节目资讯
刊物:空中英語教室
日期:2012-04-05
难易度:High
关键字:regrettable, willpower, series, fatigued, pre-eminent
Hi, friends.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us.
My name is Steve.
We all know about fatigue.
When our bodies get so tired that we don't have energy to do anything.
And that can happen anytime of day, not just at night, right?
Well, today let's explore the parallel world of mental fatigue and more
specifically, decision fatigue.
It basically works like this: The more decisions you make, the more the quality
of those decisions goes down.
Let's explore this theory more as we dig into today's lesson on page 16.
Decision Fatigue.
Decisions! Decisions! The constant need to decide may be affecting the quality
of your decisions.
Do you consider yourself a good or a bad decision-maker?
If you answer "bad," you might simply be choosing the wrong time of day to make
your decisions.
A new phenomenon.
When was the last time you made an end-of-the-day business decision or a
late-night online purchase only to regret it the next day?
Most of us are guilty of some regrettable decisions from time to time, but
researchers may now have an explanation for these poor choices.
Psychologists and researchers call the newly identified phenomenon "decision
fatigue." They suggest that each time we make a decision,
we use up some of our willpower, that ability to control our own actions and say
"No.".
Hello, friends.
Thank you so much for joining us here in the studio.
My name is Kaylah.
And my name is Brandon.
Today, Kaylah, we're talking about decisions.
That's right.
We are in our PSYCHOLOGY article talking about making decisions, specifically
about this new... psychological term called Decision Fatigue.
That's right.
And "fatigue" here, you think of being tired when you think of fatigue.
And so maybe sometimes you can become tired of making decisions.
Kaylah, I have a question for you.
Do you like to make decisions?
I wouldn't say I like making decisions, but I don't think it's very difficult.
I can make a decision kind of quickly.
And in English we'd say I am "decisive." That's an adjective describing someone
who can make decisions.
Now Brandon, are you decisive?
I am the opposite of you, Kaylah.
I am indecisive.
It's difficult for me to make decisions.
Oftentimes I want to think about all of the things involved, and then make a
decision.
Ah, yes.
Well, maybe this article can help us both make better decisions.
Well, our deck says: Decisions! Decisions! The constant need to decide may be
affecting the quality of your decisions.
That's right, "the constant need to decide." We have to make so many decisions
that we become tired.
And then we still need to make decisions, and maybe we will make some bad
decisions.
That's right. We are always making decisions.
It starts with the question: Do you consider yourself a good or bad
decision-maker?
Now Brandon and I've discussed it, but what about you, friends?
Are you good or bad at making decisions?
Well, if you answer "bad," you might simply be choosing the wrong time of day to
make your decisions.
And so maybe you are making too many decisions, for example, at the end of the
day.
Maybe you should think about making them earlier in the day so you have more
time to think about it.
That's right. Maybe early in the day will help you even if you're little tired,
not quite awake.
We're going to see why end-of-the-day decisions is not a good thing.
Well, this is a new phenomenon.
Now that's an interesting word, phenomenon, meaning something that is usual.
That's right, an unusual event.
Uh... we see here "A new phenomenon." And when was the last time you made an
end-of-the-day business decision?
"End-of-the-day" here is used as an adjective, of course, describing at the end
of the day, before you go home, you maybe need to make some decisions.
But is that what's best?
Or having made a late-night online purchase only to regret it the next day?
Both of these are in the evening.
Do you regret them?
Well, most of us are guilty of some regrettable decisions from time to time.
But researchers may now have an explanation for these poor choices.
That's right.
We have the word "regrettable" here.
If you "regret" something, that means you're sorry that you... you did that, or
you're sorry that you made that choice.
Sometimes we make choices, and later on we look back and think: I should not
have done that.
That's right.
That would be a poor choice.
Now poor choice doesn't mean there's not a lot of money involved.
It means that it was a bad choice.
It's another way of saying it was not the right decision.
Well, Kaylah, have you ever regretted a decision that you've made, maybe a
purchase that you've made?
I... I would say yes.
I think we all make regrettable decisions.
I think something that I'm pretty guilty of is at the end of the day, I don't
feel like eating very healthy,
or I don't want to cook a good dinner, so I buy something.
And that's kind of lazy and not a good decision for my money, for... because I'm
spending money, or for health reasons.
That's a good example.
I also sometimes regret decisions that I make.
Sometimes, for example, I will take a taxi when I could just simply maybe take
the subway instead because I love convenience.
Ah, that's right.
Well, psychologists and researchers call the newly identified phenomenon
"decision fatigue." So this whole idea of the decisions getting worse throughout
the day is called decision fatigue.
And they suggest that each time we make a decision, we use up some of our
willpower.
And if... you have "willpower," that means you have the ability to do something.
You have this kind of power inside of you to make a decision.
Well, we lose some of that because we've made so many decisions already.
That's right.
Your control is your willpower, your ability to stop.
Well, that ability to control your own actions and say "No" is another way of
describing willpower.
Well, is your willpower getting worse throughout the day as you make more
decisions?
We'll talk more about it.
But first, we need to go to the Chat Room.
Hey, Bryan, I'd like to return this book.
Hmm. "How to Make Good Decisions." Hmm. Sounds interesting.
Was it helpful?
Yes, it was.
I especially enjoyed the chapter about decision fatigue.
Uh, Ken, it should be "fatigue." It means feeling very tired.
Fatigue.
That's right.
So what is decision fatigue?
Decision fatigue is when you have to make a lot of decisions, but you get tired
and start making bad decisions.
I see.
You know, it reminds me of another term you might be interested in: compassion
fatigue.
I know compassion is when you care about someone who is having a problem and
want to help, right?
That's right.
Often when there is an earthquake or a flood, people feel compassion for the
people who are affected and try to help them.
But if there are several disasters in a row, people stop helping because they're
tired from the earlier ones.
So when that happens, could you say that people have run out of steam?
Yes. Good job, Ken.
To run out of steam is to stop having the energy to finish what you've been
doing.
You know, one thing I learn from that book is that it's good to make big
decisions early in the day before you run out of steam.
It does sound like good advice.
Maybe I should look through the book now that you're done with it.
You should.