Jake Embrey
@jakeembrey.bsky.social
Postdoc at Chicago Booth.
Researching cognitive costs and cognitive effort aversion.
www.jakeembrey.com
Researching cognitive costs and cognitive effort aversion.
www.jakeembrey.com
Strolled upon a gold mine this morning @theonion.com
December 23, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Strolled upon a gold mine this morning @theonion.com
Reposted by Jake Embrey
“A person might go, ‘This is too burdensome for me. I’m going to stop making this decision altogether.’”
www.chicagobooth.edu/review/six-w... #econsky
www.chicagobooth.edu/review/six-w... #econsky
Six Ways a Tough Choice Can Tax Your Mind
Researchers across disciplines have pieced together a timeline of cognitive costs.
www.chicagobooth.edu
December 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
“A person might go, ‘This is too burdensome for me. I’m going to stop making this decision altogether.’”
www.chicagobooth.edu/review/six-w... #econsky
www.chicagobooth.edu/review/six-w... #econsky
Reposted by Jake Embrey
Incredible piece on Oliver Sacks. If you were ever awed at his supposedly true stories (I remember being stunned by the account of the autistic twins who rattled off large prime numbers), read this. He told wonderful stories, but they were in large part fiction.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Oliver Sacks Put Himself Into His Case Studies. What Was the Cost?
The scientist was famous for linking healing with storytelling. Sometimes that meant reshaping patients’ reality.
www.newyorker.com
December 12, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Incredible piece on Oliver Sacks. If you were ever awed at his supposedly true stories (I remember being stunned by the account of the autistic twins who rattled off large prime numbers), read this. He told wonderful stories, but they were in large part fiction.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Jake Embrey
Sydney must become beach tokyo. inshallah we make it
'[Greenland], a prominent Green, and a strident opponent of high-density housing. “At some stage, if not already, we’re going to have to say we’re more or less full,” he says of Sydney's Inner West'
Then go join One Nation with that rhetoric.
archive.md/2025.12.10-1...
Then go join One Nation with that rhetoric.
archive.md/2025.12.10-1...
archive.md
December 10, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Sydney must become beach tokyo. inshallah we make it
Is insufferable prose a feature on substack? Truly some of the most inane, self-absorbed sentences ever produced been published on that site.
December 9, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Is insufferable prose a feature on substack? Truly some of the most inane, self-absorbed sentences ever produced been published on that site.
Note to self: don't run an effort aversion study on a Sunday morning as 3/4 of the sample seek the harder task and have astronomically high 'need for cognition' scores.
December 8, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Note to self: don't run an effort aversion study on a Sunday morning as 3/4 of the sample seek the harder task and have astronomically high 'need for cognition' scores.
Nostalgia really is the root cause of populism in modern politics, isn't it?
December 4, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Nostalgia really is the root cause of populism in modern politics, isn't it?
Reposted by Jake Embrey
Insanely stupid and short-sighted choice. I didn't even know they were still trying to run this racket. You put more universities in danger with this shit you idiots!
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university
Full statement from NU below:
Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Insanely stupid and short-sighted choice. I didn't even know they were still trying to run this racket. You put more universities in danger with this shit you idiots!
Reposted by Jake Embrey
Thrilled that my poster on our new preprint won 2nd place at the Society for Judgment and Decision Making (@sjdm-tweets.bsky.social) conference!
Read the full paper here: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Read the full paper here: osf.io/preprints/ps...
November 26, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Thrilled that my poster on our new preprint won 2nd place at the Society for Judgment and Decision Making (@sjdm-tweets.bsky.social) conference!
Read the full paper here: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Read the full paper here: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Jake Embrey
‘A long road ahead’: Family of Blue Line burn victim launches GoFundMe
‘A long road ahead’: Family of Blue Line burn victim launches GoFundMe
After an outpouring of support following her arson attack on a CTA Blue Line train, the family of Bethany MaGee has established a GoFundMe campaign to help offset costs as she continues her recover…
trib.al
November 26, 2025 at 2:36 AM
‘A long road ahead’: Family of Blue Line burn victim launches GoFundMe
Given Chomsky replied to every email, and spoke to anyone who might be able to further broadcast his views, I don't find it shocking (or indictable) that he had correspondence with someone who loved coveting public intellectuals.
November 19, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Given Chomsky replied to every email, and spoke to anyone who might be able to further broadcast his views, I don't find it shocking (or indictable) that he had correspondence with someone who loved coveting public intellectuals.
Reposted by Jake Embrey
New pontification piece with @awestbrook.bsky.social and Jean Daunizeau, just out in TICS:
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
A widespread observation is that people avoid mentally effortful courses of action,
and much recent work examining cognitive effort has explained subjective effort evaluation
– and, consequently, pref...
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:48 PM
New pontification piece with @awestbrook.bsky.social and Jean Daunizeau, just out in TICS:
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
I’m still holding out hope that, one day, critics of Universal Grammar (and the minimalist program more broadly) actually bother to read the literature instead of blindly citing Everett ‘05 and moving on.
November 7, 2025 at 9:17 PM
I’m still holding out hope that, one day, critics of Universal Grammar (and the minimalist program more broadly) actually bother to read the literature instead of blindly citing Everett ‘05 and moving on.
Exactly. Incentives matter and if we properly incentivised high level public service jobs we would have better minds vying for these positions, instead of the best graduates routinely flocking towards finance. Yeah, intrinsic value matters in a job, but less so if you're being paid 1/4 the salary
people hate hearing this but it's 100% true, creating a huge pay gap between political leaders, their staffs, and other elites is a recipe for corruption. of course the flip side of that is taxes on the rich should be jacked way the hell up
The Mayor of New York only makes $260k. I bet there are police that make more than that in NY with overtime.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
November 7, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Exactly. Incentives matter and if we properly incentivised high level public service jobs we would have better minds vying for these positions, instead of the best graduates routinely flocking towards finance. Yeah, intrinsic value matters in a job, but less so if you're being paid 1/4 the salary
Reposted by Jake Embrey
The Mayor of New York only makes $260k. I bet there are police that make more than that in NY with overtime.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
November 6, 2025 at 4:39 PM
The Mayor of New York only makes $260k. I bet there are police that make more than that in NY with overtime.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
We need to pay elected leaders more money and stop pretending it's some sort of calling. They're managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and millions of people's lives.
I think some people have overcorrected in their scepticism towards psychology. There is plenty of dodgy stuff out there, but I too often see people willing to burn down entire fields after reading a tweet about another non-replication. Seems obvious cognitive dissonance is a real phenom.
There’s growing evidence that something was going seriously wrong in the classic early work on cognitive dissonance
Latest revelation: The story in When Prophecy Fails seems to have been fabricated in the most egregious way
But this is not the only one…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Latest revelation: The story in When Prophecy Fails seems to have been fabricated in the most egregious way
But this is not the only one…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Debunking “When Prophecy Fails”
In 1954, Dorothy Martin predicted an apocalyptic flood and promised her followers rescue by flying saucers. When neither arrived, she recanted, her group dissolved, and efforts to proselytize ceased....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I think some people have overcorrected in their scepticism towards psychology. There is plenty of dodgy stuff out there, but I too often see people willing to burn down entire fields after reading a tweet about another non-replication. Seems obvious cognitive dissonance is a real phenom.
Reposted by Jake Embrey
People are lazy--except when they're watching other people work hard.
My student Emily Zohar just published her first first-authored paper, and it reveals something surprising about effort and social norms. /1
osf.io/preprints/ps...
My student Emily Zohar just published her first first-authored paper, and it reveals something surprising about effort and social norms. /1
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
November 5, 2025 at 12:54 AM
People are lazy--except when they're watching other people work hard.
My student Emily Zohar just published her first first-authored paper, and it reveals something surprising about effort and social norms. /1
osf.io/preprints/ps...
My student Emily Zohar just published her first first-authored paper, and it reveals something surprising about effort and social norms. /1
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Jake Embrey
Private Eye nailing it.
October 29, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Private Eye nailing it.
A reply to our letter (@minzlicht.bsky.social and I) questioning the need for metabolic costs to explain control induced cognitive fatigue. I worry we're talking past each other here. We're not denying that cognitive fatigue has a metabolic basis (I'm not a dualist) 1/N
No need to oppose metabolic and motivational theories
After a long and intense day at work, you find yourself so exhausted that you refuse
to drive and join your friends at their dinner party; instead, you indulge in fast
food and easy entertainment at h...
www.cell.com
October 19, 2025 at 10:06 PM
A reply to our letter (@minzlicht.bsky.social and I) questioning the need for metabolic costs to explain control induced cognitive fatigue. I worry we're talking past each other here. We're not denying that cognitive fatigue has a metabolic basis (I'm not a dualist) 1/N
Reposted by Jake Embrey
Pritzker winning a million dollars at the blackjack tables is so pimp. That man has my vote for life.
October 17, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Pritzker winning a million dollars at the blackjack tables is so pimp. That man has my vote for life.
Out of all the things Americans do that shock me, nothing compares to seeing people wear marathon medals more than 24 hours after the race. You would be (rightfully) excoriated for that back home.
October 13, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Out of all the things Americans do that shock me, nothing compares to seeing people wear marathon medals more than 24 hours after the race. You would be (rightfully) excoriated for that back home.
Reposted by Jake Embrey
#preprint 📢
Effort usually boosts performance - but not always. We discuss 4 domain-general factors that modulate effort-performance (de)coupling: osf.io/preprints/ps...
TL;DR: A framework on when and why effort-performance links appear to change across domains, timescales & measures.
🧵
Effort usually boosts performance - but not always. We discuss 4 domain-general factors that modulate effort-performance (de)coupling: osf.io/preprints/ps...
TL;DR: A framework on when and why effort-performance links appear to change across domains, timescales & measures.
🧵
OSF
osf.io
October 13, 2025 at 1:26 PM
#preprint 📢
Effort usually boosts performance - but not always. We discuss 4 domain-general factors that modulate effort-performance (de)coupling: osf.io/preprints/ps...
TL;DR: A framework on when and why effort-performance links appear to change across domains, timescales & measures.
🧵
Effort usually boosts performance - but not always. We discuss 4 domain-general factors that modulate effort-performance (de)coupling: osf.io/preprints/ps...
TL;DR: A framework on when and why effort-performance links appear to change across domains, timescales & measures.
🧵
Reposted by Jake Embrey
Forthcoming in JBEF: “Undefined benefit: Projections and anchors as guides to retirement decumulation” by B. R. Newell, H. Bateman, L. Dobrescu, J. Embrey, R. Nian, and S. Thorp. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Undefined benefit: Projections and anchors as guides to retirement decumulation
Most defined contribution retirement income systems assume that retiring participants have the know-how and confidence to turn their lump sum savings …
www.sciencedirect.com
October 6, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Forthcoming in JBEF: “Undefined benefit: Projections and anchors as guides to retirement decumulation” by B. R. Newell, H. Bateman, L. Dobrescu, J. Embrey, R. Nian, and S. Thorp. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Those that save adequate amounts for retirement often spend much less than they can afford once they actually retire. We investigate the effects different anchors and projections have on people's retirement spending behaviour in this new paper.
Undefined benefit: Projections and anchors as guides to retirement decumulation
Most defined contribution retirement income systems assume that retiring participants have the know-how and confidence to turn their lump sum savings …
www.sciencedirect.com
October 7, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Those that save adequate amounts for retirement often spend much less than they can afford once they actually retire. We investigate the effects different anchors and projections have on people's retirement spending behaviour in this new paper.