It’s Not Just You (and Me): Thinking Really Does Hurt

Well that's a relief.

If you've ever felt the pain when you're trying to think really, really hard (or not that hard), then science is here to say: we believe you!

Science Shows That It Really Does Hurt To Think

Don't wanna think? Just be really really really ridiculously good-looking (Getty Images for Paramount)

Researchers have even dumbed-down their findings for us. Isn't that nice? "Mental Effort" (thinking) is linked to unpleasant feelings (OWEEE).

One genius summed the study up nicely: "In general, people really dislike mental effort.” ~Dr. Erik Bijleveld of Radboud University

Can't even pronounce his name COME ON.

But...Why?

It's all about the destination, not the journey. We'll tolerate short-term comfort for long-term gains. "Tolerate" is the key word, because we don't necessarily like the short-term discomfort. We're not quite masochists, but we're also not even completely sure if we mean 'sadist'.

IRL Applications

Just trying to get to 250 words... (Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash)

Teachers: do you believe that if your students aren't engaging in class that you should give them more challenging work?

Managers: do you believe that burying employees in work will make them feel needed?

WRONG and WRONG. All this will do is burn out your students/employees, especially if there isn't a reward for the extra effort. Don't be mad at me, be mad at science.

RAGE AGAINST THE NERDS (Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash)

No Pain Still Equals No Gain

If you want to grow as a person (and not by just eating all of the donuts), then it's gonna take some exertion. Yes, I misspelled that word twice before the spellcheck thing stopped yelling at me. But I toughed it out, grinded through the muck, picked myself up by my bootstraps, and made it to the other side.

Yay me!

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H/T: Study Finds

Learning Management Skills from Mystery Science Theater 3000

In addition to old movies, MST3K would show old educational and industrial short films. Shorts about personal hygiene, selling freezers, or buying musical instruments. These films are fascinating windows into the past and are often full of good information.

One that I learned a lot from is a training film for Chevrolet sales managers, made in 1940, called Hired! It's very silly, and MST3K's jokes are spot on. But, I also learned a lot about managing people.

Gallery Credit: Ben Kuhns

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Filed Under: Science, Thinking

Categories: Loon Morning Show, Science, WTF