The author mentions decision fatigue and then cites that well-known judge study [1], implicating decision fatigue as an observed effect. However, the judges stu

The author mentions decision fatigue and then cites that well-known judge study [1], implicating decision fatigue as an observed effect. However, the judges study probably isn't the best example of decision fatigue; see program_whiz's explanation [2] from another thread [3] on the judges study: > Here is the refutation being referred to in the article, the article author did a poor job explaining it, and the reason to reject isn't "effect is too large", because the effect is real -- but this study explains it: http://journal.sjdm.org/16/16823/jdm16823.html http://journal.sjdm.org/16/16823/jdm16823.html > 1. Prisoners are ordered by whether they have an attorney (so those going last in a session are self-represented) > 2. Judges order prisoners often by "complexity of the case", so the ones taking most time are first (and therefore most likely to have a favorable decision, a short/easy case is probably a no-parole situation) > 3. Statistically, the cases that gained parole take longer than those that don't, so even if they are random/normally distributed, then if one falls at the end, it will come back to the beginning of next session. A simulation shows that even with random ordering, you still get the same graph (because the long/complex cases that could be paroled tend to be moved to next session when the session is almost out of time). > So after reading this, the graph means: Ratio of cases with a lawyer that can be finished in the remaining time in the session. > Both values are decreasing as the session continues, so it produces a heavy down sloping graph that resets each session to some approximately random value (.65). [1] Extraneous factors in judicial decisions | https://www.pnas.org/content/108/17/6889 https://www.pnas.org/content/108/17/6889 [2] Here is the refutation being referred to in the article ... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14703990 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14703990 [3] Impossibly Hungry Judges | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14701328 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14701328