Researchers found the more mental effort people put into a task, the more distressing emotions were reported - and that was the case across all types of people
New research indicates that exerting additional mental effort on tasks can lead to increased stress, frustration, or anger. The American Psychological Association released a study showing that as people put more effort into a task, they report higher levels of unpleasant emotions.
The extensive analysis involved 170 studies looking at the link between mental exertion and distressing feelings, considering various occupations, cultural or social groups. However, the findings were consistent: increased effort equated to higher levels of negative emotions across the board, reports Wales Online.
"Our findings show that mental effort feels unpleasant across a wide range of populations and tasks," said Dr Erik Bijleveld, the study's senior author. "This is important for professionals, such as engineers and educators, to keep in mind when designing tasks, tools, interfaces, apps, materials or instructions. When people are required to exert substantial mental effort, you need to make sure to support or reward them for their effort.
Dr Bijleveld noted that although the trend was global, the experience of mental discomfort related to effort was less severe in Asian nations compared to Europe or North America. Despite the apparent downsides, the study noted that individuals often choose to undertake challenging mental activities willingly.
Dr Bijleveld stated: "For example, why do millions of people play chess? People may learn that exerting mental effort in some specific activities is likely to lead to reward. If the benefits of chess outweigh the costs, people may choose to play chess, and even self-report that they enjoy chess. Perhaps people choose mentally effortful activities despite the effort, not because of it."
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