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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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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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0148
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