Will Power?
This fascinating article (via A&LD) explores how will-power is a more important factor in achievement than natural talent. Unfortunately, will-power is also a depletable resource, much like physical strength: used vigorously, it soon becomes fatigued. The author of the piece illustrates the point by citing her father, a professional philosopher who neglects the discipline to stay fit so that he has the reserves to, “take on the search for wisdom with the strength of 10 men.” That notion has a certain appeal. Perhaps I should have skipped going to the gym tonight in order to get more blogging in.
It also adds an interesting new level to the specialization of labour. Innovations in agriculture and technology produced surplus time and resources, and now might we believe that they also produced surplus will-power? That is to ask, would we have so many deep-thinkers today if there were more pressing demands on our mental discipline? (And does professional philosophy have as much or greater social benefit as a cobbler or a blacksmith?)
The ruin of the author’s father’s fitness and hygiene also has implications about the current state of ill-health in first world countries, such as the lack of preventative successes in smoking cessation and battling weight gain. It seems that a lot of research has gone into finding physical explanations for what once may have been considered defects of character. Physical addiction or genetics are no doubt significant explanatory variables, but maybe we do have the will-power to overcome some of our hurdles — it’s just that we have so many other tasks that demand our attention in a modern, complex world.
Tyler Cowen notes a more cerebral text on the subject that concludes:
At the same time, willpower depletion provides an alternative explanation for a taste for commitment, intertemporal preference reversals, and procrastination. Accounting for willpower depletion thus provides a more unified theory of time preference. It also provides an explanation for anomalous intratemporal behaviors such as low correlations between health-related activities.
Prof. Cowen advises:
My approach to willpower deletion, of course, is to always leave oneself wanting to do a little more of the virtuous task, rather than to overdiscipline. If you have promised yourself 200 push-ups, stop at 198.
4 Responses to “Will Power?”
Cowen is right, I think, to see the importance of this research in providing a unified theroy of time preference. Some of the experimental work strikes me as shoddy, however. Pardon the long quote:
This is a doubtful conclusion. First off, it’s well known that chocolate has a number of effects on our brain chemistry (via caffeine, phenylethylamine, probably some others I’ve forgotten). Second, radishes are very low on calories, and I know from my own experience that I am far less patient when I haven’t had much to eat recently. And also when I’ve not been caffeinated. Time preference changes based on resisting temptation may well have nothing to do with it. A better experiment would have simply offered the control group a plate of chocolate chip cookies without any stipulations — and then asked them to solve the puzzle.
The article suggests that there was a substantial difference between the radish group and both the cookie group _and_ the no-food group; and that there was no or close to no difference between the cookie group and the no-food group. This result is not consistent, then, with either the ‘mmm chocolate’ hypothesis or the ‘feed me, Seymour!’ hypothesis — each of which would predict that the chocolate group would outperform both of the other groups, and would predict little or no difference between the radish group and the no-food group. No?
Philosopher –
You’re right. I should have read more carefully. There still might be something about radishes, though. Are they or are they not one of those negative-calorie foods we hear about?
Whatever they are, they are some of the vilest vegetables that ever get mistaken for fit-for-human-consumption fare. If I had been in that subject group, I probably would have opted out of the experiment on the spot. (And taken a few of the chocolate cookies with me!)