Decision fatigue is something you experienced every day, but you probably never think about it.

Say you’d like to shop around for that new washing machine. You’d love to do a little more consumer research on your next vehicle purchase. You know you should really sit down and consider whether you should invest your money or pay back your student loans. After all, any one of those decisions could be costing you money; money you could otherwise save. 

But you just want to get the decision over with. It happens to all of us. The psychological phenomena surrounding what experts call “decision fatigue,” are surprisingly complex and ever present in our daily lives. Yet as complex as they are, their effects are easy to see, and simple to address, once we recognize them. 

Today we’re taking a deep dive into the psychology of decision making, exploring everything from the nature of the ego and the id, to how those mental constructs influence our decision making – or lack thereof. Hopefully, the patient reader will learn at least a few helpful strategies to avoid poor financial decision making. 

If you make one decision today, choose to learn about “decision fatigue.” 

Decision Fatigue and the Ego

It may seem obvious where in the mind decision making occurs. After all, we experience the process of considering our high-level decisions. You remember thinking about what kind of a car to drive, or what to say to a friend who you haven’t seen in many years. But a huge part of our decision-making process occurs in parts of our mind we don’t consciously experience: in the unconscious mind.

 Certain decisions occur almost entirely in the unconscious: decisions like when to smile, or when to shield one’s face from sunlight are almost entirely unconscious. Others take place much more in the conscious mind, but we should never fool ourselves into thinking that any decisions, even very big decisions, are entirely conscious. Everything we know about human psychology and neuroscience suggests that this is not true; the unconscious mind heavily influences even the most intellectual choices we make. 

But why is this? Why is the unconscious mind so influential in our high level decision making? 

The Ego and the Unconscious 

To begin, it’s important to understand how the conscious and unconscious mind work together. Although we’re often asked to imagine that the brain is a kind of biological computer, constantly calculating the best decisions based on the data available to our senses, the truth is quite a bit more subtle than that. 

Humans are, after all, the result of a highly complex process of evolution. That evolutionary process has created a mult-layered decision making process, involving more than even the brain itself. While some of the decisions we have mentioned, like shielding ourselves from sunlight or smiling, occur almost entirely in the unconscious, yet other decisions occur on an even more basic level.

Thinking Without Thinking

Have you ever put your hand down on a hot stove, only to find your entire arm jerking back before you even begin to register the sensation of pain? Neuroscience tells us that these kinds of decisions don’t even occur in our brains. They are polysynaptic spinal reflexes, and they would occur even in the case of coma or brain death. In these cases, the body is capable of making decisions even before the brain can register information. 

Why does that matter? Because human beings tend to assume that most of our decisions are the result of conscious thought, even when we know, intellectually, that this isn’t the case. Our brains and our minds – the very self that we identify as “me,” are composed of layers both seen and unseen. Some of these layers we strongly control, and some we barely understand, even though their influence on us is greater than we can possibly imagine. 

Sigmond Freud, considered the grandfather of psychoanalysis, postulated the concept of the Ego: a part of the mind that connects the unconscious and the conscious mind. The ego, a kind of “referee” between our thoughts and our feelings, is critical in many major and minor decisions. 

Understanding decision fatigue begins with understanding the functioning of the Ego, and how we can begin to exert some conscious control over it.

The Balance between Thinking and Wanting

According to Freud, the Ego functions according to what he called “The Reality Principle,” or the ability of the mind to perceive the external world and contextualize it alongside our own thoughts and feelings. The Ego works to mediate our unconscious mind with our role in society and relationships. While our unconscious mind (what Freud called the “Id”) contains our drives and desires, and our conscious mind (what Freud called the Superego) contains our complex understanding of ideas, our Ego is a bridge between those two worlds.

Thus we can begin to see why the Ego is so critical in decision-making. Since big decisions like buying a home, or deciding whom to marry, or choosing what to study, rely on both our higher-level thoughts and logic, and our deepest inner desires and feelings, the Ego is essential to strike a “balance between thought and want.” 

Without the Ego playing this role, we might choose to marry someone based solely on their physical appearance, or at the opposite extreme, solely based on what society expects from us. Without the Ego, we might choose never to buy things that give us pleasure, or to buy things that only give us pleasure. The Ego balances our need to both think and feel at the same time. 

Ego Depletion

So the Ego is obvious critical in making not only “good” decisions, but the right decisions for us. After all, it is a balance between our thoughts and desires. Not between the thoughts and desires of others. 

But what happens when the thoughts and desires of others overwhelm us? We have all had the experience of a pushy salesman or a too-eager romantic partner trying to persuade us to do something they want us to do, but we don’t. When the Ego is overwhelmed with the thoughts and feelings of other people, we experience what psychologists call “ego depletion,” the loss of willpower and control over our own decision-making. 

If we imagine that Ego is a kind of “muscle” that requires training, rest, and a source of nutrients, then Ego fatigue and depletion can occur when that muscle is overworked, underrested, or malnourished. Sometimes that can literally be the case: making too many big decisions at one time, a lack of sleep or a change in topic, or low blood sugar or other nutritional deficiency can lead to the depletion of the Ego. Overwork can overwhelm the Ego, resulting in poor decision making.

History of the Concept

The concept of ego depletion was first developed as a way of understanding how people fall victim to long-term psychological attacks, such as through torture, so-called “brainwashing,” or political propaganda. In the 1950s and 60s, groundbreaking research in ego fatigue showed that people could be influenced to make uncharacteristic choices by a concerted, sustained attack on their willpower. 

Those attacks were not always physical, and not even necessarily scary. It was found in the infamous Stanley Milgram experiments in the 1960s, that a person’s moral judgement could be overwhelmed even by a calm, persistent repetition of a simple command. Milgram famously conducted an experiment whereby he commanded participants produce electric shocks on an unseen fellow participant, as punishment for the person failing a simple memory test.

The Milgram Experiment: Obedience to Authority

Milgram’s participants could be influenced to produce apparently lethal electric shocks (although in fact no one was ever in danger), and all the person conducting the experiment had to do was calmly repeat the experiment procedure, along with the statement: “you are not responsible.” These experiments were highly influential in our understanding of the psychology of cults and authoritarian governments.

Broader Applications

Researchers in the 50s and 60s consistently found that people could be driven to make decisions that were completely at odds with their own desires and morality. As scary as the results of such experiments surely are, what may be even more troubling is that by the 1990s, researchers were discovering that ego depletion can begin to take effect and influence our decisions almost immediately. By then, Fortune 500 companieswere already applying these scary psychological tactics to retail spaces, offices, and online ads.

In one experiment, it was found that participants who were at first able to resist a small temptation, such as to eat an offered piece of chocolate, immediately became less able to persist in a frustrating task, such as solving a puzzle. Researchers found that a person’s willpower can be greatly weakened when they are forced to make a series of unpleasant choices. However, they also found that the loss of willpower was greatest when a person was asked to voluntarily do something they found objectionable, such as making a statement they believed to be false, suggesting that Ego depletion is closely closely connected with true decision making.

The Ego and Decision Making

It should now be fairly obvious why ego depletion is so closely related with decision fatigue. 

You may even recall instances of ego depletion from your own life. For example, have you ever visited a car dealership, where it just so happened that a cake, or brownies, or sugary beverages were offered? It may appear that the treats are for a special occasion, when in fact dealerships use this strategy on a daily basis. 

Psychologists tell us that regardless of whether you actually partake in these treats, they can have a negative effect on your willpower. Either you accept them, treating yourself to something you know is unhealthy, and therefore bad for you, or you refuse them, in which case you have performed an act of will that will tire you and lead to ego depletion and decision fatigue in the process of buying your car.

Since ego depletion and decision fatigue set in rapidly, and often works regardless of what choices we make as individuals, being aware of and avoiding them becomes the only strategy available to us. 

With that, here are a few simple strategies that can reduce decision fatigue, and leave you with more of your willpower to make the best financial decisions: 

Sleep On It

As we mentioned, lack of rest is one of the most critical elements of decision fatigue. Research has consistently shown that better decision making occurs when people get the right amount of sleep every night: usually about 7-9 hours, depending on the individual. 

You can also augment your rest by engaging in restorative activities like walking, meditation, naps, or other activities that don’t carry a large cognitive load. 

Eat Well 

Unsurprisingly, decision fatigue is more likely to occur when we are undernourished or have over-indulged. Because ego depletion can occur regardless of whether we give into a temptation or not, it’s important to reframe temptations and desires by removing the thing that makes them tempting. Thus, decision fatigue is less likely to occur at a grocery store or a social event if you are well nourished and don’t need to decide whether you should eat something. 

Plan to Plan

Decision fatigue is very time sensitive, and cumulative. This means that the more pre-planning we do, and the more slowly we make major decisions, the less danger we face of decision fatigue related mistakes. If you’re planning to buy a car, have a job interview, or go on a first date, you can eliminate some of the ego depletion associated with those things by planning ahead. Think through the entire process, and have an answer ready for any questions or temptations you may experience. By being ready, you eliminate decision fatigue and can make better choices when the need to choose arises. 

Get Expert Advice

It may seem obvious, but rely on experts! If you’re buying a car, or even going on a first date, there is expert advice available on almost any topic. Rely on a friend who knows their stuff, or consult research yourself. 

Decide Early

A great way to avoid decision fatigue is to try to make decisions well in advance. For example, people who create shopping lists in advance experience less decision fatigue at the store. The same can be said for a social event such as a job interview: decide how much money you’re going to ask for, or what your answers will be to the most common interview questions. By deciding in advance, you reduce your cognitive load, and leave more room for thinking creatively on the spot. 

Work Together

Cooperation is key in avoiding decision fatigue. Have you ever been in the middle of a major purchase when your significant other suddenly expresses a desire you weren’t aware of? Those kinds of situations can tax you cognitively and fatigue you faster. Discuss major decisions in advance, and have those conversations more than once. Even if you think it’s silly to discuss the same decision over and over, the truth is that every time we discuss something, some amount of ego depletion will occur.

Consider that your partner will also experience this depletion, and may feel less able to make the best decisions for themselves than you are at any given moment, so take time and be kind. 

Be Patient

Decision fatigue, above all else, is time sensitive. Feeling rushed or overwhelmed is most often a matter of not taking enough time to consider our options and review our choices. Our unconscious mind doesn’t follow a 9-5 schedule. Sleep, rest, reflection, and repetition reduce cognitive load and lead to less decision fatigue. Remember: time is your greatest asset. The more time you can take for a decision, the better the outcome is likely to be.

Further Reading (Layman Sources)

Further Reading (Advanced Sources)

• Freud, S. (1923). The Ego and the Id. W. W. Norton & Company. (This is the foundational text for these concepts).
• Laplanche, J., & Pontalis, J.-B. (1973). The Language of Psycho-Analysis. W. W. Norton & Company. (A comprehensive dictionary of Freudian terms).
• Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1252–1265. (Key study introducing and popularizing the concept of ego depletion).
• Muraven, M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2000). Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does self-control resemble a muscle? Psychological Bulletin, 126(2), 247–259. (Review article on ego depletion theory).
• Lewin, K. (1951). Field Theory in Social Science: Selected Theoretical Papers. Harper & Row. (Influential in early social psychology on group dynamics and influence).
• Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral Study of Obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(4), 371–378. (Original publication of the famous obedience study).
• Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View. Harper & Row. (Milgram’s comprehensive book on his experiments).
• Stickgold, R., & Walker, M. P. (2009). The role of sleep in emotional brain function. Progress in Brain Research, 185, 233–250.