Cognitive Frugality Preserves Self-Regulatory Resources

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People use heuristics, even though these produce wrong answers to problems. The present research tested an explanation for this seemingly irrational phenomenon. People use heuristics to preserve mental energy and avoid self-regulatory failures that occur when one's mental resources become depleted (i.e., ego depletion). Three studies tested different hypotheses derived from this model. Study 1 found that people assigned to complete a depleting task (compared to an easy, non-depleting task) subsequently used more heuristics to solve word problems. Study 2 found that people assigned to use intuition (rather than controlled thinking) to solve the same set of problems were more likely to use heuristics to solve the problems. Crucially, using intuition also improved performance on a subsequent self-control task (the Stroop test). Study 3 found that people who merely anticipated a future effortful task (compared to anticipating no future task) were more likely to use heuristics to solve the problems currently in front of them. People high in trait self-control were especially likely to use heuristics in this apparently strategic manner. Surprisingly, however, people were seemingly unaware that they had adopted the strategy to use heuristics to save energy for the future. Overall, the results supported the idea that one reason for cognitive miserliness is to avoid ego depletion.