where I put myself in a and say the workspace 313 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:51,920 Speaker 1: here at work, or in a limited space like a 314 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: coffee shop, then I can focus more on the opposite. 315 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:58,480 Speaker 1: When I'm at work, it's harder for me to concentrate 316 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 1: because there are people round and I would like to 317 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: talk to them, and so it takes more willpower for 318 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 1: me to bout down the hatches and really focus, Whereas 319 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,040 Speaker 1: if I'm working from home, then I just turned up 320 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: the music, um, really loud, and then just sit there 321 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: and focus and blaze through. But again we're talking about 322 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: distractions here to say nothing about the Internet, of course, 323 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: I mean that's that, yeah, that comes with its own 324 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 1: set of rules, right, Um, all right, So how do 325 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 1: you bolster it right? How do you make willpower become 326 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,080 Speaker 1: more central to what you're trying to accomplish. There's something 327 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:38,160 Speaker 1: called closing the loop or the Zigarnic effect. Really interesting. Now, 328 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:40,840 Speaker 1: for those of you who are sci fi fans and 329 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: you've cut the movie Looper, there's closing the loop in 330 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: that movie, which involves killing your future self when your 331 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: future self is sent back in time to your past self. 332 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: It's kind of complicated but also kind of cool. But 333 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: the idea is that there is a loop that is closed, 334 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: and that that just closes the book on you as 335 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: a time travel into wind hit Man, and so this 336 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:04,880 Speaker 1: is a sort of similar thing. The idea is that 337 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:08,400 Speaker 1: we create these these various open loops in our life, 338 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: and that The example that comes to mind and solely 339 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: to me, is that I'm telling somebody about a movie 340 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:13,479 Speaker 1: or a book that I really dig, and I'm like, hey, 341 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: I'll bring in a copy of knowledge of borrow it. 342 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 1: And then if I don't do that, if I don't 343 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: bring in the copy of that book or that that movie, 344 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: or whatever it happens to be, then that's always on 345 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 1: my mind. I'm thinking, Oh, I was going to bring 346 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: in a copy of this novel for Matt to read, 347 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,199 Speaker 1: and I forgot to bring it. And so that's the 348 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 1: first thing that enters my mind every time I see 349 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,879 Speaker 1: or think of that person. Well, and I've got a 350 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:38,720 Speaker 1: good example of my friend Maria. I finally wrote her back. Um, 351 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:41,560 Speaker 1: but it's been a couple of months. She lives in Germany, moved, 352 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 1: so I don't have a chance to talk to her 353 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 1: as often two months to to email her. The reason 354 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: is because she writes this beautiful like eighteenth century missives 355 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:52,399 Speaker 1: that are like very intelligent and thoughtful. Once I always 356 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: feel like I really need to give her something back 357 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:59,520 Speaker 1: that email. This this email, although saying eighteen century missis 358 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:04,200 Speaker 1: was no. No. But here's the thing. For the past 359 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:06,399 Speaker 1: two months, nearly every day I thought, I've got to 360 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:09,160 Speaker 1: write Maria, write Maria. And what we're talking about again 361 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 1: is my brain trying to close the loop, my unconscious 362 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,639 Speaker 1: serving up thoughts to my conscious self to say, hey, 363 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:18,480 Speaker 1: you need to do this. In the Zigarenic effect, this 364 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: closing the loop actually has its roots in the nineteen 365 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 1: twenties at the University of Germany. The reason it's called 366 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: the Zigarnic effect is because one of those students was 367 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,879 Speaker 1: very intrigued by this experience she and how other students 368 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:34,639 Speaker 1: had when they went to a restaurant and there was 369 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: a large group of them and the waiter took their order, 370 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:40,760 Speaker 1: but never wrote anything down, and he delivered every single 371 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: order to every single person. He matched the order to 372 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:45,880 Speaker 1: the face. Um. She went back later because she had 373 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:49,440 Speaker 1: left something behind, or rather one of the students did, 374 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 1: and that waiter looked at her blankly and did not 375 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,159 Speaker 1: recognize or did not know what group she was talking about, 376 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,080 Speaker 1: had absolutely no memory. And she was amazed, and so 377 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:05,400 Speaker 1: how could you so quickly forget me but have remembered 378 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:07,880 Speaker 1: all the detail orders of this large group of people. 379 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:11,120 Speaker 1: And he said, oh, well, once I you know, once 380 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,679 Speaker 1: the order is delivered, I don't have a memory of 381 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 1: anything anymore that has to do with that or to 382 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:21,359 Speaker 1: clear out that that bit of cognitive space. Yeah, so 383 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 1: bloomas Arnick, the student in her mentor said, okay, well, 384 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 1: I wonder if human memory makes a distinction between finished 385 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,959 Speaker 1: and unfinished tasks. And so their research, as well as 386 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: decades of other pure research, resulted in what they called 387 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,160 Speaker 1: this like arnic effect that says, yes, indeed, the unconscious 388 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:41,480 Speaker 1: mind is like a small child kind of uh, you know, 389 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 1: sitting there and tugging at the sleeve of the adult, 390 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: the conscious saying, hey, you need to really pay attention 391 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:50,680 Speaker 1: to this. And so the idea is that self control 392 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,600 Speaker 1: comes into play when the nagging thought is met with 393 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:56,960 Speaker 1: an action plan and you can then begin to close 394 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: the loop. So this is one of those things in 395 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:02,440 Speaker 1: your own life. It's kind of you just have to 396 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,160 Speaker 1: figure out the action plan, the the step to take 397 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 1: that will continue to close the loop. Because if you've 398 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: got a lot of loops open, you know that that 399 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:14,800 Speaker 1: is first of all, I'm going to be depleting your 400 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:18,119 Speaker 1: mental resources right right um. And second of all, you 401 00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:20,640 Speaker 1: have to have a very distinct action plan to try 402 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 1: to close it in order to take that action. Yeah, 403 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,879 Speaker 1: I mean, it really drives home why checklist like checking 404 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,399 Speaker 1: things off of on a like a daily checklist. It 405 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:33,080 Speaker 1: can be such a satisfying experience to some people more 406 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 1: than others. But like my wife is someone who likes checklists, 407 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: so she's mentioned before how it gives her pleasure to 408 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,159 Speaker 1: check things off because with each check you are closing 409 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,359 Speaker 1: a loop. Like in doing out a bag, it's just 410 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: getting lighter and lighter as you finish up each little project. 411 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,679 Speaker 1: But here's where I think it's really interesting. Even with 412 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,359 Speaker 1: a checklist, you have to be super specific because what 413 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: we're talking about here is psychology right. So if you 414 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 1: write down on your check list, talk to Maria, right Maria, 415 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:05,800 Speaker 1: or consult with Maria. That's not specific enough, email Maria, 416 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,000 Speaker 1: or if you don't have her email address, get Maria's 417 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 1: email address. So you have to tell your brain very 418 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 1: specifically what to do or it wants to skip over 419 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,639 Speaker 1: those things. There's a really interesting article about that in 420 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: UM Mental Floss this month that talks about this this 421 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: ability to try to close that loop. And they used 422 00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: Drew Carey as an example because here, yeah, yeah, because 423 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,320 Speaker 1: he actually sought out UM experts in this and wanted 424 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,920 Speaker 1: to try to figure out how he could organize himself best. Huh. Well, 425 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 1: And I imagine Mental Floss was bringing this up because 426 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:39,600 Speaker 1: of New Year's because of resolutions, because when and because 427 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:43,879 Speaker 1: one of the things you everyone is really piping about 428 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,920 Speaker 1: is that you need to make a specific resolution. Don't 429 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: say this is the year I get in shape. Well, 430 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:50,800 Speaker 1: how are you going to get in shape? And then 431 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:54,680 Speaker 1: you know, let's make some realistic, achievable goals towards that end, 432 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:56,680 Speaker 1: not just I'm gonna go to the gym more, well, 433 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 1: how many times the weeks you canna go to the gym? 434 00:21:58,560 --> 00:21:59,919 Speaker 1: Or what are you gonna what's your plan? What are 435 00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:02,240 Speaker 1: you gonna try and do? Like, maybe the plan is 436 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:04,879 Speaker 1: as simple as I'm going to go in this month 437 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:06,960 Speaker 1: and get a health evaluation, or if you're a little 438 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,680 Speaker 1: more advanced than that, you could say, well, I'm definitely 439 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:12,080 Speaker 1: going to go to this spin class I've been going to, 440 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 1: but I'm gonna go three times a week, like I 441 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,159 Speaker 1: know I should that kind of thing, right, Yeah, it's 442 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:18,200 Speaker 1: kind of like that old maximum how do you eat 443 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: an elephant one bite at a time? I've never heard that. Yeah, 444 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:25,480 Speaker 1: I like it because it's descriptive. It's just kind of 445 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:28,320 Speaker 1: depressing to me. Yeah, and plus you're going to run 446 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: through the choice needs pretty fast and then you're just 447 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: gonna be eating like elephant elbow and gristle. And that's 448 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 1: snow fun snow to tail though it's pretty popular these days. 449 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:44,800 Speaker 1: Um alright, so enough of food trends. Um, what's another 450 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,800 Speaker 1: way to bolster it? Uh? Well, we talked about this 451 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 1: a little bit with um the animals distracting yourself from 452 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:56,760 Speaker 1: the thing, and this actually has its roots in a 453 00:22:56,800 --> 00:23:00,560 Speaker 1: study called the Marshmallows Study, very famous study from the 454 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties where psychologist Walter Mitchell devised and experiment using marshmallows, cookies, 455 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: and pretzel sticks to test four year old self control. Okay, well, 456 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 1: you know we're talking a lot about marshmallows and sweets now, 457 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: and I know this chocolate in the breaker, and so 458 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:18,639 Speaker 1: before we get into that anymore, I feel like we 459 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 1: need to take a quick break and I need to 460 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,240 Speaker 1: go chocolate. And then when we get back, we'll really 461 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: get going with this idea of the childhood mind, childhood 462 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: willpower versus the uh seemingly insurmountable temptation that is the marshmallow. 463 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,040 Speaker 1: All right, we're back. So we were talking about marshmallows. 464 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 1: We're talking about children, were talking about temptation and willpower, 465 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 1: about the depletable resource that is our willpower, and all 466 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,080 Speaker 1: the studies that have gone into it. That's right, little 467 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 1: fluffy marshmallows. Um. This is the thing that Walter Mitchell, 468 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,800 Speaker 1: the psychologist in the nineteen sixties used to tempt kids 469 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: four year olds. He told the kids that they could 470 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: either eat one treat right away, or if they were 471 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,320 Speaker 1: willing to wait while he stepped out for a few minutes, 472 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 1: they could have two treats when he returned. So this 473 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: is just classic short term payoff versus well, not even 474 00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 1: long term payoff, but slightly less short term payoff. I 475 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: can either eat one delicious marshmallow now or I can 476 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: have two later. And this is a very simplistic model, 477 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 1: but it matches up so well with everything else we 478 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:28,840 Speaker 1: do in our lives. It's like, can I have the 479 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,520 Speaker 1: short term reward of not working out right now, or 480 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: can I have the long term reward of being in 481 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: better shape, the short term reward of eating as much 482 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:40,880 Speaker 1: Chinese food as I can possibly stuff in my body, 483 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: or the long term reward of not being dead. It's 484 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:46,880 Speaker 1: true because if you think this is way too simplistific 485 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 1: of an experiment, yes, just as you brought up, you know, 486 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 1: think about that example, your four year old self and 487 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:56,119 Speaker 1: then you're forty year old self is met with the 488 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:59,199 Speaker 1: same sort of challenges in a different form. Um He 489 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,679 Speaker 1: found out, uh, the psychologist Walter Mitchell found out that 490 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 1: those who buckled after just thirty seconds didn't have the 491 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,679 Speaker 1: same coping behavior as those kids who held out. And 492 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: these high self controllers used something called strategic allocation of attention. 493 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,560 Speaker 1: In other words, they sang songs um, they untied and 494 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:22,120 Speaker 1: retied their shoelaces, they covered their eyes, they played hide 495 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,200 Speaker 1: and seek with the treats on the table. Um basically 496 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 1: anything to try to divert their attention from the thing 497 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:31,000 Speaker 1: that they wanted. And when I think back to those 498 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: studies on animals in self control, the one about the 499 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,119 Speaker 1: chimpanzees really stands out because they were essentially doing the 500 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 1: same thing. They had four adult chimpanzees. This is a 501 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: two thousand and seventh study from Georgia State University, and 502 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: what they did is they had a candy dispenser that 503 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:52,160 Speaker 1: would um just flow candy for like thirty seconds unless 504 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:54,960 Speaker 1: the chimpanzees put their hands in front of it that 505 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,720 Speaker 1: would stop the flow. So they quickly learned that if 506 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: they reached for it, that would stop and they wouldn't 507 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:04,280 Speaker 1: get as much candy. So with one group of the 508 00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:09,200 Speaker 1: chimps they gave they gave them um magazines and something 509 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: like rubber tubes and a toothbrush okay uh. And then 510 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:16,000 Speaker 1: the other group they didn't give them anything. And what 511 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: they found is that the ones that were given these 512 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,959 Speaker 1: what they called toys these magazines, would flip through the magazines, 513 00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 1: look at the pictures, and by the way. Entertainment Weekly 514 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,800 Speaker 1: was one of the magazines. Also some food and wine 515 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:32,920 Speaker 1: circulars from Atlanta restaurants, So this is not entirely intriguing 516 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 1: stuff to a chimp, but nonetheless those are the ones 517 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:40,560 Speaker 1: that would help hold out for something like longer, which 518 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,960 Speaker 1: is pretty significant from six minutes to twelve minutes, and 519 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 1: trying to reach for that candy. Well, you know, again, 520 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:49,240 Speaker 1: I guess just the idea that every time you even 521 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,919 Speaker 1: glance at that slice of chocolate cake, you're depleting the 522 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 1: wheel power, Like it's just a little more willpower that 523 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,680 Speaker 1: you're having to use not to go eat it. So 524 00:26:57,800 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 1: if you cannot look at the chocolate cake and it's 525 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,119 Speaker 1: look at Entertainment Weekly, then all the better, unless you 526 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: happen to run across the full page at for well, 527 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:08,760 Speaker 1: and then you're just hoast you might as well reach 528 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:11,159 Speaker 1: for it. Um. So it just it brings up a 529 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,640 Speaker 1: lot of interesting questions about whether or not self control 530 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 1: is something that is innate or is it something that 531 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,600 Speaker 1: is in our environment. And again this marshmallow study has 532 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,479 Speaker 1: even more um importance when you look at it in 533 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: terms of our environment, because in two thousand and twelve 534 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:31,080 Speaker 1: researchers at the University of Rochester took this study and 535 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 1: they kind of turned it on its head, this Marshmallow 536 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,919 Speaker 1: study by looking at the relationship to the reward in 537 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:39,680 Speaker 1: the circumstances under which it was presented, and how that 538 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,360 Speaker 1: could affect self controlling kids. And again in kids. It's 539 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,359 Speaker 1: really important to do this with because we again we 540 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 1: begin to see that children exercising self control ages three 541 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:54,159 Speaker 1: and four, we'll sort of predict how they're going to 542 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: react in their later years and we'll talk more about that. Um. 543 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:00,040 Speaker 1: But I wanted to get sort of at the the 544 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,880 Speaker 1: the fluff of the marshatflow study here. UM. What they 545 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:09,639 Speaker 1: did is they had researchers bring out these trades of 546 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,080 Speaker 1: I think it was just like crayons or something like 547 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:15,639 Speaker 1: a jar of crayons, and they said, okay, kid, um, 548 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 1: I have like an awesome amount of crayons and markers 549 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,920 Speaker 1: in the other room. But if you can just hang 550 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,520 Speaker 1: on and not use these and wait until I get back, 551 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: you will get the awesome set of crayons markers. And 552 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:29,720 Speaker 1: so for half of the kids they brought back the 553 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: awesome crowns markers, they got the reward because they sat 554 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:34,480 Speaker 1: there and they waited. They sat there in didn't color, 555 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,240 Speaker 1: didn't create art, and waited for better tools to be 556 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:40,239 Speaker 1: brought to them exactly, and then they started doing it. 557 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: The other kids got punked. The researchers came back and said, 558 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,480 Speaker 1: I couldn't find it. Okay, So what are they doing here? 559 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: They are setting up circumstances for this reliability or unreliability 560 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 1: with the researcher. There's a lesson here. One group is learning, Hey, 561 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,760 Speaker 1: if you when adult tells you that he'll bring you here, 562 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: she'll bring you more markers if you don't use the 563 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: ones you have, listen to because we'll probably get more markers. 564 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: And the other team it's like you said, they're getting burned. 565 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 1: They're realizing, oh man, adults are awful. They did I 566 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:09,320 Speaker 1: was supposed to get more. I could have been coloring 567 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,960 Speaker 1: this whole time instead of holding out for markers. They're 568 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,280 Speaker 1: gonna never kind of come. This is awful. Innostances shattered. 569 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: It's like Woody Allen kid, by the way, But this 570 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:20,400 Speaker 1: inner dialogue, though I would say there's an important lesson there, 571 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: it's like, don't It's kind of like I'm going to 572 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: hold off on creating art. Until I'm really good at 573 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 1: it kind of a thing. But that's just me reading 574 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 1: too much, you know. It's like, no, you don't hold off. 575 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: Don't you have better tools? Work with the tools you have, 576 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:32,440 Speaker 1: and then you can get better tools. But anyway, well, 577 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,800 Speaker 1: here's where the marshmallow comes into play. Because now that 578 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,800 Speaker 1: they've set up these circumstances, the researchers bring out the marshmallow, right, 579 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 1: and they're rolling out the basic, the classic marshmallow test. 580 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:44,320 Speaker 1: Here's one marshmallow, eat it now, and that's great. But 581 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:46,240 Speaker 1: if you can hold off eating this marshmallow, you'll get 582 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 1: two marshmallows and then you can eat those. Okay, So 583 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: the kids got screwed in the art project experiment. They 584 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 1: buckled after just three minutes while waiting for that second marshmallow, 585 00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,400 Speaker 1: because I already learned you can't trust these people. They're 586 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: not going to bring markers. They're probably not going to 587 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:03,560 Speaker 1: bring me that second marshmallow. I might as well eat 588 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:05,920 Speaker 1: this marshmallow now and then color a bunch of stuffy 589 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: limited number of markers. That's right. Wow, these kids are 590 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:12,960 Speaker 1: I mean, they're they're angry. The second set of kids, 591 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: once that were rewarded and not punked. They waited for 592 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: twelve minutes, four times longer. Okay, And the video of 593 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 1: this is great because the kids are so like they 594 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 1: want that marshmallow. It's sitting right in front of them. 595 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,440 Speaker 1: They're using their like sixty color sets that they've already won, 596 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: and they're like they're painting pictures of Marsha. Actually at 597 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: this point they've they've taken all that away, so it's 598 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,160 Speaker 1: just the marshmallow that they're staring down and their little 599 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: feet are just going crazy on the ground and they're 600 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:39,880 Speaker 1: just like their knees are going up and down and 601 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:41,960 Speaker 1: they're trying not to eat it. They're turning it up 602 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: the side down, looking at it everything not to eat it. 603 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,720 Speaker 1: But this is really important because, as the studies lead 604 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:51,000 Speaker 1: author says, this is the last kids. She says, if 605 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,240 Speaker 1: you are used to getting things taken away from you, 606 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:57,880 Speaker 1: not waiting is the rational choice. And she said that 607 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 1: it occurred to her that the marshmallow tasking might be 608 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 1: correlated with something else that the child already knows, like 609 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:05,880 Speaker 1: having a stable environment. Okay, So this is really important 610 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 1: because now it becomes this question of well, how much 611 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 1: does the environment have to do? How much does upbringing 612 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 1: have to do with as opposed to genetics, um, because 613 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 1: you know, someone like my husband has incredible self control, 614 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: and I've always thought about it in genetic terms, but 615 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: who knows. As a kid, maybe he could always know 616 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: that the reward was actually in sight, as opposed to 617 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:30,680 Speaker 1: thinking out, well, I don't know what the carpet might 618 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,520 Speaker 1: be pulled out from under me again. Or he's a Jedi, 619 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:35,880 Speaker 1: because the way've described it sounds like he has like 620 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:39,480 Speaker 1: Jedi like turn it off abilities. He does, he doesn't, 621 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,560 Speaker 1: he doesn't understand why the people can't Vetian. Wasn't that 622 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:44,920 Speaker 1: the thing? We're like, I've made this, this this choice, 623 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,480 Speaker 1: I'm I'm not gonna eat me anymore. It's just just 624 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:49,560 Speaker 1: gonna be vega that. And then we quit drinking like 625 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:52,000 Speaker 1: seven months ago and for him and was like, whatever, 626 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,600 Speaker 1: flip the switch. So okay. Then there's a question of heredity, 627 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 1: and now we don't have a lot of data on that. 628 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 1: There's some information from Edinburgh's university study that looked at 629 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:09,040 Speaker 1: eight hundred sets of identical and non identical twins to 630 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: figure out how they differed, and they found that the 631 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 1: identical twins were twice as likely as non identical twins 632 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: to share the same personality traits, suggesting that DNA might 633 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: have had something to do with the way that they 634 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,400 Speaker 1: go about their day. Lead researcher Professor Timothy Bates said 635 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:28,440 Speaker 1: that the biggest factor they found with self control, and 636 00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 1: there was a big genetic difference in people's ability to 637 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 1: restrain themselves and persist with things when they got difficult 638 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: and re out to challenges in a positive way. Now 639 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:43,120 Speaker 1: that being said, um again, you can't just look solely 640 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,160 Speaker 1: at genetics and say that that's the thing right there, 641 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 1: that's the reason why a person has some uh self 642 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,719 Speaker 1: control or doesn't. And I wanted to bring this up 643 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:54,560 Speaker 1: because there's a New York Times article called Genetics and 644 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 1: Crime and it talks about self control and genetics. And 645 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:02,560 Speaker 1: Terry Moffatt, who's a heavioral scientists Duke University, says that 646 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: knowing something is inherited does not in any way tell 647 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:09,120 Speaker 1: us anything about whether changing the environment will improve it. 648 00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: For example, self control with a lot like height, it 649 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:15,280 Speaker 1: varies widely. The human population is highly heritable, but if 650 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:18,560 Speaker 1: effective interventions such as better nutrition is applied to the 651 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,480 Speaker 1: whole population, that everyone gets taller than the last generation. 652 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 1: And I keep coming back to the whole mind body connection. 653 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: You know. You look at the platonic idea that it's 654 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 1: it's intellect versus the base demands of the body and uh. 655 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:32,640 Speaker 1: And then we look at how glucose, you know, the 656 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: simple sugar that we find naturally in various plants. How 657 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,960 Speaker 1: that energizes body and brain and gives us this extra 658 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,360 Speaker 1: booster resolve. It's like the power up in the video game. 659 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 1: It's like, Oh, I'm about to be defeated about the 660 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: chocolate cake, and then I then I reach over here 661 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:47,720 Speaker 1: and get this this glucose power up, and now I 662 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:50,120 Speaker 1: can resist it a little more or be you know, 663 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 1: remain more focused on the task at hand. That kind 664 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,560 Speaker 1: of thing. You fall into, this this trap though of 665 00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:58,280 Speaker 1: thinking of it in terms of like purely a body 666 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,800 Speaker 1: uh type of situation. You end up reading that quote 667 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,479 Speaker 1: from Moscow Wild and thinking, well, I guess he's right. 668 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 1: You know, there's no defeating the chocolate cake in the 669 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,120 Speaker 1: long term. If you're locked in a room with it, 670 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,560 Speaker 1: it's gonna wind up in your belly. But there is 671 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 1: an interesting study that we ran across. This is from 672 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 1: Stanford University. From Gregory and Walton and Carol Dweck, who 673 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:18,839 Speaker 1: we're going to discuss a little more in a bed. 674 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:21,879 Speaker 1: They looked at how belief system plays into it, and 675 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,080 Speaker 1: they found that it did play a vital role in 676 00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:28,160 Speaker 1: how long willpower holds out against desserts and indicaence. So 677 00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:30,680 Speaker 1: what they found in their study was that you had 678 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:35,360 Speaker 1: individuals who were very informed about how willpower supposedly works 679 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:36,960 Speaker 1: and the end and very much on board with the 680 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,239 Speaker 1: idea that there is a finite amount of it. They 681 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:41,759 Speaker 1: did run out eventually and then they're just gonna have 682 00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:44,319 Speaker 1: to eat that cake. And then they also looked at 683 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,000 Speaker 1: people who didn't believe this, that this wasn't part of 684 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:50,160 Speaker 1: their view of the world and themselves that adhered to 685 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:53,320 Speaker 1: an idea that that willpower was infinite, that there, that 686 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:55,200 Speaker 1: it would never run out, that it could never run out, 687 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: you know. Um, And you can sort of draw various 688 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:01,960 Speaker 1: examples from your own life about what what who fits 689 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,239 Speaker 1: into what category, you know, but just think of, like 690 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,359 Speaker 1: I guess, like a really positive person who's like, yeah, 691 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:09,040 Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna quit smoking and then they're they're done 692 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,040 Speaker 1: with it, you know, or they think they're done with it. 693 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,759 Speaker 1: That they believe that willpower is and maybe this is 694 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,319 Speaker 1: some insight into the way her husband's mind. Maybe he 695 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 1: just doesn't see himself as having a finite amount of willpower. 696 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,640 Speaker 1: What's fascinating here, and what the researchers found out is 697 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:27,640 Speaker 1: that people who felt that the resolve was limitless were 698 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:32,160 Speaker 1: able to press on, wearied but relentless against the chocolate 699 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:34,520 Speaker 1: cake or what have you. So, so that's a little 700 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: little it's kind of like a mind of her body 701 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:40,640 Speaker 1: situation there. It's interesting because Carol Dweck does she does 702 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:45,920 Speaker 1: talk a lot about belief systems shaping kids to write. Um, 703 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:50,000 Speaker 1: so when you think about a kid being labeled as 704 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 1: something right, as being smart or having a lot of willpower, 705 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:56,879 Speaker 1: you know, what does that do to them psychologically? And 706 00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,319 Speaker 1: I wanted to bring up a study of one baby 707 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,360 Speaker 1: is born in ninety two in a New Zealand town. Again, 708 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 1: Terry Moffatt talks about this, and she reports that the 709 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,960 Speaker 1: less self control a child displayed at three years of age, 710 00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:12,800 Speaker 1: more likely he or she was to commit a crime 711 00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:15,640 Speaker 1: more than thirty years later. In fact, we're talking about 712 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:17,719 Speaker 1: forty three percent of the children who scored in the 713 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:20,880 Speaker 1: lowest fifth on self control were later convicted of a 714 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:25,320 Speaker 1: crime versus of those who scored in the highest fifth. 715 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,480 Speaker 1: Uh So that's when you begin to wonder, like, what 716 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:33,160 Speaker 1: are the long term ramifications of this? Can it be gamed? 717 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:38,080 Speaker 1: How much of this is psychological and um behavioral right 718 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:41,120 Speaker 1: from from what you learn when you're growing up. And 719 00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:43,160 Speaker 1: I also wanted to say that on the flip side, 720 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 1: to those those kids who had a lot of self control, 721 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:50,200 Speaker 1: they grew into adults with greater physical and mental health, 722 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:53,920 Speaker 1: fewer substance abuse problems. That's that's no surprise. There fewer 723 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:58,640 Speaker 1: criminal convictions that are savings behavior in financial security and um. 724 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,920 Speaker 1: They say that these pattern held even after researchers controlled 725 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:07,720 Speaker 1: for the children's socio economic status, homeland and general intelligence. Okay, 726 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:11,000 Speaker 1: so put all that aside and then begin to think 727 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:15,279 Speaker 1: about Carol d Wick and her ideas about self esteem 728 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:19,640 Speaker 1: and what she calls the self esteem trap in education. Again, 729 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:21,759 Speaker 1: this is this labeling a kid how self control. A 730 00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:23,440 Speaker 1: kid is smart. A kid is not smart because you 731 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 1: tell them when they have no self control, tell him 732 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,040 Speaker 1: enough times, they're going to believe it. And then how 733 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:29,640 Speaker 1: are you going to respond to the chocolate cake? It's 734 00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:31,960 Speaker 1: kind of like, well, I'm their chocolate cake. We both 735 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:34,200 Speaker 1: know how this is gonna end. Let's go ahead and 736 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:37,200 Speaker 1: do this now and then you eat. Yeah, And she 737 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,600 Speaker 1: really she dwells more on the smart label because that's 738 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:43,799 Speaker 1: something that has, you know, the self esteem movement has 739 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:46,520 Speaker 1: been pretty strong since the nineteen seventies. In other words, 740 00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:48,560 Speaker 1: the education system said, we just need kids to have 741 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:51,840 Speaker 1: better self esteem and then they feel better. But Carold, 742 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:54,160 Speaker 1: we kind of scratched at it, and she said, m 743 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:57,239 Speaker 1: I wonder if the effect of praise could actually have 744 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,320 Speaker 1: inverse conclusions here another word, because the idea here is 745 00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:02,879 Speaker 1: if you tell a child that they're they're not smart enough, 746 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 1: that they all believe that they're not smart, so then 747 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:10,040 Speaker 1: the work harder. Well, okay, well I shouldn't say that. Well, 748 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:12,040 Speaker 1: the original idea is that if you tell them that 749 00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:13,759 Speaker 1: that they're not smart too much, they'll believe it. And 750 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:15,880 Speaker 1: then there's this idea though that if you tell them 751 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,040 Speaker 1: you're smart, you encourage them, then you'll you'll both of 752 00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:20,480 Speaker 1: them build them up. But then she's examining the question, 753 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,640 Speaker 1: does this backfire after a point? Yes, because what's happening 754 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:26,160 Speaker 1: here is that the kids who are labeled as smart 755 00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 1: began to think that they are innately smart, that they 756 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:31,240 Speaker 1: should be smart, that they don't really have to try. Yeah, 757 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:33,640 Speaker 1: they don't have to exercise a lot of self control 758 00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:35,960 Speaker 1: or willpower in order to get something done. So what 759 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,560 Speaker 1: happens is that they began to either pick the things 760 00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:41,919 Speaker 1: that are easy and not a challenge or um, they 761 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:44,680 Speaker 1: began to think and or they began to think of 762 00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:49,960 Speaker 1: themselves as as failures and as posers. Right, and they 763 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,240 Speaker 1: feel like they're going to get uncovered at any moment. 764 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 1: So what she's saying here is that it's empty praise. 765 00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:57,480 Speaker 1: It's praise like, hey, you're smart, you can do good, 766 00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,600 Speaker 1: you can do this, as opposed to sitting there and 767 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:02,840 Speaker 1: saying you have to have the effort, you have to 768 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:04,600 Speaker 1: have the self control, and you have to sit down 769 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:07,359 Speaker 1: and you have to do this because and I won't 770 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:09,879 Speaker 1: go into the specifics of this, because honestly, we could 771 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:13,479 Speaker 1: do an entire episode on Just Carold wex work on 772 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:17,400 Speaker 1: this one principle um. But over and over again, what 773 00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:19,799 Speaker 1: you see or those kids are failing and the kids 774 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:23,000 Speaker 1: that are labeled as smart in fact, by age twelve, 775 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:26,000 Speaker 1: if a kid gets called out in class, by a 776 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:31,160 Speaker 1: teacher is given an empty compliment or empty praise, that 777 00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:34,560 Speaker 1: kid thinks that they're not doing well because they begin 778 00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:37,719 Speaker 1: to learn that if they're being um, if someone's just 779 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:39,960 Speaker 1: giving them a bit of empty praise, they're being encouraged 780 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,160 Speaker 1: because they're not doing well. Yeah, they're just being patronized like, oh, 781 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:45,920 Speaker 1: you're you're doing so well, and that doesn't work. You 782 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:49,879 Speaker 1: see right through that exactly. So this all ties back 783 00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:53,680 Speaker 1: to self control because when we're talking about uh, self esteem, 784 00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:57,239 Speaker 1: you get self esteem by completing something right, by exercising 785 00:39:57,239 --> 00:40:00,520 Speaker 1: self control and then seeing this challenge that you've met, 786 00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:04,759 Speaker 1: that's where self esteem comes into play. So it's it's 787 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:06,960 Speaker 1: pretty interesting because there are a lot of educators now 788 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,759 Speaker 1: who are starting to say that it's less about i Q, 789 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:11,799 Speaker 1: it's less about being smart or not being smart. It's 790 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,239 Speaker 1: more about the effort in the character. Well, hopefully all 791 00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:16,439 Speaker 1: of this we've discussed it. It's sort of I feel 792 00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:18,080 Speaker 1: like it may be colors in. You know, again, this 793 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:20,400 Speaker 1: idea of the mind body connection, that we're not just 794 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,719 Speaker 1: this brain, we're not just this body, but with this 795 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:27,239 Speaker 1: this interconnected system, and so you can see willpower and temptation, 796 00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:29,600 Speaker 1: you can see the battle on both sides. You can see, 797 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:32,120 Speaker 1: you can see where where it happens in the mind, 798 00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:33,880 Speaker 1: you can see where it is very much an affair 799 00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:35,719 Speaker 1: of the body, and some of the things we can 800 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,480 Speaker 1: do to to to make it work in our in 801 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,799 Speaker 1: our favor. So certainly, if you're dealing with temptations, uh, 802 00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:44,960 Speaker 1: and you're trying to make your resolutions work, limit your 803 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:47,919 Speaker 1: exposure to the things that are tempting you, such as 804 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:50,440 Speaker 1: the chocolates in the brake room, what have you. And 805 00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:55,359 Speaker 1: make your your goals achievable and understandable and simple enough 806 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,040 Speaker 1: that you can actually check them off the list. Yeah, 807 00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:00,400 Speaker 1: and just have a certain amount of under standing of 808 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:03,640 Speaker 1: the limitations of willpower. But also you have to be 809 00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:05,160 Speaker 1: careful not to fall back on it. You don't want 810 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:07,479 Speaker 1: to do whatever extent you can fool yourself into thinking 811 00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:10,680 Speaker 1: willpower is not a depleatable resource. That's that's great, because 812 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:12,319 Speaker 1: if you're just going like, oh, well, willpower is gonna 813 00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:14,120 Speaker 1: run off at three pm, And that's kind of like 814 00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:17,360 Speaker 1: making an appointment in your outlook calendar to eat the 815 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:19,719 Speaker 1: chocolate cake at three pm, because you're giving yourself an out, 816 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:23,040 Speaker 1: You're giving yourself an excuse so it's it's tricky, it's complex, 817 00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:26,600 Speaker 1: but hopefully everyone has a little more understanding about how 818 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:28,879 Speaker 1: it works now. Yeah. Yeah, And if if all those 819 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:33,120 Speaker 1: things failed, then just imagine those chimps thumbing through entertainment 820 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,480 Speaker 1: weekly doing a better job than you are at not 821 00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:39,400 Speaker 1: reaching for that chocolate cake. Or you know, if if 822 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:43,200 Speaker 1: you're dealing with chocolate cake at work, collect pennies off 823 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:47,520 Speaker 1: the ground and nickels, you know, dirty change from the ground, 824 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:49,960 Speaker 1: bring them to work in a bag and anytime you're 825 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:51,799 Speaker 1: the chocolate cake is tempting you in the breaker and 826 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:53,440 Speaker 1: just like stick one of those coins into it, and 827 00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:55,640 Speaker 1: then you're like, then you've diseased it and you don't 828 00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:57,239 Speaker 1: have to worry about eating it. I mean, you might 829 00:41:57,320 --> 00:41:59,840 Speaker 1: become a pariah with your co workers, but hey, just 830 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:02,800 Speaker 1: go over the top. Are just go ahead and squirt 831 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:05,279 Speaker 1: some catchup all over that cake. Yeah, or I guess 832 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:07,120 Speaker 1: you could throw it away. I mean, don't you get 833 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:11,680 Speaker 1: into the tricky area of break room etiquette. But maybe 834 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:13,680 Speaker 1: that's the thing to do, you know, because it things 835 00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:15,400 Speaker 1: like it's like a weapon in there. Somebody has has 836 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:19,000 Speaker 1: dropped a bomb in the break room chocolate e delicious 837 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:21,279 Speaker 1: bomb and maybe you should just dispose of it. Let 838 00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:23,560 Speaker 1: me ask you. You're right, You're right. I was gonna say, 839 00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:25,239 Speaker 1: I was just thinking about a robot coming in, and 840 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:27,359 Speaker 1: in fact, Arnie could do that our robot. What if 841 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:29,399 Speaker 1: you had a delicious pake, good like a chocolate cake, 842 00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:31,520 Speaker 1: but you wrote something on it like butt cake or 843 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:33,640 Speaker 1: cloe wake a cake? Do you think that that would 844 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,680 Speaker 1: prevent people for meeting it? Like? What term would you 845 00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:38,160 Speaker 1: have to put on there in order for someone not 846 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,239 Speaker 1: to eat it? This would I smell a video project here? 847 00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:44,040 Speaker 1: We could We could pull this off at work, all right? 848 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:46,040 Speaker 1: What would you have to ride on a cake? You 849 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:48,040 Speaker 1: could have three cakes? We could That could be the 850 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:50,799 Speaker 1: experiment and they may Actually if someone else wants to 851 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,600 Speaker 1: try this before we get around to it, go for it. 852 00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:55,200 Speaker 1: Like what would happen if you brought in three cakes 853 00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:58,239 Speaker 1: and on one you wrote something yeah, you know, just 854 00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:01,319 Speaker 1: sort of normal, like happy birthdays, easy or something like that, 855 00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:03,880 Speaker 1: and then in the next one you wrote something a 856 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:05,520 Speaker 1: little little gross, and then on the third when you 857 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:08,160 Speaker 1: wrote something really gross. What would those cakes look like 858 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:09,600 Speaker 1: at the end of the day, even though they're all 859 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:13,640 Speaker 1: the same cake? I don't know. We need to find out. Yeah, 860 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:17,359 Speaker 1: all right, Well, speaking of Arnie, let's call him over 861 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:23,360 Speaker 1: and let's do a few quick listener mails. All right, 862 00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:25,880 Speaker 1: This one comes to us from our listener Wesley in 863 00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:27,880 Speaker 1: New York. Wesley says, Hey, guys, I just listened to 864 00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:30,959 Speaker 1: your life hacking episode and wanted to share another life 865 00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:33,040 Speaker 1: hack with you that I learned from a Ted talk. 866 00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:35,920 Speaker 1: Matt Killingsworth gave a Ted talk about how we are 867 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: less happy when our minds are wandering than when we 868 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:40,520 Speaker 1: are living in the moment. Since watching we talk, I've 869 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:43,200 Speaker 1: noticed that many of the times that I am feeling 870 00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:45,920 Speaker 1: stressed out or unhappy, it is because I'm thinking about 871 00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:48,359 Speaker 1: things other than what is going on around me at 872 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:51,319 Speaker 1: that moment. Simply reminding myself to keep focused on the 873 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:54,320 Speaker 1: moment and not let my mind wander has noticeably improved 874 00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:58,640 Speaker 1: my quality of life. Um, I think that that rings 875 00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:00,879 Speaker 1: completely true with the number of things we've talked about 876 00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:03,080 Speaker 1: on this podcast. You know, to whatever extent you can 877 00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:05,719 Speaker 1: live in the moment, not to say you don't think 878 00:44:05,719 --> 00:44:07,600 Speaker 1: about the past and you don't plan for the future, 879 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:09,920 Speaker 1: but to whatever extent you can put your mind in 880 00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:12,839 Speaker 1: the present and not you know, worrying about the past 881 00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:14,600 Speaker 1: and fretting about the future. Then all the better. As 882 00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:18,120 Speaker 1: Buck Brennaman from the documentary Buck says, you cannot be 883 00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:20,960 Speaker 1: in two places at one time, right exactly, not dwell 884 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,239 Speaker 1: in the past. Oh, I should also mention too, since 885 00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:26,000 Speaker 1: we were talking about that for gaming things for New 886 00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:30,000 Speaker 1: Year's and posture. Amy Cutty's talk on that, she had 887 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,840 Speaker 1: mentioned that the reason why she was interested in that 888 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:38,960 Speaker 1: is body postures because NBA female students slightly underperformed um 889 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:43,239 Speaker 1: concerning their male counterparts. But when I failed to explain 890 00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:45,640 Speaker 1: in that is that the reason they were underperforming is 891 00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:48,600 Speaker 1: because a large part of their grade was dependent on 892 00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:51,080 Speaker 1: the class participation. And so what she was saying is 893 00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:53,640 Speaker 1: if you change their posture, could you get them to 894 00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:56,319 Speaker 1: be more demonstrative? Could you get them to feel more 895 00:44:56,360 --> 00:44:59,000 Speaker 1: confident in order to speak out? So I missed the 896 00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:02,720 Speaker 1: talking about that specifically, and I wanted to mention that. Cool. 897 00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,480 Speaker 1: And just on another quick note about some feedback on 898 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:09,640 Speaker 1: episodes we did those two episodes on shamanism and science 899 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:13,759 Speaker 1: and psychedelics, and listener Cathy wrote in just wanted to 900 00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:17,759 Speaker 1: to underline the fact that not every shaman is into psychedelics. 901 00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:20,120 Speaker 1: There are certainly other ways to reach some of these 902 00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:23,239 Speaker 1: mental spaces that we discussed in these in those episodes, 903 00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:27,799 Speaker 1: without the use of psychedelic substances, through the use of meditation, 904 00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:30,000 Speaker 1: to the use of yoga, through the use of music, 905 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:34,080 Speaker 1: or his Cathy points out drumming. Uh so uh. You know, 906 00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:36,160 Speaker 1: as as a side note, we should stress that yes, 907 00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:39,319 Speaker 1: there are other means of reaching those those places, those 908 00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:41,839 Speaker 1: places in the mind. All right, and let's look at 909 00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:44,319 Speaker 1: one last listener mail before we close the bag here. 910 00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:46,560 Speaker 1: This one comes to us from Richard, and Richard is 911 00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:50,799 Speaker 1: responding to our nutmeg episode, which recently published. Richard says, Hi, 912 00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:53,959 Speaker 1: I'm Dutch Canadian. H it ain't much without the Dutch 913 00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:57,799 Speaker 1: uh l o L. I love nutmeg. I use it 914 00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:01,200 Speaker 1: in drinks, coffee and Hamburger. I mixed ground beef with 915 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:04,040 Speaker 1: ground pork. I put in salt pepper in a generous amount, 916 00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:07,040 Speaker 1: not too much because it becomes too sweet. Of nutmeg. 917 00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:10,200 Speaker 1: Nutmeg adds a delicious flavor to Burger's kind of sweet, 918 00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:13,080 Speaker 1: kind of spicy, but not really brings out the burger flavor. 919 00:46:13,200 --> 00:46:15,800 Speaker 1: Love it been using nutmeg all my life. Great and 920 00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:19,399 Speaker 1: egg nog too. Happy holiday? Uh this This was of 921 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:24,080 Speaker 1: course interesting because I we mentioned the history of nutmeg 922 00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:26,000 Speaker 1: and how fond of it the Dutch are even to 923 00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:28,040 Speaker 1: this day. So I was curious if we had any 924 00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:30,680 Speaker 1: Dutch listeners or listeners of Dutch descent what their thoughts 925 00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:33,160 Speaker 1: are on And sure enough, here's a gentleman of Dutch 926 00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,279 Speaker 1: descent who loves himself some nutmex So that was that 927 00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:39,239 Speaker 1: was excellent to hear about. Plus gave us a nice 928 00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:43,040 Speaker 1: little quote there. Yeah, alright, Well, if anyone else thought 929 00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:45,280 Speaker 1: there would like to reach out to us and share 930 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:49,880 Speaker 1: your thoughts on willpower, temptation, nutmeg, what have you. You 931 00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:51,960 Speaker 1: can find us on Facebook and you can find us 932 00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:53,800 Speaker 1: on tumbler. We are stuff to blow your mind on 933 00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:56,040 Speaker 1: both of those. On Twitter, we go by the handle 934 00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:58,839 Speaker 1: blow the Mind and uh yeah, you can check us 935 00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:01,239 Speaker 1: out there and you can and always droppes a line 936 00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:10,040 Speaker 1: at blur the Mind at discovery dot com. For more 937 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:12,680 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, visit how Stuff 938 00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:18,000 Speaker 1: Works dot com