Year after year most of us make a resolution(s) to bring in the New Year, ranging from vowing to workout more or to stop procrastinating -the options are endless. Its no secret that New Year’s resolutions are known for getting ditched not long after they are made, in fact some of them never even happen. So what is the point in making them, when we are all aware we will probably never follow through? Is there a scientific reasoning for why we have a hard time with our New Year’s Resolutions?
According to a blog on Bufferapp, 50% of Americans make a resolution during New Year’s and according to researcher Richard Wiseman, 88% of those Americans resolutions’ crash and burn. This is because there is actually a science to why us humans can’t stick with a resolution; we do not have enough willpower to do it. The brain cells that operate willpower are located in the prefrontal cortex (the area right behind your forehead) and is responsible for staying focused, handling short-term memory, and solving abstract tasks among other things. This was proven through a Stanford experiment led by Baba Shiv, in which several dozen undergraduates were divided into two groups. One of the groups was given a two-digit number to remember while the other group was given a seven-digit number to memorize. The groups were then told to walk down the hallway in where they were presented two different snack options; a slice of chocolate cake or a bowl of fruit salad. The results found that the students who had to remember the seven-digit number were nearly twice as likely to pick the piece of chocolate cake as the students who were giving a two-digit number. According to Professor Shiv, the reasoning for this is because the extra numbers took up valuable space in the brain (a “cognitive load”) which resulted in making it harder to resist indulging in such a decadent dessert (willpower is weaker when the prefrontal cortex is so overtaxed). Thus New Year’s resolutions consistently fall through because our willpower is inherently limited, and according to Shiv our brains were “not built for success”.
Willpower is not the only culprit in which causes us to not be able to keep our resolution’s. In fact a lot of it also has to do with us human not wanting to truly change our habits, and not really wanting to make the leap to reinvent ourselves. Timothy Pychyl , a psychology professor at Carleton University, asserted that although people make these resolutions as means of motivation, but in reality most people are not quite ready to change their bad habits, especially particularly bad habits (such as smoking and drinking). Other times we set goals that are too grand to follow through with, which is known as a phenomenon called “false hope syndrome”. This phenomenon is defined by setting unrealistic goals (like losing x amount of pounds in a month) and ultimately this type of thing can lead to more harm than good. Roy Baumeister suggests if you really want to better yourself, rather than making a yearly resolution, choose to make one every month. He suggests this because you only have one supply of willpower, and in making a list of different resolution’s you leave them all competing with one another. Therefore in trying to follow one of those you reduce your willpower capacity for all of the others. In fact statistics show those who only make one New Year’s resolution tend to have a higher success rate.
All in all I think that the studies hold very plausible evidence to why we have trouble keeping up with our resolution’s. Of course I believe there can be many other third variables that have not been factored in, such as age group and lifestyle (do these people have kids, high stress job etc.), that can explain why many are not able to follow through. Therefore maybe there should be studies conducted on different age groups to see if there is any difference in following through. So before you make a list of New Year’s resolutions, consider setting such goals every month rather than all of them at once, so you have a higher chance of success!
i loved reading this because it is incredibly accurate. I try to set a new years resolution every year and after about a week goes by i fail. I also have horrible will power to begin with so that doesn’t help me. This got me thinking about how i can improve myself and my will power. I found a very insightful article that gives many ways that a person can boost their will power. Maybe this could help people keep some of those resolutions.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/good-thinking/201306/how-boost-your-willpower
When reading your article, there was one question that was plaguing me from the very beginning, which was it the actual goal or a persons lack or will power that accounts for why studies show that a person has a difficult time completing their New Year’s resolution. I referred to one of your sources, and according to the American Psychological Association, the terms that we define to be associated with will power “determination, drive, resolve, self-discipline”, are technically not what a psychologist would define “will power” as. In their understanding, will power is self control, which correlated with the findings of your study and why it is hard for people to resist the more fattening food choice. Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University explained how “lack of willpower isn’t the only reason you might fail to reach your goals…[there are] three necessary components for achieving objectives: establish the motivation for change and set a clear goal, monitor your behavior toward that goal, and willpower.” Baumeister details how it is the combination of these tree components that allow a person to reach their goal. In addition, University of Pennsylvania psychologists Angela Food choice Duckworth, PhD, and Martin Seligman, PhD also commented on how “at its essence, willpower is the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals” (APA), which means that with applying what Baumeister said in addition, the person setting the goal must have a clear understanding in what the difference between a long term goal and short term goal entails. In conclusion, although it seems that there is a correlation between will power, goal setting, and the achievement of that goal. I think that a person’s personality at the end of the day also has an affect in how they are able to accomplish a goal they set (i.e. if a person is very stubborn in nature they will be able to achieve their goal more easily than a person who is not motivated or passive). I believe that after looking into your research further and thinking of a confounding their variable that could account for the discrepancies in studies relating to this topic, that personality could be a possible one.
Citation:
“Willpower.” American Psychological Association. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. .
I feel like it is difficult to get accurate data on the study because of the third variables affecting the study described. Some people may just like chocolate cake and not like fruit. Or, some people may want to be healthy or other people may not care about their weight.I think a year long study on how many participants can keep up their new years resolution would give a good idea of how many people typically/on average follow through on their resolutions. However, I do see willpower being very important in regards to new years resolutions. Since willpower can be difficult, I like the suggestion of making one every month.
Many New Years Resolutions require some change, and sometimes major change, to succeed. Trying to change your habits over night is almost always going to lead to failure. These changes need to be made gradually, or it will take a lot of willpower to actually get your resolution to stick. Considering many feel that January is the most depressing month of the year, it may also be difficult to stick to a resolution at a time when people are not feeling at their best.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/nathan-macintosh/2014/01/january-the-worst-month-of-the-year/
This was a very interesting topic to read about! I’m sure everyone has failed at a New Year’s Resolution before, including myself, so it was interesting to read about the possible science behind that. It is also a good idea to create a new resolution every month instead of every year.
Here is the link to an article about how to make a successful New Year’s Resolution: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2013/01/01/just-8-of-people-achieve-their-new-years-resolutions-heres-how-they-did-it/
I loved your blog topic and you did a great job with going in depth about it. I agree that most people can’t follow through with their New Year’s Resolutions. I have never been one to make a list because I am a strong believer that a new year won’t change who you are; you decide when you change. The study included was definitely interesting, however I’m not entirely convinced that this evidence has a strong correlation to the struggle of sticking to New Year’s resolutions. I think a stronger study could be a group of people whose resolution is to lose weight or to get better grades. These are resolutions that can be tracked over months and can easily be measured through a scale or a report card. Here’s a thought provoking article I found that you might enjoy that discusses the types of resolutions that fail versus the ways in which you can succeed.