WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Willpower Works 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.360 M Hey, everybody. Welcome to Stuff you Should Know Selects. 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:05.680 This is Chuck here this week. It's my pick and 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:09.280 I'm gonna go with how Willpower Works from February seven, 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.880 And frankly, I'm picking this one because I need to 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.960 listen to this one again because I have no willpower. 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:18.759 That's something I need to work on, so I'm gonna 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.079 check it out again. I encourage you to do the same. 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:23.959 It's uh, it's pretty neat episode. So here we go 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:39.920 with how Willpower Works. Welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:47.280 from how Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:51.240 the podcast. I'm Josh Clarkin sitting across from me putting 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.600 on his Love your Mama. Um, lip ball? What what 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.200 Philip Flavors? That is almond? Actually is yummy? Look at 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:00.920 that plug right out of the gate. Uh, this is 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.200 Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Hello, those are nice lips you 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:11.080 got there, man. Wow, they're now moistified like moist blowning. Well, 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:13.399 the two of us get together as we are right now, 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:16.360 and you have yourself stuff you should know the podcast. Nope, 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:18.960 this is the podcast. It ain't going nowhere. It ain't 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.840 gonna change. Don't worry folks. Yeah, same as it ever was. 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:24.720 If you love the TV show, we thank you. If 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.080 you don't like it, hang out with us here online. 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:31.040 Yeah uh. Not to be confused with our online presence, 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.479 our website, our new website, the home of Josh stuff. 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:37.240 You should know dot com. This is pretty cool. I 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:40.480 don't mind saying words about this because we got a 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.200 new website and it's like, it's awesome. It's got video 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:47.200 and and blogs and photos and it's like all sorts 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.200 of cool stuff. It's us. It's our house on the 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.680 on the web. It's really cool. I mean stuff you 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.400 should know dot com. It's our website, mind blowing five 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:56.760 years in the making. Yeah. So uh. And then not 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.160 to be confused with our Twitter handle s y s 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.760 K podcast. Not to be confused with our Facebook page, 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.880 Facebook dot com slash stuff you should know boy your 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.160 front load this one. Yeah alright, All that's out of 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:10.919 the way, right. Um, So, Chuck, you're doing good, you're 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:15.080 feeling well. I'm not feeling great, but you know, yeah, 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:17.720 you're ready to be done. No. I'm ready to talk 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:21.200 about willpower though, because it is a topic that I 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.160 struggle with, as do most people. I think, like you 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:25.600 struggle with the topic, or you struggle with willpower. I 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:28.079 think everybody struggles with willpower. Oh yeah, well, as a 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:31.000 matter of fact, Um, I think you're absolutely right. There 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:38.079 is a very famous guy named Plato, famous Greek philosopher Plato. Plato. Plato, yes, 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:43.560 not Plato, right, um. And Plato decided well suggested that 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:50.560 the entire human experience, that the sum of human existence 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:57.000 could be basically nailed down with just this. You have 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:01.720 a higher self and a lower self. Yeah, and your 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:07.200 purpose for living is to overcome the usually more powerful 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:11.919 urges of the lower self in order to fulfill the 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.280 goals of the higher self. I am down without it 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:17.799 makes uttering complete sense. I don't know about the reason 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:22.239 for living, but the struggle man struggle or at least okay, yeah, yeah, 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.880 like that's if you're born. You're going to face that. Yeah, 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.000 but you're going to face it in varying degrees because, 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:31.640 as we found, willpower, which is what you use to 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:37.040 get over your lower urges and pursue your higher goals. Um, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.360 it comes in differing amounts for differing people, different people. Yeah, 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.040 and it and Robert Lamb wrote the original article from 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:46.760 House Touff works from stuff to blow your mind. And 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.120 he points out that we're at odds with our own 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.760 uh nature, as we have evolved here on the planet 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:58.440 because you know, we craved sugary sweet things because sugar 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.040 gave us lots of energy back in the day, and 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.080 back in the day they didn't have little debby cakes 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.360 within hands reach at all times. So we're sort of 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.920 at odds with ourselves. And he points out sexually as well, Um, 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.400 we evolved to spread the seed and procreate as much 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:19.280 as possible to ensure the survival of the species. And um, 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:22.000 nowadays you can't really do that stuff, or if you do, 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:27.160 you're a flander or a jerk or your spreading disease 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:30.599 and your public health nuisance. Yeah. So um, we're at 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:33.280 odds with ourselves, with our very existence. Yeah, and not 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:36.520 only internally, but you make the point um as a 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.080 society as well, I mean, society and evolution tussle. So 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.640 you can make the case that society represents our higher 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.120 self and you know, are what we are, basic instincts 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:50.400 that we've evolved to are our lower selves. So that's 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.800 what's going on, and it's will power, will power that 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:58.320 will get us over the bumps that come along in 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.520 life inevitably. Yeah, and it's I think most people relate 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.320 will power to things like eating or going to the gym, 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:09.960 or indulging in uh uh, sexual proclivities and things like that. 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.479 But I think it's broader than that. In general. I 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.320 think it's the will to, like Plato said, to strive to, 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:21.600 I guess, do the right thing. Yeah, by yourself, by others, 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.799 by society at large. Right. And I guess also, um, 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.800 how often you come up against that? How often you 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.159 have to exercise willpower because you you just hit it 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:33.640 on the head. Will power is the act of making 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:37.039 a decision. You're deciding to do something or not to 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.680 do something. Um, how often you do that? It does 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.120 depend on how you define the world around you. Yeah, Like, 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:47.720 are these things you know? Are you surrounded by temptations 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:49.320 that you have to ward off all the time and 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.800 you're paying attention to it and they're always closing in? Uh? 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.640 If you like that, then you're going to exercise your 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.080 willpower a lot. If you don't see the world as temptations, 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.039 you give into them all the time, you're not going 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.320 to If you look at the world is something that 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.280 you can handle, You're probably not gonna have to exercise 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.040 your willpower too much then either. But it's all they're all. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.760 Those are three different ways of of living and they 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:16.719 all are I guess described by willpower and how you 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.240 use it. Yeah, that's a good point. Um. Robert h 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:23.840 makes a point that has backed up somewhat by science, 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:28.320 actually completely by science. The and he he puts in 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.760 terms of a video game, which makes sense that if 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:34.040 you were a video game and you have a willpower meter, 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:40.000 that that willpower meter is replenished and depleted on a daily, 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:44.800 probably hourly basis. And the more you uh use your 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:46.400 willpower and say, you know what, I'm not going to 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.560 have that little debby cake, your little willpower meter goes 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.280 down and it depletes itself, so you're not going to 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:57.240 have as much willpower maybe for the next decision. Right. 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:01.880 It's really interesting. Yeah, that's um pretty new. Our understanding 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.200 of willpower like that is very new. The first guy 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:05.880 to really kind of put it out like that was 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:11.400 freud Um, and he basically said, uh, you we have 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:15.160 this thing called willpower. We have an ego. That's that's 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:20.240 what the Freudians associate with willpowers, the ego and your 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.960 ego is this finite thing. It has a finite energy reserve. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.920 It uses energy, and therefore it can be sapped. And 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.600 then Freud fell out of fashion, and um, everybody just 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.800 kind of stopped looking at willpower that way. And uh, 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:37.920 it wasn't until when a Florida State University psychologist named 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:44.120 Roy uh Baumeister. He uh, he figured out through this 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:49.360 test using chocolate and randishes, I believe that, um, you, 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:55.440 if you are staving off temptation using willpower, you actually 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:59.880 do terribly on like another test of willpower. Yeah, they 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:05.280 used persistence tests, um, basically puzzles that you have to 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:06.800 just keep at it and keep at It's not something 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:11.160 you could complete immediately, and offered some people chocolate chip 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.320 cookies and other chocolate treats of their liking, and offered 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:19.640 other people radishes instead, which is not a fair fight, right. 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.040 I mean, he really stacked the deck like maybe a radish, 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.600 a shaved radish in a salad or something. But if 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.400 all you're looking at is a plate of radish, then yeah, 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:30.240 I would take the cookie. So what he found out though, 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:34.000 was the people who ate the radishes had more trouble 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.400 completing the test. I guess because I guess the ideas 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.240 they're using up all their willpower to not eat the cookie, 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.280 so they don't have time for the test the persistence. 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:46.200 And there was also a another kind of follow up 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.800 study a few years after that by UM the the 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:52.800 University of Iowa professor with the greatest name of all 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:57.319 of the faculty there, Baba shiv Um and uh Dr 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:03.240 shiv Um had a basically tested willpower by saying, this 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:06.480 group is going to remember a two digit number, and 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.040 this group is going to remember a seven digit number, 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.000 and then we're gonna test their willpower UM by tempting 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.720 them with chocolate cake and uh Dr Ship found that 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:19.400 there was the people who were using their working memory 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.600 their cognitive capacity to remember the seven digit number had 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:27.040 a harder time resisting. So it basically proves that we 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:30.520 use our working memory to resist temptation. And I guess 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:34.320 it's something like reminding yourself, you know, at the at 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.520 the forefront of your mind not to do something, you 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.680 know until the temptation past. Who knows, Yeah, maybe I 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:43.120 had that cookie yesterday, so man, I can't eat it today. 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.920 Or we use our working memory to remind ourselves of 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.520 our long term goals in the face of a short 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.760 term reward. Well, that's one of the big keys I think. Yeah, 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.600 and uh, that's something Robert hits on, which is I 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.040 want that cookie now, and I know bikini seasons coming up, 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.560 and you see you mean a bikini. Josh, it's not pretty. 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.760 I will never get that out of my memory, working memory, 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:10.400 or other one, that bikini. And but that's sort of 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.720 what we're at odds with is the short term. I 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:19.720 think humans as a group tend to enjoy the short, 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:23.360 short term pleasures and if you truly learn to conquer 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.439 that in in uh lieu of long term gain, that's 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.880 when you're like, you're winning, is Charlie Sheen would say, 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.720 right exactly, although Charlie Sheen is not exactly one who's 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.319 known to exercise the willpower. No, you know, that was 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:39.000 a really odd person to tap for that. But well 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.160 I think that's the opposite he was. He thought winning 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.320 was the short term game. Yeah, I guess yeah. Um, 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.080 and that is so dated. Yeah, people like when you 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.559 guys record this, but it's been I think today might 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.120 be the very day where you could get away with it. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:57.360 So it was perfect right the way. Um, so from 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:03.319 all these tests like when Baumeister Um put his study 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:07.160 ego depletion colon is the act of self a limited resource. 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.600 It just basically kicked off the slew of follow up 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:14.000 studies from Dr Shiv and others and UM. One of 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:17.360 the things that they found was that you can kind 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:22.960 of watch people exercise worldpower on the old Wonder machine yeah, UM. 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.719 Using m r S. They put people in and had 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:30.840 them think about, I guess a suite or a health 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:36.000 food and decide between them. Yeah, And they found that 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:41.160 the ventromedial prefrontal cortex lights up when you're making that decision, 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:43.640 when you're considering it, which made sense they I think 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.600 they kind of expected that, but they were also surprised 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:50.720 to find that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex UM, which is 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:55.040 located a little further back UM, that lit up as well. 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.480 And they think that that has lit up for the 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:00.480 people who made a good decision only thank you. And 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.440 they think that that's maybe part of your that's part 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:05.440 of the working memory where you're like, no, I can't 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:10.520 eat that, because yes, that's tapping into that higher self 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:17.000 goal pursuit. That's the dorso lateral prefrontal cortex, right, you 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:46.360 did a nice job there by the ways. Uh So. 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.400 The bomber also went on to say that, um, he could. 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:54.400 He compares the willpower, your own willpower to a muscle 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.920 or something like a muscle, and you can deplete it, 0:12:57.960 --> 0:12:59.920 Like you said, if you overwork your muscles, you're just 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:01.880 going to deplete your muscles and be worn out at 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:05.880 the end of the day. Or you can exercise that 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.400 muscle in a in a healthy way and make it 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:12.000 stronger in the long term. Um do you do this? 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.760 After reading this is sord to realize that I actually 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:19.080 kind of exercised willpower all the time. What you I 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:23.120 think you especially do so, like, for example, I have 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:25.600 a mail key that I used to go get the mail, 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.440 right and we keep it in our car, And I 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:31.480 had to go to the car and get the mail 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:32.840 key and then go get the mail. And it was 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:36.280 cold out yesterday, and then on the way back, I 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:38.800 could have just taken the mail key inside with me 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.120 and taking it back to the car, and the next 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.199 time I went to the car again it was very cold. 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:46.160 But instead I walked up a flight of stairs, put 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.240 the mail key into the car, and then went back home. 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.520 So you're you're you made that decision and you struggled 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.640 with it, even in a minor way. Yes, I did 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.160 it specifically because there was no reason whatsoever for me 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.240 to do that rationally and as far as common sense, 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.000 when there was no there's no purpose to it. But 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.520 by doing it, I basically just exercise my willpower. It 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:10.600 was something I didn't really want to do, but it 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.120 wasn't a big deal, but it was I could like. 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:18.760 Doing that accumulates. Yeah, I think I think you and 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:20.440 I are really different in that way. I see you 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:24.840 as someone who actively works that muscle a lot on 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:28.280 a daily basis, and I don't enough. And not that 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.840 I just have no willpower, but I don't give it, 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:35.480 give decisions like that enough consideration. Does that make sense completely? 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:37.400 I was like, yeah, I'll just go upstairs and throw 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:40.280 the key on the coffee table, which a sane person 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.280 she kind of has that that thought. I think that 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.920 puts you in the same camp. But that doesn't ensure 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.600 that I'm making good decisions for my life, you know. 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:51.080 But I mean, I don't think you're making bad ones. 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:53.640 But it's good to self reflect, you know, Yeah, I 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:57.200 do kind of. It's kind of fun, you know, it's 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.000 like a game. Yeah, I want to you know, it's 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.320 it's like how Ramrod Street can I stayd you know, 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:07.160 That's what I'm building towards. Uh So. Another thing Robert 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.480 points out from the science side of things is as 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:12.480 far as giving into the short term in favor of 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:16.320 the long term, is glucose plays a big part in that. 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.560 And I think they found that a quick um shot 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.520 of sugar I don't think a whole lot can sometimes 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.440 stave off or build up that willpower reserve in the 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.560 short term. Yeah, it's like, ah, you you were talking 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.560 about how we have like a um willpower bar and 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.760 every time we were this temptation is depleted a little 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:36.120 more and more. They found that a shot of glucose 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.360 replenishes that willpower bar. So is that in lieu of like, 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:41.640 hey boy, I really want that cupcake, but let me 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.680 have the juice box instead. That's the irony of it, 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.840 is giving into that cupcake may help you exercise you 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.960 wild power with other stuff later further on. Didn't that weird? 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:56.120 But yeah, I mean if you had something healthier, that 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.160 would be the better choice. But the point is is 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.440 like any kind of shot of gluco this has been 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:04.359 shown to UM to to re up your your willpower. 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.880 And this was very much poop pooed at first, this idea, UM, 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:11.080 I think Baumeister. This is really great article by John 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:14.840 Tierney in New York Times magazine. It's from UM the 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.720 August before last. It's called do You Suffer from Decision Fatigue? 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:23.320 Our buddy Chad loves this proselytized this article. Remember, okay, 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.120 this is the one, so I strongly recommend everybody to read. 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.600 It's a good one. But UM and and it it 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.960 talks about Baumeister like thinking that you know glucose has 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:34.800 something to do with this UM and it was poop 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.600 pooed at first, because everybody knows the brain uses the 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:40.800 same amount of energy pretty much all day long. So 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:42.960 that didn't make any sense. Like if you're if you're 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.680 ego depleted and you're you're suffering from some sort of 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:49.280 willpower fatigue, but your brain still using the same amount 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:52.120 of energy, those two don't jibe. Again with the m 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.080 r I. What they found was somebody suffering from ego 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:59.920 depletion from willpower fatigue who took a shot of gluco 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:06.080 or whatever UM their brains lit up in areas that 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:08.720 had to do with exercising will power. So while your 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:10.679 brain was using the same amount of energy, it was 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:13.720 using them in different places when your willpower was fatigued. 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:17.159 And that glutecast basically was like spinach to popeye for 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:20.840 that part of your brain that's charged with exercising willpower. 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:23.840 Isn't that? Yeah? So what do you carry on a 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:27.000 packet sugar with you at all times? Come on still 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.719 with sugar right now? Um? Also, uh, the in that 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.720 same article they talk about this, uh, this kind of 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:39.000 landmark study of an Israeli parole board, and um, they 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:43.040 found that you if you were a parole e and 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.399 you came to them after it had been a while 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:49.080 since a break or lunch or breakfast, your chances of 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:53.520 being paroled dropped by like fifty or sixt oh if 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:56.240 the parole board had not had breakfast, yes or no. 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:58.600 If they if you came to them like right after 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.919 things got started after breakfast or after lunch, your chances 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:07.560 of being paroled were like fifty to fifty greater than 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.760 people who came to them for identical crimes like a 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:12.880 couple of hours later. I'm sure that makes the criminals 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:15.440 of the world feel pretty great. Yeah, exactly, so arbitrary. 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:18.320 And they what they found is it's not laziness. It's 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:22.240 not like physical fatigue, where like you can tell you're tired. 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:25.720 What our brains do is they employ the strategy where 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:29.320 you you are, you become risk averse, like you don't 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.480 want to make a decision, so you say, you know what, 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:34.040 I'm just gonna put this off. You're gonna go back 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:35.680 to jail. I'm not going to grant your parole because 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.320 that's risky behavior to let you back out in the world. 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:41.320 And I'm just I've made too many decisions today. But 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:43.360 you're not thinking this. They just say parole to nine 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:45.760 and you have no idea why. It just makes sense 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.400 to you at the time. But if you had had 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:53.600 some glucoset that same instance, you may you may be like, well, yeah, 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:55.920 I think you're you're ready to come back out in society. 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:00.199 That reminds me of the band Rush, Yes, that we 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.840 talked about before. I remember this from when I was 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.840 a teenager. You know the lyric um Man, what song 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.400 is it? If you choose not to decide, you still 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:12.159 have made a choice free will. Oh yeah, that's from 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.119 that song of course. I think on the original album 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:17.520 jacket it says if you choose not to decide, you 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:20.480 cannot have made a choice. Is there. Yeah, my brother 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:22.520 and I used to laugh that. I think Neil Perd 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:24.800 actually wrote a lot of the lyrics back then that 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.560 Getty Lee justlike you know, edged it out with events. 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:30.720 But it's the complete opposite meanings. So it's interesting that 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:33.920 at some point Rush I guess that maybe a band 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:36.680 argument or something. I'm glad Getty Lee one, Yeah, you 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.160 have made a choice. No, you cannot have made a choice. 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:42.000 Just shut up, play drums. Your voice is weird. I 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.720 remember hearing that the first time. I was like, oh man, 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:48.000 oh yeah, blew me away? Yeah yeah, free will I 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:49.560 can't believe I didn't remember the name. And you're like, 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:51.359 I can't think of the name of this song, but 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.920 it's about free will? Yeah? Was it Red bar Chetta? 0:19:56.359 --> 0:20:00.920 All right? Oh? I didn't really fully get the um 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:06.880 the Stanford UH psychologist Walton and Dweck and then is Dweck. 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:11.359 It sounds like saying direct wrong. Um. I didn't fully 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:16.000 get that that they they said that people UH who 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:20.440 have will fund willpower fatigue tend to slack off when 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:23.520 they felt their resolve wavering, but then people who felt 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.639 their resolve was limitless pressed on. I like that, just 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:29.320 I don't get the point there. It seems like a 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.119 no brainer. So yeah, I think I think it is. 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:34.679 You may just be looking too deeply. It was like 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:37.399 what I was talking about earlier at the beginning, where like, 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:39.840 depending on how you see the world, like do you 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.320 see the world is like, like you have willpower, so 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:46.000 you can overcome any temptation. You're going to last longer 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:49.719 on tests of will power than somebody who is like, um, 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:52.360 I'm feeling kind of weak today, you know, and then 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:54.960 you're just gonna give in. Okay, So it is pretty simple. Yeah, 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:56.880 all right, I thought it was a dummy. Not only 0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:59.760 is it simple, I managed to make it more complex 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:03.360 and talk about it at length. Uh. They do know 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:08.200 that people, generally there is some genetic component involved, Like 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.560 if your parents are super self disciplined, then you were 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:13.919 more likely to turn out that way. I found that 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.160 to be true from friends of mine whose parents were 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:18.800 like super self discipline and their kids kind of turned 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:21.199 out that way too. Yeah, but I wonder, and Robert 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.119 makes a point in the article like is it genetic 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:28.240 or epigenetic. Yeah, I don't know, probably both would be 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:32.240 my guests. We just chose not to decide. We cannot 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:35.200 have made a choice. Uh. And then the old marshmallow 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:39.439 experiment this uh Stanford, not the prison experiment, but the 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:43.800 marshmallow experiment from the nineteen sixties, very famous one where 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:48.240 they placed these uh tortured these kids basically by placing 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.119 a marshmallow in front of them and saying, if you 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:53.960 hold off on eating that marshmallow in fifteen minutes, you 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:56.359 will have too. And of course not many of the 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:59.040 kids could hold out, but they found that the ones 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:01.879 who did hold out of the second marshmallow went on 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:05.160 in life to greater successes, at least if you count 0:22:05.560 --> 0:22:08.040 s a T scores as a measure of success, two 0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:11.800 points higher than the ones who chowed down on the marshmallow. 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:14.760 And the ones who ate the marshmallow later on had 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:20.439 struggles with relationships and stress and uh attention. Yeah, so 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:22.560 I wonder if that has even do with like you know, 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:24.960 O c D. I wonder as well, I wonder how 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:28.600 much um of our modern problems are really just crises 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:32.800 of willpower? I wonder, um. There was a follow up 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:35.439 to that sixties experiment. There's been a bunch, but there 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:37.919 was one in at the University of Rochester that was 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:43.600 carried out last year that um found we are more 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:46.360 willing to exercise willpower if we think that what we're 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:49.800 holding out for is actually going to happen, you know. Uh, 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:52.679 And they did that by this is hilarious. It's funny. 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:56.159 Studies with kids are always they're so cruel and funny, 0:22:56.840 --> 0:22:59.440 I mean not the really truly cruel ones that any 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:02.960 psychic logical study that has new kids almost invariably has 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:06.120 some cruel aspect to it, and this one was no, uh, 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:11.480