Decision fatigue is a psychological phenomenon where a person’s quality of decision making deteriorates as they make more decisions over the course of the day. As we use up our cognitive resources, we may experience diminished mental capacity leading to a wide range of consequences including impaired judgement, impulsive judgement or avoidance of decision-making (Cleveland clinic, 2023).
Think about a time when you couldn’t decide on what to watch on Netflix due to the sheer number of choices or were paralysed because of a wide array of options on a menu. If this is you, don’t worry, we are all victims of decision fatigue.
In a study on the impact of choice overload on customers, researchers set up display booths showcasing a range of jam flavours, they alternated the display of 6 and 24 jam flavours on different days. They discovered that although more people were drawn to the display with a greater variety of choices, they were less likely to buy the jam than when only 6 options were available (Iyengar, 2011).
Decision fatigue can impact both personal and professional lives. In a study by Presson et al (2018) it was found that patients who were seen by a surgeon near the end of their shift were 33 percent less likely to be scheduled for an operation compared to those seen at the beginning of the shift. Researchers also found that prisoners were more likely to get parole if their case was heard earlier in the day (Tierney, 2011).
Decision fatigue also plays out in the world of teaching and learning. Teachers make between 1200 – 1500 decisions some of which are unplanned or spontaneous (Goldberg & Houser, 2017)
| Tutor perspective | Student perspective |
| We spend cognitive efforts judging the quality of work when grading, deciding on the best teaching strategies for our lesson, addressing students’ behaviour in the classroom, adapting lessons to suit diverse learning needs, and balancing various administrative tasks. | Students have to decide on what task to prioritise, whether to engage in an activity or not, choose the case-study for an assessment, choose resources to respond to an assessment, decide how to express themselves especially if they are learning in a second language. |
Stress is a contributor to decision fatigue and academic stress can exacerbate the impact, of decision fatigue often leading to inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in cognitive tasks. The ripple effect can be lack of productivity, impulsive decision making, lack of creativity and burnout.
More specifically, tutors often face work overload and role ambiguity. These, in addition to the daily choices tutors make as part of their role, creates potential for impulsive decisions, reduced patience in student interaction, and less effective feedback (Nelson, 2024). This can manifest in for example, insufficient feedback to students when marking or lack of creativity in delivering a session thereby having an overall negative impact on the learning experience.
Students are not immune to the impact of decision fatigue on them. Excessive academic choices can lead to anxiety and lack of engagement. Engagement is crucial for educational success as research has shown a positive relationship between high engagement and low dropout levels (Amerstorfer & Kistner, 2021).
Strategies for mitigating decision fatigue
- Limit choices: While autonomy and choice promote student engagement and responsibility, too many options can lead to choice paralysis. A good strategy is to limit choices. For example, in a business lesson, instead of asking students to choose any organisation to apply a framework to, provide three specific companies for them to pick from.
- Simplify decision making: Where possible, simplify decision making. This can involve reducing the number of decisions that must be made daily by following a routine, using a simplified rubric, or organising tasks and responsibilities in a way that limits decision-making thereby conserving mental energy for key decision making.
- Automate processes: where possible, automate decisions for example, this could mean designing a grading system to accommodate some level of automatic feedback, using scheduling tools to automate administrative tasks, using software tools to track and analyse student performance or automating personalised study plans for students.
- Prioritising task: Both students and tutors will benefit from prioritising important decisions and allocating energy accordingly. Teaching students’ decision making will help them prioritise tasks and prevent burnout. Clearly outlining responsibilities can help tutors balance essential and non-essential work obligations, further reducing decision fatigue.
- Provide actionable strategies: Clearly communicate expectations early on to give students ample time to prepare. For example, setting clear assignment guidelines reduces confusion and allows students to plan and complete their work effectively.
- Prioritise well-being: Exercise and a good diet are essential to improve cognitive health and reduce stress. Taking regular breaks during work can refresh the mind and restore focus, allowing for better decision-making capabilities when returning to tasks.
- Support network: Building a good support network can be beneficial for both tutors and students. Students will benefit from additional support such as a personal tutor, language tutor or mentorship to reduce the mental load of decision making in academia. Lecturers will benefit from collaborating with colleagues and sharing decision-making load.
Overall decision fatigue is a phenomenon in our daily lives. Addressing/avoiding the negative impact of decision fatigue requires awareness and intervention from both tutors and students. Both lecturers and students can adopt practices such as prioritising well-being, simplifying decision making and automating where possible. Long term, institutional commitment is required to mitigate the impact of decision fatigue through workload management, mental health support and an environment that supports better decision making.
About the author: Ada Emetu is an Accounting and management lecturer at BPP University. She is interested in inclusive strategies for classrooms.
This article has been kindly repurposed from Advance HE and you can read the original here.