How Many Cognitrons are in Your Head?
Saturday, April 4th, 2009
Cognition is very resource-constrained. We only have so much energy for paying attention, remembering things, making decisions, learning and controlling our emotions before we get mentally fatigued and start making mistakes or give up. Playfully, I always ask students, how many cognitrons (units of mental energy) does their design require and how many does it produce?
So as a cognitive designer I am always on the look out for new scientific insights into the resource-limited nature of cognition. A just published study, Acts of Benevolence: A Limited-Resource Account of Compliance With Charitable Requests, reveals once such insight.
The researchers found that social influence techniques used to get you to sign petitions, donate money, or volunteer time are successful because they “induce a state of self-regulatory resource depletion”. Initial requests for donations that you resist burn up a lot of cognitrons (mental energy) and so you are more compliant with subsequent requests. This is more than the “I will wear you down” technique as successful pitches for donation are specially designed to burn up all the cognitrons in your head!
