Testing the impact of stress on self-control when making a decision

Nicole Einbinder
DNA & Evolution
12:30 section
15 March 2016

Abstract
This project is based on a 2015 published study, by researchers Silvia U. Maier, Aidan B. Makawana, and
Todd A. Hare, that placed human volunteers in a food choice scenario between healthy and unhealthy
snacks, to determine whether stress can alter the brain and impair self-control when faced with a decision.
I repeated the study by handing out an anonymous survey that tested stress levels among 50 random
students at the University of Washington during dead week the week before final examinations
with the incentive of a free snack for completing the survey: either a clementine orange or a Trader Joes
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dunker. I secretly documented students snack choice, in correlation with their
self-recorded stress levels. My results concluded that students with increased stressed levels were more
likely to choose the cookie, thereby supporting the claim that stress does reduce self-control when faced
with a decision.

Introduction Stress can have a major impact on peoples lives, affecting our everyday decisions as we
juggle exams at school, deadlines at work, familial situations, and other challenging scenarios. I
personally know the affects of stress; I am an honors student and constantly strive to excel in all aspects
of my life, despite balancing a full course load, part-time internship, editor position at the school
newspaper, and other commitments. When I am stressed out I often do not feel fully in control of myself,
and in these situations am more prone to make rash decisions that provide temporary satisfaction. I have
noticed similar trends among my friends in stressful situations, from their choice of clothing, eating
habits, and overall outlook on life. I become stressed out way too easily, and as such am interested in
exploring what role it can play on the brain. In a 2015 study,1 researchers from the University of Zurich
posed the question: can stress alter the brain and impair self-control when making a decision? They
concluded that even moderate levels of stress could impair self-control and decision-making abilities.
Intrigued by the researchers results, I repeated their study by collecting data from University of
Washington students during week nine, or dead week, of the quarter. I also hypothesize that stress affects
our decision-making abilities when faced with a choice, with individuals more likely to choose an option
that will provide short-term gains, despite the potential long-term repercussions.
Methods In the published study, 29 participants experienced a stressful ice bath treatment before being
asked to choose between two food options presented on a screen: a very tasty, but unhealthy, item, and a
less tasty, but healthier snack. To determine individual taste, participants were asked to rate 180 food
items for healthiness, tastiness, and appetitive value. According to researchers, the individuals selected for
the study actively sought to maintain a healthy lifestyle and thus faced the choice of either abiding by
their long-term goals or the immediate gratification of the tastier food option.
For my study, I created an anonymous survey with four questions: What is your gender? What
year in school are you? On average, how often do you exercise per week? And On a scale of 1-7 (7
being the highest), rate your current stress level. I distributed the printed survey to 50 random students at

Acute Stress Impairs Self-Control in Goal-Directed Choice by Altering Multiple Functional Connections within
the Brains Decision Circuits

various locations across campus Paccar Hall, Mary Gates Hall, the Communications Building, and The
Dailys newsroom during nightly production over a span of a few hours during the first two days of
dead week. In exchange for completing my survey, I offered students a choice of two complimentary
snacks: a clementine orange or a Trader Joes Chocolate Chip Cookie Dunker. I chose these snacks
because they are both sweet and appetizing. I secretly documented students snack choice on their
surveys, to compare their food decision and levels of exercise with self-reported stress levels.
If my hypothesis were correct, students who rated themselves as more stressed out (within the 5-7
range) would choose the cookie over the orange (fig. 1), while less stressed out students (within the 1-3
range) would opt for the fruit (fig. 3). If incorrect, there would be no correlation between stress levels and
snack choice, with both stressed and non-stressed students randomly selecting either the cookie (fig. 3) or
the orange (fig. 4) based on their personal preferences and other factors.
Results As seen through Figure 5, stressed out students were more likely to choose the cookie than the
orange, indicating that there is a relationship between stress and reduced self-control when faced with a
decision. In total, 16 students chose the cookie, with an average stress level of 5.44, while 19 students
chose the orange, with an average stress level of 4.84. The students who chose the cookies reported that
they exercised on average 2.66 days/week, while the students who chose the fruit exercised on average
2.55 days/week. Hence, students from both groups appear to value exercise at relatively similar rates.
Additionally, 11 students opted for no snacks, while 4 students took both the cookie and the
orange (fig. 6). The 11 students recorded on average stress levels of 4.41 and exercised around 2.95
days/week, while the 4 students who ate both indicated stress levels of 5.38 and exercised 2.5 days/week.
Based on a one-tailed t-test to find a significant difference between the results, with T equal to
1.77, the P value is equal to .04. This indicates that the data collection yields statistically significant
results, with only a four percent probability that the studys outcomes are due to sampling error.
Discussion The findings of this study, in correlation with the published study, support the hypothesis that
stressful situations do affect and can disrupt self-control, evident by students being more likely to choose
the cookie than the orange when experiencing increased stress. These results are interesting because

participants who chose the cookies reported, on average, that they value exercise, but still chose the
unhealthy snack for temporary enjoyment. According to researchers, the effects of stress are also visible
in the brain, with stressed participants brains displaying altered patterns of connectivity between regions
like the amygdala, striatum, and dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These altered patterns
cause decreased self-control when faced with a decision. In sum, stress affects the brains decisionmaking process by altering two major pathways: one that may signal information about the stimulus, or
taste of the food, and another linked to total goal maintenance, like keeping a healthy lifestyle.
Interestingly, humans may have evolved to value short-term gain in stressful situations, since
stress typically occurred at times in which a physical or social threat jeopardized group survival. In these
situations, and faced with limited resource, humans were more likely to prioritize coping with the
stressful situation than dealing with long-term goals. For future research it would be beneficial to explore
why certain individuals are more adept at managing stress than others, despite experiencing the same
stressful situation. A useful study to compliment these findings will be to repeat the experiment in a novel
stressful environment and with a larger sampling size. If my hypothesis is correct, that experiments
results will mimic this studys result outcomes (fig. 5). If incorrect, participants decision between healthy
or unhealthy snacks will be random and not associated with stress levels. I predict, however, that my
hypothesis will remain correct within an additional sampling pool, evident by the findings of the t-test.
While the timing of this experiment was ideal, since it occurred during a stressful time of the
quarter, and my study design was successful in proving the hypothesis, there were obvious weaknesses. It
was difficult to completely monitor my participants, and thus four students took both snacks. Unlike the
published study, I was also unable to knowingly choose a food that all participants would like, which
would influence their decision-making process. Other variable factors include location, time of the day,
how students define exercise, and the overall self-rating process, since everyone measures and deals with
stress differently. My position as a stranger passing out food could have also affected students choices,
evident by the 11 students who opted out of taking any snack. However, as a short-term research study,
these results are valuable for better understanding the relationship between stress levels and self-control.

Figures
Cookies
10
Number
of
People

1
1

Stress Level

Figure 1 Predicted results if the hypothesis is correct Students with higher stress levels will choose the
cookie over the orange.

Cookies
10
Number of
People
5

1
1

Stress Level

Figure 2 Predicted results if the hypothesis is incorrect There will be no correlation between student
stress levels and their decision to choose the cookie, with both stressed and non-stressed students
decision to choose the snack completely random.

Oranges
10

Number
of
People

1
1

Stress Levels

Figure 3 Predicted results if the hypothesis is correct Students with lower stress levels will choose the
orange over the cookie.
Oranges
10
Number
of
People

1
1

Stress Levels

Figure 4 Predicted results if the hypothesis is incorrect There will be no correlation between student
stress levels and their decision to choose the orange, with both stressed and non-stressed students
decision to choose the snack completely random.

Cookies

Oranges

10

10
Number
of
People

Number
of
People
5

1
1

Stress Levels

Stress Levels

Figure 5 Actual Results Stressed out students were more likely to choose the cookie than the orange,
while students with lower stress levels opted for the fruit. Among students who chose the cookie, the most
common self-rated stress level was 6, while the majority of students who chose the orange scored their
stress at the 4 or 5 level. These results indicate that increased stress can impair the brain when faced with
a decision, such as choosing between a healthy and unhealthy snack.

None

Both

10

10

Number
of
People

Number
of
People

1
1

Stress Levels

Stress Levels

Figure 6 Actual Results Of the 50 random students who completed the anonymous stress survey, 11
students chose neither the cookie nor the orange, while 4 students chose both snacks. The students who
took neither snack on average displayed the lowest stress levels of the four groups, while the students
who ate both the cookie and the orange reported higher stress levels.

Literature Cited
How Stress Can Tweak the Brain to Sabotage Self-Control. ScienceDaily. Web. 5 Aug. 2015.
Maier, Silvia U, Aidan B Makwana, and Todd A Hare. "Acute Stress Impairs Self-Control in GoalDirected Choice by Altering Multiple Functional Connections within the Brain's Decision Circuits."
Neuron 87.3 (2015): 621-31. Web.