为什么不建议在晚上做决定

你在晚上做出过让自己后悔的决定吗？

无注释原文：

Don’t Make Important Decisions Late in the Day

From: HBR

February 23, 2016

You arrive at the office and, as usual, face a long list of tasks to accomplish: getting back to your colleagues about joint projects, sending those time-sensitive e-mails, finishing up that important performance review, making progress on one project, deciding on next steps for another. What’s the best way to tackle your to-do list?

You may have devised a personal strategy to help you order your various tasks. But if you are like most people, you may not give too much thought about when is the best time to tackle each of them. Recent research suggests that you need to think more strategically about how the time of day affects your decisions and performance.

Over the course of a regular day, everyone’s mental resources get taxed, research has consistently shown. Thus, as the day wears on, whether you like it or not, you become increasingly fatigued and consequently more likely to underperform on work tasks. Cognitive fatigue is a very common condition that results from sustained engagement that taxes your mental resources. This seems obvious, right? Yet the vast majority of people often overlook cognitive fatigue, despite the fact that it influences their choices and behaviors in profound ways.

Research has found that persistent cognitive fatigue results in burnout at work, lower motivation, increased distractibility, and poor information processing. It even lowers the quality of everyone’s judgment and decisions, including those of experts.

For instance, scientists Shai Danziger, Jonathan Levav, and Liora Avnaim-Pesso analyzed 1,112 bench rulings in a parole court and plotted the proportion of favorable rulings over the course of the day. They found that judges were more likely to deny a prisoner’s request and accept the status quo outcome as they advanced through the sequence of cases on a given day. More specifically, their proportion of favorable rulings started out high, at about 65% at the start of the day, but dropped off rapidly.

By the time a meal break came around, the proportion of favorable rulings was close to zero. When court was back in session, the pattern repeated itself, starting high and ending with almost zero favorable rulings. Interestingly, neither the judges nor the panelists who advised them were aware that mental energy is essential to careful deliberation and the later in the day, the lower such energy is, unless a lunch break allows judges to recharge.

Evidence for the same type of cognitive fatigue has been found in other contexts, including consumers choosing among various products and physicians prescribing antibiotics. Primary care doctors often prescribe unnecessary antibiotics for acute respiratory infections (ARI), researchers have found. As the physicians appeared to “wear down” during their morning and afternoon clinic sessions, the rates at which they prescribed antibiotics increased. About 5% more patients receive antibiotics at the end of a clinic session as compared to the beginning, this research shows. Thus, while clinicians make many patient care decisions each day, the cumulative demand of these decisions leads to more inappropriate choices later in the day.

Considered together, this evidence points to a clear conclusion: The overall demand of multiple decisions on people’s cognitive resources throughout the day erodes their ability to resist making easier and potentially inappropriate or bad decisions.

Similarly, time of day can affect performance. Hans Henrik Sievertsen of the Danish National Centre for Social Research, Marco Piovesan of the University of Copenhagen, and I found that time of day affects students’ performance in schools. Using test data on the full population of 8- to 15-year-old children in Danish public schools from school years 2009/10 and 2012/13 — a sample of over two million data points — we measured the effect of both time of day and breaks on students’ performance on standardized tests. Consistent with our predictions, cognitive fatigue led students to perform worse on the tests, and breaks recharged their energy.

Specifically, our analyses led to three main findings:

· The later in the day the time of the test was, the lower students’ performance on the test

· Breaks caused a significant improvement in performance

· The effect of time of day and of breaks was not homogeneous — that is, low-performing students were more affected by breaks (and also by the time of the day when the test was taken) than high-performing students

So, if there were a break after every hour, test scores would actually improve over the course of the day. But if breaks occur only every other hour like they do in the Danish system, the total effect is negative.

As this research on experts and students suggests, time of day and breaks have a meaningful influence on your decisions, behavior, and performance. So as you think through your to-do list, you may want to carefully consider the role of these external factors. Make sure you tackle the tasks that require a great deal of attention and mental energy earlier in the day and take breaks throughout the day.

- ◆ -

注：中文文本为机器翻译仅供参考，并非一一对应

含注释全文：

Don’t Make Important Decisions Late in the Day

From: HBR

February 23, 2016

You arrive at the office and, as usual, face a long list of tasks to accomplish: getting back to your colleagues about joint projects, sending those time-sensitive e-mails, finishing up that important performance review, making progress on one project, deciding on next steps for another. What’s the best way to tackle your to-do list?

你来到办公室，像往常一样，面临着一长串要完成的任务：就联合项目与同事联系，发送具有时效性的电子邮件，完成重要的绩效评估，在一个项目上取得进展，决定下一步的工作。处理待办事项清单的最佳方式是什么呢？

表示“时间敏感性的；时效性的”，英文解释为“ physically changing as time passes”

You may have devised a personal strategy to help you order your various tasks. But if you are like most people, you may not give too much thought about when is the best time to tackle each of them. Recent research suggests that you need to think more strategically about how the time of day affects your decisions and performance.

你可能已经设计了一个个人策略来帮助你安排各种任务。但是如果你像大多数人一样，你可能不会过多考虑什么时候是处理每一项任务的最佳时机。最近的研究表明，你需要更战略性地思考一天中的时间如何影响你的决定和表现。

devise表示“想出，设计，发明（新的方法）”，英文解释为“to plan or invent a new way of doing something”，如：devise a plan/system/machine，举个🌰：

She devised a method for quicker communications between offices.

她想出一种加快办公室之间通信联络的方法。

区分：

📍revise1）表示“改变；修正，修改”，英文解释为“to change something because of new information or ideas”，如：revise the article/revise the plan；

2）表示“（考试）温习，复习”，英文解释为“to study facts again, in order to learn them before an examination”，举个🌰：

Revising for exams gives you a chance to bring together all the individual parts of the course.

考前复习给你一个把课程各独立部分融会贯通的机会。

Over the course of a regular day, everyone’s mental resources get taxed, research has consistently shown. Thus, as the day wears on, whether you like it or not, you become increasingly fatigued and consequently more likely to underperform on work tasks. Cognitive fatigue is a very common condition that results from sustained engagement that taxes your mental resources. This seems obvious, right? Yet the vast majority of people often overlook cognitive fatigue, despite the fact that it influences their choices and behaviors in profound ways.

研究始终表明，在正常的一天中，每个人的脑力资源都会被消耗。因此，随着时间的推移，无论你喜欢与否，你都会变得越来越疲劳，因此更有可能在工作任务中表现不佳。认知疲劳是一种非常常见的情况，它是由持续投入导致的，对你的脑力资源造成了负担。这似乎很明显，对吧？然而，绝大多数人经常忽视认知疲劳，尽管它深刻地影响着人们的选择和行为。

1）熟词僻义，作动词，表示“使负重担；使大伤脑筋”，英文解释为“to need someone to make a lot of effort, either physical or mental”举个🌰：

He only has to read a short report - it shouldn't tax him too much.

他只需读一篇简短的报告——这应该不会耗费他太多精力的。

2）表示“对…征税，对…课税”，英文解释为“to make someone pay a tax”举个🌰：

Husbands and wives may be taxed jointly/separately.

夫妻俩可以分别/合并纳税。

表示“（时间）慢慢过去，沉闷地过去”，英文解释为“If a period of time wears on, it seems to pass very slowly.”举个🌰：

She felt less confident about finishing the work as the week wore on.

随着这一周的时间慢慢过去，她更加觉得没有信心完成这项工作。

fatigue /fəˈtiːɡ/ 可以作动词，也可以作名词，表示“疲劳；劳累”，英文解释为“a feeling of being extremely tired, usually because of hard work or exercise”，如：physical and mental fatigue 身体和精神的疲劳。

表示“认知的；感知的；认识的”，英文解释为“Cognitive means relating to the mental process involved in knowing, learning, and understanding things.”举个🌰：

As children grow older, their cognitive processes become sharper. 

随着孩子们长大，他们的认知过程也变得越来越敏锐了。

1）表示“持续的，持久的”，英文解释为“continuing for a long time”举个🌰：

His speech was greeted by sustained applause.

他的演讲博得了经久不息的掌声。

2）表示“坚定的，坚持不懈的”（determined），2020年政府工作报告中的例句：持续打造市场化、法治化、国际化营商环境 make sustained efforts to create a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment.

Research has found that persistent cognitive fatigue results in burnout at work, lower motivation, increased distractibility, and poor information processing. It even lowers the quality of everyone’s judgment and decisions, including those of experts.

研究发现，持续的认知疲劳会导致工作倦怠、积极性降低、注意力更分散、信息处理不畅，甚至会降低每个人（包括专家）的判断和决策质量。

For instance, scientists Shai Danziger, Jonathan Levav, and Liora Avnaim-Pesso analyzed 1,112 bench rulings in a parole court and plotted the proportion of favorable rulings over the course of the day. They found that judges were more likely to deny a prisoner’s request and accept the status quo outcome as they advanced through the sequence of cases on a given day. More specifically, their proportion of favorable rulings started out high, at about 65% at the start of the day, but dropped off rapidly.

例如，科科学家丹齐格（Shai Danziger）、乔纳森·勒瓦夫（Jonathan Levav）和利奥拉·阿夫男-佩索（Liora Avnaim-Pesso）分析了假释法庭的1,112项法官裁决，并绘制了一天中有利裁决的比例。他们发现，在一天中，随着时间的流逝，法官拒绝囚犯的请求并接受现状结果的可能性逐渐增加。更具体地说，他们的有利裁决比例开始时很高，在一天开始时约为65%，但迅速下降。

parole /pəˈrəʊl/ 表示“有条件释放，假释”，英文解释为“permission for a prisoner to be released before their period in prison is finished, with the agreement that they will behave well”举个🌰：

He's been released on parole.

他获假释出狱。

1）表示“比率，比例”，英文解释为“the number, amount, or level of one thing when compared to another”举个🌰：

The proportion of women to men at my college was about one to eight.

我所在大学的男女比例大约为8：1。

2）表示“部分；份额”，英文解释为“the number or amount of a group or part of something when compared to the whole”举个🌰：

Children make up a large proportion of the world's population.

孩子占世界人口的很大一部分。

the status quo /ˌsteɪ.təs ˈkwəʊ/ 表示“现状”，英文解释为“the present situation”举个🌰：

Certain people always want to maintain the status quo.

有些人总是想维持现状。

表示“减少，下降”，英文解释为“If the amount, number, or quality of something drops off, it becomes less.”举个🌰：

The demand for mobile phones shows no signs of dropping off.

人们对手机的需求并未出现下降的迹象。

By the time a meal break came around, the proportion of favorable rulings was close to zero. When court was back in session, the pattern repeated itself, starting high and ending with almost zero favorable rulings. Interestingly, neither the judges nor the panelists who advised them were aware that mental energy is essential to careful deliberation and the later in the day, the lower such energy is, unless a lunch break allows judges to recharge.

到用餐休息时间，有利裁决的比例接近于零。当法庭重新开庭时，这种模式再次出现，从高开始，到几乎零有利裁决结束。有趣的是，无论是法官还是为他们提供建议的陪审团成员都没有意识到，心智能量对于仔细思考至关重要，而且一天中越晚，这种能量就越低，除非午休让法官恢复精力。

表示“陪审团成员”，英文解释为“a member of a panel”举个🌰：

Panellists on the Arts Review Board serve for a maximum of three years.

艺术评审委员会的成员任期最多为3年。

表示“细想；考虑；商议；审议”，英文解释为“the process of carefully considering or discussing sth”举个🌰：

After ten hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of ‘not guilty’.

经过十小时的商议，陪审团宣告了“无罪”的裁决。

📍2021年政府工作报告中「请予审议」处理为：(ask) for your deliberation and approval；

Evidence for the same type of cognitive fatigue has been found in other contexts, including consumers choosing among various products and physicians prescribing antibiotics. Primary care doctors often prescribe unnecessary antibiotics for acute respiratory infections (ARI), researchers have found. As the physicians appeared to “wear down” during their morning and afternoon clinic sessions, the rates at which they prescribed antibiotics increased. About 5% more patients receive antibiotics at the end of a clinic session as compared to the beginning, this research shows. Thus, while clinicians make many patient care decisions each day, the cumulative demand of these decisions leads to more inappropriate choices later in the day.

在其他情境中也发现了同样类型的认知疲劳证据，包括消费者在各种产品中进行选择和医生开抗生素处方。研究人员发现，主治医生经常为急性呼吸道感染（ARI）开不必要的抗生素。随着医生在上午和下午的门诊中逐渐“疲劳”时，他们开抗生素的比率增加了。这项研究显示，与开始相比，在门诊结束时接受抗生素治疗的患者增加了大约5%。因此，虽然临床医生每天都会做出许多病人的治疗决定，但这些决定的累积需求会导致在一天的后期做出更多不恰当的选择。

1) 表示“开（药、处方）”，英文解释为“If a doctor prescribes medicine or treatment for you, he or she tells you what medicine or treatment to have.”举个🌰：

The physician examines the patient then diagnoses the disease and prescribes medication. 

内科医生检查了病人，然后对疾病作出诊断，并开出药方。

2) 表示“规定”，英文解释为“If a person or set of laws or rules prescribes an action or duty, they state that it must be carried out.”，如：Article II of the constitution, which prescribes the method of electing a president 规定总统选举办法的宪法第二条。

📍prescriptions 处方药；处方

表示“抗生素，抗菌素”，英文解释为“a medicine or chemical that can destroy harmful bacteria in the body or limit their growth”举个🌰：

I'm taking antibiotics for a throat infection.

因为嗓子发炎我正服用抗生素。

1）表示“严峻的”，英文解释为“You can use acute to indicate that an undesirable situation or feeling is very severe or intense.”举个🌰：

There is an acute shortage of water.

水严重短缺。

2）表示“（疾病）急性的”，英文解释为“an acute illness is one that has quickly become severe and dangerous”如：acute appendicitis 急性阑尾炎。

respiratory /ˈrɛspərətərɪ/ 表示“呼吸的”，英文解释为“connected with breathing”，如：the respiratory system 呼吸系统，respiratory diseases 呼吸道疾病。

表示“临床医师”，英文解释为“someone, such as a doctor, who has qualifications in an area of very skilled health work”

表示“累积的”，英文解释为“If a series of events have a cumulative effect, each event makes the effect greater.”举个🌰：

It is simple pleasures, such as a walk on a sunny day, which have a cumulative effect on our mood.

诸如在晴朗的日子散步这样简朴的乐趣对我们的情绪有累积性益处。

Considered together, this evidence points to a clear conclusion: The overall demand of multiple decisions on people’s cognitive resources throughout the day erodes their ability to resist making easier and potentially inappropriate or bad decisions.

综合考虑，该证据指向了一个明确的结论：一天中人们多重决策对认知资源的总体需求，会导致人们做出更简单、可能不恰当或糟糕的决策。

表示“降低，削弱”，英文解释为“If the value of something erodes or is eroded by something such as inflation or age, its value decreases.”举个🌰：

Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.

金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

还可以指“（气候）侵蚀，腐蚀；（岩石、土壤）风化”等（if the weather erodes rock or soil, or if rock or soil erodes, its surface is gradually destroyed），如：soil erosion 水土流失。

1）表示“抵制；阻挡；抗拒”，英文解释为“to refuse to accept or be changed by something”举个🌰：

She resisted demands for her resignation.

她拒不答应她辞职的要求。

2）表示“按捺；忍住；拒受…的影响”，英文解释为“to stop yourself from doing something that you want to do”举个🌰：

I can never resist temptation/chocolate/the urge to laugh.

我向来无法抗拒诱惑/我永远不可能抵挡巧克力的诱惑/我要是想笑，怎么也忍不住。

Similarly, time of day can affect performance. Hans Henrik Sievertsen of the Danish National Centre for Social Research, Marco Piovesan of the University of Copenhagen, and I found that time of day affects students’ performance in schools. Using test data on the full population of 8- to 15-year-old children in Danish public schools from school years 2009/10 and 2012/13 — a sample of over two million data points — we measured the effect of both time of day and breaks on students’ performance on standardized tests. Consistent with our predictions, cognitive fatigue led students to perform worse on the tests, and breaks recharged their energy.

同样，一天中的时间也会影响学生的表现。丹麦国家社会研究中心的汉斯·亨里克·西韦森（Hans Henrik Sievertsen）、哥本哈根大学的马尔科·皮奥维桑（Marco Piovesan）和我（注：指本文作者Francesca Gino）发现，一天中的时间会影响学生在学校的表现。我们利用丹麦公立学校2009/10和2012/13学年全部8至15岁儿童的考试数据——超过200万个数据点的样本——衡量了一天中的时间和休息时间对学生在标准化考试中表现的影响。与我们的预测一致，认知疲劳导致学生在考试中表现更差，休息时间为他们补充了能量。

Specifically, our analyses led to three main findings:

具体而言，我们的分析得出三个主要结论：

· The later in the day the time of the test was, the lower students’ performance on the test

· 考试时间越晚学生的考试成绩越低

· Breaks caused a significant improvement in performance

· 休息导致成绩显著提高

· The effect of time of day and of breaks was not homogeneous — that is, low-performing students were more affected by breaks (and also by the time of the day when the test was taken) than high-performing students

· 一天中的时间和休息时间的影响是不均衡的——也就是说，表现不佳的学生比表现良好的学生更受休息时间的影响（也受一天中考试时间的影响）

homogeneous /ˌhɒm.əˈdʒiː.ni.əs/ 表示“由同类事物（或人）组成的；同类的；相似的”，英文解释为“consisting of parts or people that are similar to each other or are of the same type”如：a homogeneous group/society 由同种族人组成的群体/社会。

As this research on experts and students suggests, time of day and breaks have a meaningful influence on your decisions, behavior, and performance. So as you think through your to-do list, you may want to carefully consider the role of these external factors. Make sure you tackle the tasks that require a great deal of attention and mental energy earlier in the day and take breaks throughout the day.

这项针对专家和学生的研究表明，一天中的时间和休息时间对你的决定、行为和表现有重要影响。因此，当你思考待办事项时，你可能需要仔细考虑这些外部因素的作用。确保你在一天的早些时候处理需要大量注意力和心智能量的任务，并在一天中多休息。

- 今日盘点 -

time-sensitive

devise

tax

wear on

fatigue

cognitive

sustained

parole

proportion

the status quo

drop off

panelist

deliberation

prescribe

antibiotic

acute

respiratory

clinician

cumulative

erode

resist

homogeneous

公众号后台对话框里发送：沙发

查看沙发计划，抢沙发拿奖励

公众号后台对话框里发送：打卡

参与每天持续行动打卡计划

公众号后台对话框里发送：提问

查看提问指南，不懂先查再问

- 推荐阅读 -

2022政府工作报告中英文对照注释版

为了这个合集，准备了整整1年8月

「LearnAndRecord」2021大盘点

写在七周年的话

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