First, the conventional wisdom: "Students who may already have trouble studying are being told that their powers of concentration are limited and they need to take frequent breaks," Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck said in a statement.
That's because the overwhelming belief among the scientific community -- as well as students and stressed-out staffers -- is that we can only handle so much cognitive exercise before our bodies need a break. But that has been challenged by Dweck and company's findings.
In four experiments, the research team gave Stanford students challenging assignments, and then evaluated their performance on a subsequent task. Some of the students thought (or were informed) that their work willpower was a limited resource, while others believed they were in control of their ability to keep trucking.
Those who took the limited-resource theory to heart performed worse on the follow-up work. And in the week preceding final exams, those students also procrastinated 34 percent more than their peers.
"If you think of willpower as something that's biologically limited, you're more likely to be tired when you perform a difficult task," said Veronika Job, lead author of the study. "But if you think of willpower as something that is not easily depleted, you can go on and on."
In other words, your own ideas about willpower and burnout will determine how hard you can hit the books.
The study's findings have implications outside the library or the office, as well. Those coping with dietary restrictions or trying to curb an addiction might also benefit from a reality check with regard to their own abilities.
But as notes a 2008 op-ed in The New York Times, written by a team of neuroscientists, willpower does seem to have some biological connections. It might be tied to depletion in blood sugar, which is required by brain cells.
And willpower "training" might improve the function of key neurons, they hypothesize.
"No one knows why willpower can grow with practice ..." the article reads. "Perhaps neurons in the frontal cortex, which is responsible for planning behavior, or in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is associated with cognitive control, use blood sugar more efficiently after repeated challenges."
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Of course, the possibility that willpower isn't biologically limited after all doesn't mean students can relentlessly power through homework or that addicts can talk themselves out of another cigarette.But acknowledging that our "work breaks" have more to do with keeping tabs on Facebook, and less to do with our own exhaustion, might push us all to give tasks an extra few minutes of effort.
Further research in this same vein might also challenge another commonly held notion: that a person devoting his or her willpower to one long-term goal will be less successful in completing other concurrent tasks and goals.
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