Mental effort is generally unpleasant, as confirmed by a meta-analysis involving over 4,600 participants across various tasks and demographics. People often pursue challenging activities for the rewards, not the pleasure of the task. Credit: SciTechDaily.
com A meta-analysis of 170 studies revealed that regardless of the task or population, increased mental effort correlates with feelings of frustration and stress. This phenomenon is less pronounced in Asian populations, possibly due to different educational experiences. Despite this, people still engage in mentally challenging tasks like chess, driven by the rewards rather than enjoyment of the effort itself.
Mental Effort and Discomfort According to research published by the American Psychological Association, if somebody complains that it hurts to think, they may be onto something, as mental exertion appears to be associated with unpleasant feelings in many situations. “Managers often encourage employees, and teachers often encourage students, to exert mental effort. On the surface, this seems to work well: Employees and students do often opt for mentally challenging activities,” said senior author Erik Bijleveld, PhD, of Radboud University.
“From this, you may be tempted to conclude that employees and students tend to enjoy thinking hard. Our results suggest that this conclusion would be false: In general, people really dislike mental effort.” The research was published in the journal Psychological Bulletin .
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