extreme variability of mental effort (in the same task)

walking down my alley, there are no sidewalks.

I make the slight effort to walk on the tiny edge of the road where cars are least likely to use, and look back regularly.

most of the time this "effort" is tiny. But maybe the eleventh time, I felt it is gonna be way more effortful, and so it actually felt. It even had a physical aspect to the effort.

There is variability. and the same action can take a big turn to be burdensome.

why is it?

1) dynamics. we have flows of energy, attention, and goals in mind.
Sometimes, those do not contradict the looking back, the shifting of attention, or the doing of anything. But sometimes it contradict the looking back or the keeping on track.

2) old buddy Ego Depletion?
Note, that Ego Depletion might partially be the dynamcis discussed in (1) above....


This never discussed effect, I believe is central to many phenomenons

The effects of the very control process

Basic intuition: The very fact of controlling, planning etc. has multiple effects.
Thus, what seems like an innocent action "try to relax" or "plan X" is changing our thought processes immediately, and having multiple other repercussions. Thereby, making the whole idea much more complicated than it naively feels.

Intellectual speak: Say I lie down and rest. A thought comes up and I am telling myself "forget it, lets rest". Sound simple? but every attention process does have an arousal element (e.g. Kahneman 1973 "Attantion and effort" book). Thus, attending and mulling over whether to "forget about it" is less carefree and innocent. It might cause arousal and wake you up! even when the goal of this tiny decision is to relax.


Generality: Once we accept that the management processes are themselves complicated, costly and carry side effects, every planning of control, change etc., are no longer obvious actions, or simple to do or understand. These complications might explain a hell lot of dysfunctions we see all the time in totally functional people


Related: Ego depletion. Friction (economics). 

The Psyche Subtleties project