Tag Archives: will

Choices

The following involves research which may or may not be true.

The first study1 suggests we learn faster when we freely choose what to learn (as opposed to being forced). With agency, we are in control and change how we learn from our experiences.

However, this can also backfire as we can become delusional and think that we have control when we don’t. For example, following a sports superstition that does not change the game’s outcome.

The second research2 suggests that we like things because we chose them. This is backwards, since common sense dictates we choose things because we like them. This is really interesting since it suggests we rationalize our choice after the fact or ipso facto (by the fact itself).

These two phenomenons pair together and raise all kind of questions. Imagine a kid who freely chooses basketball and gets much better (than their peers who may not have chosen it). Does the kid like the sport since they are good at it or because they chose to play it in the first place? Of course, someone can have multiple reasons for why they like something, and it’s impossible to generalize since there are so many individual environmental factors to consider.

As a parent, I wonder how this can be utilized, and I don’t mean in some nefarious way. I take it to mean encouraging kids to pursue playing, reading, or learning whatever they want to. That way they will enjoy how they spend their time since they chose it.

Choice is a powerful thing, but it can also be paralyzing. With too many choices, you can waste a lot of time trying to find the best decision. The paradox of choice. Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed sometimes with prioritizing how I should be spending my free time. I don’t have an answer for this besides “do your best”, and the research suggests you will like it since you chose it. How amazing is that?

  1. Chambon, V., Théro, H., Vidal, M. et al. Information about action outcomes differentially affects learning from self-determined versus imposed choices. Nat Hum Behav 4, 1067–1079 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0919-5
  2. Silver, A. M., Stahl, A. E., Loiotile, R., Smith-Flores, A. S., & Feigenson, L. (2020). When Not Choosing Leads to Not Liking: Choice-Induced Preference in Infancy. Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620954491

Anger Driven Development

As a programmer, it’s nice to imagine perfect productivity conditions: many well defined, small units of work lined up. If the work at hand is clear and you have ample time to get into a flow, you expect to finish many things. Unfortunately, real life rarely works out that way.

Instead of picturing an ideal, efficient scenario, I want to talk about a less than ideal productivity method that manages to pop up every now and then: Anger Driven Development (ADD). ADD in this context might mean different things to different people.

What ADD means to me is that I’m working on a task, get frustrated, and then refuse to be beaten. Some of my more productive times have occurred when I was so pissed at the situation that I refused to throw in the towel. I will NOT be beaten by a machine. The power of human will can be indomitable at times.

While driven to extreme frustration at what started off as an “easy task”, it becomes man versus machine. Man does not want to give up. Man refuses to give up.

Even if I was tired or had other reasons to put the work off until later, Anger Driven Development does not give me the choice to stop. Like taking a hammer to a screw and forcing it in through sheer will power and brute force, Anger Driven Development can be messy. Anger Driven Development can’t stop, won’t stop.

The most amazing part of ADD (besides the task that is now completed) is the sense of triumph at the end. While it always feels good to be productive and get things done, there are few things like the joy of victory after ADD.

Anger Driven Development would never be my modus operandi, but it inadvertently has its place in my toolbox.