Who here recalls interviewing for jobs? I imagine you might have wondered if the time of day you interviewed made a difference for the decision maker. Turns out it does.
John Tierney (a science columnist for The Times. His essay is adapted from a book he wrote with Roy F. Baumeister, “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength,”] writing for the Augsut 17, 2011 NYTimes, "Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue?", cites to a parole hearing to begin his article. The question asks the reader to choose which of three parolees was released? A pattern had emerged from the parole board revealing that if your case was heard in the morning (before decision fatigue set in for the judges) you had a whopping 70% chance of being freed.
It's not a fluke. Research shows that when we are alert, awake and well-fed we choose well. When we are tired, worn out, and on a glucose slump we choose poorly. Think about what this could mean for you and your cases whether they are being tested in small group research, heard by a single decision-maker such as a mediator or arbitrator, or deliberated by a jury. Excerpt:
"There was nothing malicious or even unusual about the judges’ behavior, which was reported earlier this year by Jonathan Levav of Stanford and Shai Danziger of Ben-Gurion University. The judges’ erratic judgment was due to the occupational hazard of being, as George W. Bush once put it, “the decider.” The mental work of ruling on case after case, whatever the individual merits, wore them down. This sort of decision fatigue can make quarterbacks prone to dubious choices late in the game and C.F.O.’s prone to disastrous dalliances late in the evening. It routinely warps the judgment of everyone, executive and nonexecutive, rich and poor — in fact, it can take a special toll on the poor. Yet few people are even aware of it, and researchers are only beginning to understand why it happens and how to counteract it.
Decision fatigue helps explain why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues and families, splurge on clothes, buy junk food at the supermarket and can’t resist the dealer’s offer to rustproof their new car. No matter how rational and high-minded you try to be, you can’t make decision after decision without paying a biological price. It’s different from ordinary physical fatigue — you’re not consciously aware of being tired — but you’re low on mental energy. The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, and eventually it looks for shortcuts, usually in either of two very different ways. One shortcut is to become reckless: to act impulsively instead of expending the energy to first think through the consequences. (Sure, tweet that photo! What could go wrong?) The other shortcut is the ultimate energy saver: do nothing. Instead of agonizing over decisions, avoid any choice. Ducking a decision often creates bigger problems in the long run, but for the moment, it eases the mental strain. You start to resist any change, any potentially risky move — like releasing a prisoner who might commit a crime. So the fatigued judge on a parole board takes the easy way out, and the prisoner keeps doing time." [Emphasis added.]
What is "decision fatigue"? Actually, it is a form of mental depletion involving the ego. We humans have a finite supply of mental energy. We use it up and there it goes.
I imagine it's much like a runner hitting "the wall" in a long race. They say you have to train for a race, develop your endurance, and pace yourself. Like your leg muscles, willpower is a form of mental energy that can be exhausted.
"Shop til you drop" is not a misnomer. By the end of the day anyone can sell you pretty much anything. A fascinating series of personal and laboratory experiments reveals that we settle for a default option as decision fatigue sets in.
Recall the last time you bought or leased a car and all the options you had to select or deselect. What about those of you who registered for wedding gifts? Do you really care if the sheets are 700 thread count or not? And then, of course, think about all those choices for the jurors on the multi-page verdict form. At the end of the day it's no wonder folks throw up their hands and
take whatever is behind Door #3.
TIP: Keep your glucose level up. Brain power needs glucose. Even a dieter needs to eat - well.
TIP: Pace yourself: [“Good decision making is not a trait of the person, in the sense that it’s always there,” Baumeister says. “It’s a state that fluctuates.” His studies show that people with the best self-control are the ones who structure their lives so as to conserve willpower. They don’t schedule endless back-to-back meetings. They avoid temptations like all-you-can-eat buffets, and they establish habits that eliminate the mental effort of making choices. Instead of deciding every morning whether or not to force themselves to exercise, they set up regular appointments to work out with a friend. Instead of counting on willpower to remain robust all day, they conserve it so that it’s available for emergencies and important decisions."]
TIP: Pay attention to the length and complexity of jury verdict forms. Is there a way to use a simpler, more easily understood set of instructions?
TIP: Pay attention to the energy level of the focus group participants, to your jurors, to the decision-maker. Perhaps taking a mental and glucose break is what will give you the best decision.
TIP: When faced with a quandary that did not require an immediate decision, my mother used to advise: "Have a little something to eat, sleep on it and decide in the morning." 9 times out of 10 she was right.
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