Have We Been Thinking About Willpower the Wrong Way for 30 Years?
By Nir Eyal
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New research proposes /prə'poz/ another explanation /ˌɛksplə'neʃən/ for why we run out of steam [stim]. In a study conducted [ˈkɑndʌktid] by the Stanford ['stænfəd] psychologist [saɪ'kɑlədʒɪst] Carol ['kærəl] Dweck and her colleagues [ˈkɔli:ɡz], published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dweck concluded /kən'klud/ that signs of ego /'iɡo/ depletion /dɪ'pliʃən/ were observed only in test subjects who believed willpower was a limited resource. Those participants /pɑr'tɪsəpənt/ who did not see willpower as finite /'faɪnaɪt/ did not show signs of ego depletion.
It appears ego depletion may be just another example of the way belief drives behavior. Thinking we’re spent makes us feel worse, while rewarding ourselves with an indulgence [ɪn'dʌldʒəns] makes us feel better. It’s not the sugar ['ʃʊgɚ] in the lemonade [,lɛmə'ned] that produces the sustained /səˈstend/ mental stamina [stæmənə], but rather the placebo [plə'sibo] effect at work.
If ego depletion is essentially [ɪ'sɛnʃəli] caused by self-defeating thoughts, one has to wonder about the harm [hɑrm] done by this overturned hypothesis /haɪ'pɑθəsɪs/. Many people, particularly /pɚ'tɪkjəlɚli/ self-help gurus /'ɡʊru/, still promote /prə'mot/ the idea of ego depletion, perhaps unaware of the contradictory /ˌkɑntrə'dɪktəri/ evidence calling the theory into question. But if Dweck’s conclusions are correct, then perpetuating /pɚ'pɛtʃuet/the idea of willpower as a finite resource is doing real harm.
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Perhaps the idea of ego depletion caught on because it satisfies a need to justify why we sometimes do things we know we shouldn’t, such as slacking off at work when we should be finishing a project.
But rather than looking for a hidden willpower gas /ɡæs/ tank /tæŋk/ in our heads /'hɛdz/ that doesn’t exist, perhaps we should accept that we are fragile /'frædʒəl/, distractible /dɪ'stræktəbl/ beings and cut ourselves some slack. Perhaps our flagging /ˈflæɡɪŋ/ energies /'ɛnɚdʒi/ and wandering minds are trying to tell us something.
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