When in hot/aroused state, just defer important decisions. I will get back to you later.

Ego depletion: When we are continually exerting self-control, our ability to resist temptation weakens . This suggests, that when one has tasks requiring self-control, better to do them in the morning rather than late in the day

Intra-empathy Mismatch

Empathy between cognitive and emotional states in the same person is missing. We don't understand in our cold state how we will behave in an aroused state.

When in hot/aroused state, just defer important decisions. I will get back to you later.

Week 5 : Self-control

Main theme is : Now vs Later

Present focus bias: The tendency to give more weight to our current environment or state.

Current focus is very strong

What's good now versus what's good in the future

Eating healthy, exercising sounds great in the future but problem is we never get to that future

Reward substitution: using an alternate reward that is immediate, and therefore more motivating.

Why climate change maximizes human apathy:
far in the future, affects others first, we do not see its progression, we don't see a particular person suffering, individual efforts to mitigate are a drop in the bucket

Reward substitution to solve the problem ?   cool factor, rewards point, convenience, tax/punish
Prius: external signal to show how wonderful we are, social rewards like an ego boost.

Reward substitution can get us to act like we care about the world when we really care about our image.

Emotions can overtake cognition.

Hungry, afraid, tired, aroused : effect of arousal : change in sexual preferences, willingness to take risks, willingness to act immorally

Predictions about behavior in "hot" states are largely off mark. changes human beings.

we look differently at risk, immorality,

Make better decisions when in cold states. to prevent screw ups in hot states.

This is how to increase your attention span:

• Stop multitasking: You wouldn't try to lift 5000 pounds. Your body can't do that. Don't try to do your best work while checking email, texting, and posting to Instagram. Your brain can't do that.
• Exercise: You know it's good for your body. Guess what? Your brain's part of your body. (Shocking, I know.)
• Meditate: Simply put, meditation is attention training.
• Call your mother nature: Looking at a picture of a tree is like a deep tissue massage for your brain.
• Reduce interference: Remove anything from your environment that might distract you. Batch email and social media. Extend the time between breaks to build your attention muscles.

Having your phone out doesn't just distract you from work -- it also reduces empathy and harms your relationships.

Via
https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-students-forget-and-what-you-can-do-about-it

Which explains why the following learning strategies, all tied to research conducted within the past five years, are so effective:

1. Peer-to-peer explanations: When students explain what they’ve learned to peers, fading memories are reactivated, strengthened, and consolidated. This strategy not only increases retention but also encourages active learning.
2. The spacing effect: Instead of covering a topic and then moving on, revisit key ideas throughout the school year. Research shows that students perform better academically when given multiple opportunities to review learned material. For example, teachers can quickly incorporate a brief review of what was covered several weeks earlier into ongoing lessons, or use homework to re-expose students to previous concepts.
3. Frequent practice tests: Akin to regularly reviewing material, giving frequent practice tests can boost long-term retention and, as a bonus, help protect against stress, which often impairs memory performance. Practice tests can be low stakes and ungraded, such as a quick pop quiz at the start of a lesson or a trivia quiz on Kahoot, a popular online game-based learning platform. Breaking down one large high-stakes test into smaller tests over several months is an effective approach.
4. Interleave concepts: Instead of grouping similar problems together, mix them up. Solving problems involves identifying the correct strategy to use and then executing the strategy. When similar problems are grouped together, students don’t have to think about what strategies to use—they automatically apply the same solution over and over. Interleaving forces students to think on their feet, and encodes learning more deeply.
5. Combine text with images: It’s often easier to remember information that’s been presented in different ways, especially if visual aids can help organize information. For example, pairing a list of countries occupied by German forces during World War II with a map of German military expansion can reinforce that lesson. It’s easier to remember what’s been read and seen, instead of either one alone.