Mentally simulating another person’s efforts to use self-control
may trick your brain’s “fuel gauge” into mistakenly thinking
that your own resources have been depleted, a new study
suggests. “We’re not as individual as we might like to think,”
says Yale University psychologist Joshua Ackerman. “Often how we
understand the world is by relying on the understanding of other
people.” If your friend scratches her eyebrow or crosses her
arms, studies suggest, odds are you’ll unthinkingly mimic the
gesture. In the same way, research has shown, goals are also
contagious: seeing another person pursue a goal—say, thwarting
the urge to have one more Girl Scout cookie—automatically
activates the same goal in one’s own mind. And neuroimaging
studies indicate that mentally simulating another person’s
experience triggers the same sensory and emotional brain
pathways that are activated when one actually performs the
action. For example, watching a video of someone about to cut
her finger with a kitchen knife triggers brain