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Psychology: People work less hard for others

Nature Human Behaviour volume 1, Article number: 0148 (2017) Cite this article

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Effort is costly. People devalue personal rewards that require some measure of physical or even mental effort. Laboratory studies now suggest that physical effort is especially costly when engaged to benefit others. Even when people are willing, however, their efforts are often superficial, with people doing what is necessary but no more.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, M1C 1A4, Ontario, Canada

    Michael Inzlicht & Cendri A. Hutcherson

Authors
  1. Michael Inzlicht
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  2. Cendri A. Hutcherson
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Correspondence to Michael Inzlicht.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Inzlicht, M., Hutcherson, C. Psychology: People work less hard for others. Nat Hum Behav 1, 0148 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0148

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