The brain has a limited capacity for self-regulation, so exerting willpower in one area often leads to backsliding in others. .First thought -- anytime chocolate is involved, it's got to be a good thing. We need more research like this.. . The brain’s store of willpower is depleted when people control their thoughts, feelings or impulses, or when they modify their behavior in pursuit of goals. Psychologist Roy Baumeister and others have found that people who successfully accomplish one task requiring self-control are less persistent on a second, seemingly unrelated task.
In one pioneering study, some people were asked to eat radishes while others received freshly baked chocolate chip cookies before trying to solve an impossible puzzle. The radish-eaters abandoned the puzzle in eight minutes on average, working less than half as long as people who got cookies or those who were excused from eating radishes. Similarly, people who were asked to circle every “e” on a page of text then showed less persistence in watching a video of an unchanging table and wall.
But seriously, eating cookies improves your ability to stick to a difficult or boring task. Who else is thinking about automatic recall of math facts? Perhaps all we need to do to hit our national goals is give kids cookies instead of radishes.
Last month when the CMT tests were being administered to all those 3rd through 8th graders, parents were asked to donate boxes of healthy snacks for the classrooms -- granola bars, fresh fruit, carrot sticks, etc. Perhaps we are sealing our own fate with this behavior -- if we'd have sent chocolate chip cookies and tossed the carrot sticks, maybe our kids could all hit goal.
But things get even better as we read through the op-ed:
What limits willpower? Some have suggested that it is blood sugar, which brain cells use as their main energy source and cannot do without for even a few minutes. Most cognitive functions are unaffected by minor blood sugar fluctuations over the course of a day, but planning and self-control are sensitive to such small changes. Exerting self-control lowers blood sugar, which reduces the capacity for further self-control. People who drink a glass of lemonade between completing one task requiring self-control and beginning a second one perform equally well on both tasks, while people who drink sugarless diet lemonade make more errors on the second task than on the first. Foods that persistently elevate blood sugar, like those containing protein or complex carbohydrates, might enhance willpower for longer periods.
If you need to study for a big exam, it might be smart to let the housecleaning slide to conserve your willpower for the more important job. Similarly, it can be counterproductive to work toward multiple goals at the same time if your willpower cannot cover all the efforts that are required. Concentrating your effort on one or at most a few goals at a time increases the odds of success.Clearly, we all need to stop insisting our kids clean their rooms and clear their dishes if we expect them to sit down and do their homework or study for an exam.
But what does this say about our schools? Minutes off of recess is so common a punishment its not even worth noting. Carrot sticks and fruit for birthday snacks? No rough-housing during recess, when you get recess? Are we expecting our kids to have far more willpower to sit and do dull tasks than is reasonable given the human limitations of willpower? Perhaps schools should rethink the school day in terms of willpower depletion -- classroom tasks can be less engaging (and more productive) if kids are given a freer rein, or more sugar, at other times of the day.
I'm hoping Catherine will jump in here, because she has so much more cognitive studies at her fingertips than I ever will.
I told you cookies helped me when I'm frustrated and disinterested! I feel vindicated!
ReplyDeleteMore seriously, I think this goes back to that ridiculous notion of "internal motivation." Hogwash. Most humans have little facility for being "internally" motivated towards completing tasks. In fact, the majority of people who are highly internally motivated have personality disorders or worse brain disorders--they are listening to the voices in their heads, they are obsessively unable to stop performing certain tasks, they are finding the most mundane, boring tasks to be fulfilling.
(This is what amphetamines do to you, and why they are used for ADHD: they make you so internally motivated that you think it's FASCINATING, utterly FASCINATING to read EVERY WORD of the want ads of the newspaper, or clean every square inch of the floor til it shines, etc. )
No, we're wired for EXTERNAL motivation. That may come in the form of praise, or money, or that piece of paper that functions as money, or the fear of losing one's house, or the fear of disappointing someone, but basically, we're externally motivated folks, and we best give ourselves opportunities to have external motivation, and lots of it. That way, what little self control we have is part of that feedback loop, and so we aren't asking ourselves just to self regulate. We're regulating in response to external stimuli.
This is why the whole "they need more maturity to handle this material" is such bunk too. For some amount of abstractions and concepts, maybe, but largely, they don't need more maturity. They need external motivation, and they need the means of facilitating that motivation by being given achievable goals in small chunks.
Who else is thinking about automatic recall of math facts?
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly what came to mind, but it occured to me that for some kids, completing a boring page of math exercises might hinder their desire or ability to concentrate on a later more difficult, relevant, or interesting math problem.
Would it make sense to drill at the end of class rather than at the beginning?
That's a good point, Myrtle.
ReplyDeleteBut if you're going to drill at the end of class, you'd better have a little lemonade pick-me-up handy for the kids all tapped out from their earlier efforts.
But basically, I think it reinforces what we see in classroom management -- a child has trouble staying on task, so he is punished by having recess taken away (to complete the work not done during class time), then the student is asked to complete another task requiring self-control. Might be one reason the same kids who have to stay in for recess continue to misbehave throughout the day.
I used to let kids chew gum in my room during tests (they had to swallow it if admin came in :>{).
ReplyDeleteIt seemed to enable them to stay on task longer. I thought it was just a relaxation thing but maybe there was a sugar boost involved. I know the definition of gum was usually dramatically flexible when the privilige was not abused.
Makes me go hmmmmmmm.
In fact, the majority of people who are highly internally motivated have personality disorders or worse brain disorders--they are listening to the voices in their heads, they are obsessively unable to stop performing certain tasks, they are finding the most mundane, boring tasks to be fulfilling.
ReplyDeleteAll of a sudden I’m feeling much better about my slacker teenager, and looking at his super high-achieving classmates in a different light. :-)
Seriously, this study is demonstrating something that good teachers probably already know and use in their classrooms. A few of my kids’ favorite teachers used to pass out gum during the high-pressure standardized tests.