title: Maximising utility does not promote survival.
abstract: We argue that maximising utility does not promote survival. Hence, there is no reason to expect people to modulate effort according to a task's opportunity costs. There is also no reason why our evaluation of the marginal opportunity costs of tasks should predictably rise with repetition. Thus, the opportunity cost model cannot explain why tasks typically become harder over time.
authors.affiliation: School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia. dcohen@csu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Lauren L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Saling
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D005222:Mental Fatigue / Q000523:psychology*; D008960:Models, Psychological