The Daily Stat: Do You Work Until You've Earned Enough, or Until You're Just Too Tired to Work More?

 

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July 10, 2013 Do You Work Until You've Earned Enough, or Until You're Just Too Tired to Work More? In an experiment, people who were paid in chocolates for choosing to listen to unpleasant noises "overearned" by 6.48 chocolates, on average: They earned 10.74 but ate just 4.26 (they weren't allowed to take any home), revealing a persistent tendency to mindlessly accumulate unneeded rewards, says a team led by Christopher K. Hsee of the University of Chicago. The researchers compare overearning to overeating: In the past, people earned so little that they were driven to earn as much as possible, but today, productivity advancements enable many to overearn, a behavior whose negatives include forgoing the pleasures of leisure and family time. SOURCE: Overearning

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