At the end of the day, most of us find ourselves on the couch, eyes glued to the television or to our smartphones, doing everything we can to conserve energy. 1[■] But are we hardwired (本能的) for it?
According to Michael Inzlicht, a social psychologist at the University of Toronto, we’re lazy and also, we’re not.
All humans, given equal options, will take the easy way out. Does it mean we’re lazy? Maybe. 2[■] We always minimize our effort and, at the same time, maximize the amount of reward we get for that effort. A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia found that our brains may be hardwired for laziness. Even though we know the benefits of exercise, we stay glued to the couch.
3[■] We can’t know for sure whether there is an evolutionary (进化的) purpose to it. But that would make sense. After all, before we were able to go to the grocery store, calories were much more directly linked to effort. Every calorie we burned meant more hunting, fishing, or gathering.
But there are the times when humans are the opposite of lazy and do very difficult things for no apparent reason. Some rewards only come from extensive effort. 4[■] Running this far might even cause more harm than good in terms of running injuries like stress fractures, back pain and so on. But we do it anyway because putting in the effort makes us feel good, says Inzlicht. 5[■]
So, in that sense, effort is worth the effort. While humans are economically aware of effort most of the time, “in some cases, the effort itself is rewarding,” says Inzlicht.