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Will Power by Gary Trotta |
 Can "Will Power" be measured? Can will power be exercised, improved and perhaps increased? We know that the brain can change in response to experience. We call this ability of our brains to change plasticity. In fact, synaptic plasticity is the way we learn. The synaptic connections within our brains grow and become stronger as we learn. As told to us by Donald Hebb (1949), "Cells that fire together, wire together".
But the idea of willpower is one most of us see as a personality trait and something we are born with to one degree or another. It turns out however, that willpower is a measureable, and changing commodity as well. And perhaps even more amazing, studies have found that the quantity of self control that we possess, our power of will, is more predictive than IQ in determining our success in later life!
Most of us believe that people are born will a certain amount of will power, a sort of, you got it or you don't quality. Not true. And psychologists have conducted several interesting studies to shed light and increase our understanding of this thing we call willpower. Let me first tell you about a study, we shall call "The Radish Study" – One group of students is given radishes to eat, which on average, is somewhat of a chore, because most students do not like to eat RADISHES! Then the group is given an impossible, unsolvable puzzle to do. A control group is given the same puzzle to do, but NOT given radishes to choke down prior. The students who were given radishes to eat before doing the puzzle, worked on the puzzle for only 8 minutes. The students not given the radishes to eat prior, the control group, worked on the puzzle for an average of 20 minutes before giving up. What is it about radishes? Eating radishes, one task, seemed to reduce the ability to stick to the second task. In other words, such challenges seem to chip away at our resolve. We only have so much to give, and so, willpower is indeed finite.
A similar experiment has one group of students circling all the E's found in some boring text, then they are asked to watch a video of a table against a wall. That's right, nothing but a table sitting against a wall, for many minutes on end. In this experiment, the control group, not asked to arduously circle E's within text prior to watching the awfully boring table video, were able or willing to devote more time watching the video. Again the first task diminished resolve to complete the second task. Willpower is FINITE!
Furthermore, it turns out that these are all factors that reduce willpower.
1. Resisting food or drink
2. Suppressing emotional response
3. Restraining oneself from aggressive or sexual impulses
4. Taking exams
5. Trying to impress someone
6. Stress tiredness or lack of sleep
These things all deplete the individual's emotional energy, leaving them less able to exert their own will power towards another task. This suggests that we can manage our will power, by reducing stressful tasks prior to engaging in tasks that will demand our will power. For example, studying for a upcoming exam. It turns out that exerting self control lowers our blood sugar, and the areas of our brain that are responsible for of our powers of will are in the front of the brain, and real energy hogs. Experiments have shown that drinking a glass of lemonade with sugar can help to restore willpower, or our ability to stick to a task. This kind of supports the idea of candy as a quick "pick me up" to avoid the blahs that seem to plague us in mid-day. Perhaps a better strategy might be consuming a food with complex carbohydrates, which would more slowly release energy producing glucose into our system.
So what specific parts of the brain are involved in willpower? First and foremost is, of course, the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is involved in planning and executive function, and this involves directing your task behavior to achieve the best results. Another important brain structure involving willpower is the anterior cingulated cortex, also found in the front of the brain, and associated with the cognitive control of actions and our ability to focus our attention.
But don't some of us have naturally more will power than others? There was a study involving 4-year-old children and marshmallows that speaks to this very point (study by Walter Mischel/Stanford 1960s). Here's how the study worked. 4-year-old children were placed in a room with a marshmallow. That's right, a single and delicious marshmallow. They were told they could eat the marshmallow anytime they would like to, but they would also be given a second marshmallow, if they could wait fifteen minutes before eating the first marshmallow. Typically the kids only lasted about 3 to 4 minutes before wolfing down the tempting marshmallow. A few, however, were able to wait the entire 15 minutes. It turns out in follow-up studies of these children, those that could wait the full fifteen minutes before pounding down the treat, were found years later to be better adjusted, more dependable, more attentive, more successful in school (as judged by their school teachers). In fact the study has continued, following these kids into later life (pre-college days) and again those that were able to resist the marshmallow for 15 minutes, had dramatically higher SAT scores! Most amazingly, the marshmallow test was shown to be twice as accurate in predicting academic success as IQ or other intelligence testing.
So some folks have more will power than others, but can will power be improved, exercised, and increased? The answer is yes! And although short term use of will power depletes the amount of momentary willpower, long term exercise of one's willpower actually increases the amount of willpower a person can bring to all of life's challenges. Willpower is kind of like our muscles, depleted with immediate use, however, also like our muscles, strengthened overtime with consistent exercise. Imagine your power of will strengthened each time you exercise restraint and do the harder thing. Now I imagine all of you will run right out and buy a bag of marshmallows to challenge yourself with. Actually, I don't really like marshmallows that much, but it is of interest that practicing stronger will, can result in better resolve and increase our willpower. And most importantly, as has been shown to follow, a greater success with life's challenges.
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