首页
登录
职称英语
Declining house prices, rising job layoffs, skyrocketing oil costs and a majo
Declining house prices, rising job layoffs, skyrocketing oil costs and a majo
游客
2023-12-26
24
管理
问题
Declining house prices, rising job layoffs, skyrocketing oil costs and a major credit crunch have brought consumer confidence to its lowest point in five years. With a relatively long recession looking increasingly likely, many American families may be planning to tighten their belts.
Interestingly, restraining our consumer spending, in the short term, may cause us to actually loosen the belts around our waists. What’s the connection? The brain has a limited capacity for self-regulation, so exerting willpower in one area often leads to backsliding in others. The good news, however, is that practice increases willpower capacity, so that in the long run, buying less now may improve our ability to achieve future goals — like losing those 10 pounds we gained when we weren’t out shopping.
The brain’s store of willpower is depleted when people control their thoughts, feelings or impulses, or when they modify their behaviors in pursuit of goals. Psychologist Roy Baumeister and others have found that people who successfully accomplish one task requiring self-control are less persistent on a second, seemingly unrelated task.
In one pioneering study, some people were asked to eat radishes while others received freshly baked chocolate chip cookies before trying to solve an impossible puzzle. The radish-eaters abandoned the puzzle in eight minutes on average, working less than half as long as people who got cookies or those who were excused from eating radishes. Similarly, people who were asked to circle every "e" on a page of text then showed less persistence in watching a video of an unchanging table and wall.
Other activities that deplete willpower include resisting food or drink, suppressing emotional responses, restraining aggressive or sexual impulses, taking exams and trying to impress someone. Task persistence is also reduced when people are stressed or tired from exertion or lack of sleep.
What limits willpower? Some have suggested that it is blood sugar, which brain cells use as their main energy source and cannot do without for even a few minutes. Most cognitive functions are unaffected by minor blood sugar fluctuations over the course of a day, but planning and self-control are sensitive to such small changes. Exerting self-control lowers blood sugar, which reduces the capacity for further self-control. People who drink a glass of lemonade between completing one task requiring self-control and beginning a second one perform equally well on both tasks, while people who drink sugarless diet lemonade make more errors on the second task than on the first. Foods that persistently elevate blood sugar, like those containing protein or complex carbohydrates, might enhance willpower for longer periods.
In the short term, you should spend your limited willpower budget wisely. It can be counterproductive to work toward multiple goals at the same time if your willpower cannot cover all the efforts that are required. Concentrating your effort on one or, at most, a few goals at a time increases the
odds
of success.
Focusing on success is important because willpower can grow in the long term. Like a muscle, willpower seems to become stronger with use. The idea of exercising willpower is seen in
military boot camp
, where recruits are trained to overcome one challenge after another.
No one knows why willpower can grow with practice, but consistently doing any activity that requires self-control seems to increase willpower — and the ability to resist impulses and delay
gratification
is highly associated with success in life. [br] Various activities are mentioned in the passage to illustrate______.
选项
A、the symptom of willpower deficiency
B、the source of people’s energy
C、the factors affecting willpower
D、the importance of persistence
答案
C
解析
推断题。通过语篇分析可知,第4段和第5段所提及的活动实际上是实例,用以支持第3段提出的观点,即当人们控制思想、情感或冲动时,或是为了追求目标而改变行为时,大脑中的意志力储存量会减少。由此可知正确答案为C(影响意志力的诸多因素)。A为强干扰项,但以上活动并非意志力缺乏的表现,而是其原因,故不符合题意。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3306010.html
相关试题推荐
AccordingtoWMO,whatisthemaincauseoftherisingtemperatures?[originalte
GenderTaxWomenexpecttopaythesamepricesforgoodsandservicesasmen
Theshockoftheglobalcreditcrunchandsoaringcommoditypricesreachesstrai
Therearerisinginequalitieswithinandamongcountries.国家内和国家间的不平等在增加。
ChopinremainedinexileinFranceaftertheuprisingwascrushed.起义失败后,肖邦一直流亡法国
From1965to1978Americanconsumerpricesincreasedatanaverageannualrateo
Declininghouseprices,risingjoblayoffs,skyrocketingoilcostsandamajo
Declininghouseprices,risingjoblayoffs,skyrocketingoilcostsandamajo
Declininghouseprices,risingjoblayoffs,skyrocketingoilcostsandamajo
Declininghouseprices,risingjoblayoffs,skyrocketingoilcostsandamajo
随机试题
缓和ease
(1)Doppelganger,aSanFrancisco-basedstartupislaunchingavirtualworldt
入侵检测系统的基本组成部分有:事件产生器、事件分析器以及事件数据库和响应单元,其
孕妇血容量增加在哪段时间达高峰A.孕12~20周 B.孕20~28周 C.孕
①国际足联之所以下定决心采用VAR技术,其目的是想让世界杯的每一场比赛、每一个进
已知2007年我国城镇居民家庭消费性支出为9997.47元,农村居民家庭生活消费
某传染病医院发现了一名鼠疫病人,是一名公路维修工人,对病人采取的措施不正确的是A
从所给的四个选项中,选择最合适的一个填入问号处,使之呈现一定的规律性: A.如
某女,45岁,体胖,患湿热赤白带下与血热崩漏,宜选用的药是A.芡实 B.海螵蛸
对总额1000万元的工程项目进行期中检查,截止检查时已完工作预算费用为410万元
最新回复
(
0
)