On Amir (Marketing, Rady School-UCSD) has written an article for Scientific American. The article summarizes research on how we deplete cognitive resources when we make choices and how this affects our subsequent decisions. Here is a sample:
Imagine, for a moment, that you are facing a very difficult decision about which of two job offers to accept. One position offers good pay and job security, but is pretty mundane, whereas the other job is really interesting and offers reasonable pay, but has questionable job security. Clearly you can go about resolving this dilemma in many ways. Few people, however, would say that your decision should be affected or influenced by whether or not you resisted the urge to eat cookies prior to contemplating the job offers. A decade of psychology research suggests otherwise. Unrelated activities that tax the executive function have important lingering effects, and may disrupt your ability to make such an important decision. In other words, you might choose the wrong job because you didn't eat a cookie.
(Hat tip: Orly Lobel, writing at Prawfsblawg).
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