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by ibgames

EARTHDATE: November 17, 2013

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REAL LIFE NEWS: BEING GOOD IS EASIER IN THE MORNING

by Hazed

In the constant struggle to do the right thing, you need willpower. But exercising willpower is hard work, and as the day goes on you run out of steam and are more likely to give in to temptation.

As a consequence you’re more likely to cheat in the afternoon – whether that means cheating on a test, breaking your diet or taking money that doesn’t belong to you.

A new study in Psychological Science explains that moral behaviour depends on willpower. Seeing cash left lying about is a temptation to everyone, no matter how high their ethical standards. Very often the reason we resist the temptation to do things we know are wrong is down to willpower – using the part of the brain that regulates our basic impulses, the prefrontal cortex.

Babies and children have to be trained to do this but as we grow up it becomes automatic so we often don’t realise we are doing it.

But exercising that willpower takes effort, and it leads to fatigue, which means we’re more likely to slip. Anyone who has tried to diet, to stay off drugs or kick any bad habit will have experienced this.

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Utah ran a series of experiences to test how this willpower fatigue affects the choices we make when confronted with moral dilemmas. They ran the same experiments on one group in the morning, and another group in the afternoon. The tests were designed to make cheating easy and rewarding – you can read the details at the source link below.

The result was that those tested in the afternoon were more likely to cheat than the morning volunteers.

“Mere time of day,” the researchers wrote, “can lead to a systemic failure of good people to act morally.”

So if you’re struggling with temptation, you need to pace yourself lest you run out of willpower and give in by the teatime!

Source: http://science.time.com/2013/10/31/why-youre-likelier-to-cheat-in-the-afternoon/

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