Are you more likely to choose a (better) long-term strategy, or will you opt choose the quick payoff? To see why, let’s consider the two following situations. When you are in a state of ego depletion, it is probably best not to make important financial decisions. For example, if you try to cope by drinking, the drinking has its own ego depletion effect. Sorry, you have Javascript Disabled! You may not be able to remove yourself from the stressful situation. If you’re an active trader and you’ve been trading all day, maintaining the discipline to cut losses short will become decreasingly difficult. To see this page as it is meant to appear, please enable your Javascript! Our willpower as well as the quality of our decisions depends on our level of ‘mental energy’. The resulting ego depletion leads people to make less restrained decisions. Basically, they brought three groups of people into a room where there was a selection of food: pieces of chocolate, warm cookies, and radishes. This research also found that glucose tends to mitigate and sometimes completely reverse ego depletion. Once our ‘energy level’ for mental activity is low (‘depleted’), our self-control is weaker.

One habit was called The Radish Experiment. When you notice that closing down loosing positions is become increasingly difficult, it is probably better to take a brake to recharge your batteries in order to avoid fatigue from influencing your performance. It’s best to take regular brakes and avoid making important financial decisions after a long period of decision-making. Experiments performed by Roy Baumeister (who coined the term ego depletion) found that in people that had to make a lot of decisions, tend to opt for the quick payoff. What you can do, though, is … Another example is related trading. Another example is related trading. First, suppose you had to make a lot of decisions throughout the day. Ego depletion refers to the notion that willpower draws upon a limited pool of energy. Let's look at one more example of ego depletion. You eat a healthy breakfast and lunch, and even resist the sweet snacks that a co-worker brings into the office during your mid-afternoon break. Experiments performed by Roy Baumeister (who coined the term ego depletion) found that in people that had to make a lot of decisions, tend to opt for the quick payoff. Consumers, for example, may be more likely to choose candy over granola bars (Baumeister et al., 2008). See instructions, Present Value of Growth Opportunities (PVGO), Theories of the Term Structure of Interest Rates, Non-accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment, Capital Structure Irrelevance Proposition, Discount for Lack of Marketability (DLOM). You might spend all day diligently sticking to your diet. This research also found that glucose tends to mitigate and sometimes completely reverse ego depletion. In the lab, ego depletion has been induced in many different ways, such as having to suppress emotions or thoughts, or having to make a range of difficult decisions. Dieting is one of the most obvious examples of how ego depletion can sabotage your willpower. You're holding a big secret, namely that you're not allowed to tell anyone about your sister's upcoming engagement. One group was allowed to eat anything they wanted. At the end of the day however, some financial decisions still need to be made. More recent studies call this resource depletion model of self …

Baumeister and his colleagues have tested ego depletion in a variety of scenarios.