''Decision Fatigue''

[Leigha]

Bank credit officers are more likely to approve loan applications earlier and later in the day, while 'decision fatigue' around midday is associated with defaulting to the safer option of saying no.

These are the findings of a study by researchers in Cambridge's Department of Psychology, published today in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Decision fatigue is the tiredness caused by having to make difficult decisions over a long period. Previous studies have shown that people suffering from decision fatigue tend to fall back on the 'default decision': choosing whatever option is easier or seems safer.

The researchers looked at the decisions made on 26,501 credit loan applications by 30 credit officers of a major bank over a month. The officers were making decisions on 'restructuring requests': where the customer already has a loan but is having difficulties paying it back, so asks the bank to adjust the repayments.

By studying decisions made at a bank, the researchers could calculate the economic cost of decision fatigue in a specific context -- the first time this has been done. They found the bank could have collected around an extra $500,000 in loan repayments if all decisions had been made in the early morning.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...191622.htm

Interesting - but to be fair, they've observed the behaviors of only thirty credit officers within one bank. Definitely worth a deeper dive to see if this is happening across the entire banking industry (or other industries). It probably is to some degree, we're all human, especially if employees are overworked and companies are understaffed.

But, imagine a nurse nearing the end of his/her shift, experiencing a bout of decision fatigue, juggling a number of patients' medications...or a parole hearing goes south because a few ''decision makers'' are fatigued. After reading this, I'd consider canceling a job interview during the ''midday slump'' as well, if I want to be favorably remembered.

This may be more common than we know, and decision fatigue in some professions is especially troubling if the negative outcomes aren’t being looked into as to why. I'm thinking most people who have cyclical performance issues aren't going to admit that it was due to feeling tired at certain times of the day. It would be interesting to see this study done in the healthcare field actually, to see if empathy declines as well, towards the end of a doctor's busy shift. Even a judge presiding over a case, who didn't get a restful night's sleep, might lack empathy during sentencing.

I'd suspect it might be difficult however, to quantify all mistakes as a result of decision fatigue, because there could be other cognitive factors involved.

[C C]

[...] This may be more common than we know, and decision fatigue in some professions is especially troubling if the negative outcomes aren’t being looked into as to why. I'm thinking most people who have cyclical performance issues aren't going to admit that it was due to feeling tired at certain times of the day. It would be interesting to see this study done in the healthcare field actually, to see if empathy declines as well, towards the end of a doctor's busy shift. Even a judge presiding over a case, who didn't get a restful night's sleep, might lack empathy during sentencing.

I'd suspect it might be difficult however, to quantify all mistakes as a result of decision fatigue, because there could be other cognitive factors involved.

An additional component to add to the list, though.

Coincidentally... Complementing exhaustion on the intellectual activity side is this new research on the emotional/feeling side, where individuals can find compassion wearying or demanding. (But empathy less onerous.)

A new study suggests some people may actively avoid feeling compassion when given the choice (August 31, 2021)
https://news.psu.edu/story/666845/2021/0...lot-effort

"Experiencing compassion often leads to wanting to help others and improve their welfare, but we found that people may be unwilling to experience compassion and find it mentally taxing," Scheffer said.

[...] "These choices track with felt cognitive costs," Cameron said, "so cultivating compassion for your family may feel easier than cultivating compassion for a stranger, and this may be one reason why people tend to show such biases in their compassionate responding."

[...] "Some psychologists and philosophers have said compassion is easier than empathy," Cameron said. "One way to test that assumption is to directly compare them and give people a choice. When we asked people if they wanted to feel compassion, at least for strangers, they typically didn't want to and found it more challenging than empathy."

"We found that people were more willing to experience compassion for their loved ones compared to strangers, and this linked with experiencing reduced difficulty with compassion for loved ones," Scheffer said. "Compassion may be more desirable when directed toward more familiar loved ones, and potentially feel less difficult."

[...] "More people are finding it increasingly difficult to engage with each other, and as people are overwhelmed with the amount of suffering right now due to the pandemic, it may make compassion particularly difficult," Scheffer said. "Finding ways to better manage the mental challenges of compassion may provide a more rewarding route to generating prosocial motivation, especially in this particularly troubling time."

[Zinjanthropos]

Try phoning to complain to your internet service provider, the phone company or any utility or company that doesn’t have their own people answering the call. When you finally hang up there is a moment when you feel mentally exhausted plus you’re left with the feeling you’ll probably have to do it again next month. One of the most mentally exhausting experiences around.

[Leigha]

[...] This may be more common than we know, and decision fatigue in some professions is especially troubling if the negative outcomes aren’t being looked into as to why. I'm thinking most people who have cyclical performance issues aren't going to admit that it was due to feeling tired at certain times of the day. It would be interesting to see this study done in the healthcare field actually, to see if empathy declines as well, towards the end of a doctor's busy shift. Even a judge presiding over a case, who didn't get a restful night's sleep, might lack empathy during sentencing.

I'd suspect it might be difficult however, to quantify all mistakes as a result of decision fatigue, because there could be other cognitive factors involved.

An additional component to add to the list, though.

Coincidentally... Complementing exhaustion on the intellectual activity side is this new research on the emotional/feeling side, where individuals can find compassion wearying or demanding. (But empathy less  onerous.)

A new study suggests some people may actively avoid feeling compassion when given the choice (August 31, 2021)
https://news.psu.edu/story/666845/2021/0...lot-effort

"Experiencing compassion often leads to wanting to help others and improve their welfare, but we found that people may be unwilling to experience compassion and find it mentally taxing," Scheffer said.

[...] "These choices track with felt cognitive costs," Cameron said, "so cultivating compassion for your family may feel easier than cultivating compassion for a stranger, and this may be one reason why people tend to show such biases in their compassionate responding."

[...] "Some psychologists and philosophers have said compassion is easier than empathy," Cameron said. "One way to test that assumption is to directly compare them and give people a choice. When we asked people if they wanted to feel compassion, at least for strangers, they typically didn't want to and found it more challenging than empathy."

"We found that people were more willing to experience compassion for their loved ones compared to strangers, and this linked with experiencing reduced difficulty with compassion for loved ones," Scheffer said. "Compassion may be more desirable when directed toward more familiar loved ones, and potentially feel less difficult."

[...] "More people are finding it increasingly difficult to engage with each other, and as people are overwhelmed with the amount of suffering right now due to the pandemic, it may make compassion particularly difficult," Scheffer said. "Finding ways to better manage the mental challenges of compassion may provide a more rewarding route to generating prosocial motivation, especially in this particularly troubling time."

Makes sense. I wonder too if the impact of Covid has rendered most people more empathetic/compassionate, or not?

Read an article recently that some employers are mandating vaccinations of their employees, and demanding their staff to return to the workplace...''or else.'' Nothing says empathy quite like your boss threatening to fire you unless you're vaccinated, and return to the office, even though you were more productive working from home. Increases in road rage, political feuds online, and Biden's recent, reckless blunder with the Taliban where he completely disregards human life, all seem to point to an overall lack of empathy that is sadly surprising considering that last year, there seemed to be a ''we're all in this together'' kind of sentiment, that has all but vanished.

Try phoning to complain to your internet service provider, the phone company or any utility or company that doesn’t have their own people answering the call. When you finally hang up there is a moment when you feel mentally exhausted plus you’re left with the feeling you’ll probably have to do it again next month. One of the most mentally exhausting experiences around.

We shall call this ''customer fatigue.'' lol