The Psychology Of Fatigue

Fatigue can have a major impact on an individual's performance and well-being, yet is poorly understood, even within the scientific community. There is no developed theory of its origins or functions, and different types of fatigue (mental, physical, sleepiness) are routinely confused. The widespread interpretation of fatigue as a negative consequence of work may be true only for externally imposed goals; meaningful or self-initiated work is rarely tiring and often invigorating. In the first book dedicated to the systematic treatment of fatigue for over sixty years, Robert Hockey examines its many aspects - social history, neuroscience, energetics, exercise physiology, sleep and clinical implications - and develops a new motivational control theory, in which fatigue is treated as an emotion having a fundamental adaptive role in the management of goals. He then uses this new perspective to explore the role of fatigue in relation to individual motivation, working life and well-being.

The first systematic treatment of fatigue for 60 years, putting forward a new theory of its origins and functions.

The first systematic treatment of fatigue for 60 years, putting forward a new theory of its origins and functions.

Fatigue can have a major impact on an individual's performance and wellbeing, yet is poorly understood, even within the scientific community. There is no developed theory of its origins or functions, and different types of fatigue (mental, physical, sleepiness) are routinely confused. The widespread interpretation of fatigue as a negative consequence of work may be true only for externally imposed goals; meaningful or self-initiated work is rarely tiring and often invigorating. In the first book dedicated to the systematic treatment of fatigue for over sixty years, Robert Hockey examines its many aspects - social history, neuroscience, energetics, exercise physiology, sleep and clinical implications - and develops a new motivational control theory, in which fatigue is treated as an emotion having a fundamental adaptive role in the management of goals. He then uses this new perspective to explore the role of fatigue in relation to individual motivation, working life and wellbeing.

The years since World War II have seen remarkable progress in the field of cognitive fatigue. Many fascinating and encouraging lines of research have been explored, including performance effects associated with cognitive fatigue; task characteristics leading to fatigue; feelings, motivational determinants, biological, and neuropsychological aspects of cognitive fatigue; and drug effects on cognitive fatigue. However, in all this time there has been no book-length treatment of cognitive fatigue, and little effort to bring together these diverse research strands into an integrated whole. In this long-awaited book, editor Phillip L. Ackerman has gathered a group of leading experts to assess both basic research and future applications relevant to cognitive fatigue. Broad in scope, the book covers human factors and ergonomics; clinical and applied differential psychology; and applications in industrial, military, and non-work domains. A balance of theoretical and empirical research, reviewed from several different countries, makes this a truly multinational and interdisciplinary collection. Each chapter concludes with a lively discussion among authors, and the book itself concludes with a provocative open panel discussion regarding promising avenues for research and application. The result is a book that displays the breadth and the emerging unity of the field of cognitive fatigue today.

This interdisciplinary book explores both the connections and the tensions between sociological, psychological, and biological theories of exhaustion. It examines how the prevalence of exhaustion – both as an individual experience and as a broader socio-cultural phenomenon – is manifest in the epidemic rise of burnout, depression, and chronic fatigue. It provides innovative analyses of the complex interplay between the processes involved in the production of mental health diagnoses, socio-cultural transformations, and subjective illness experiences. Using many of the existing ideologically charged exhaustion theories as case studies, the authors investigate how individual discomfort and wider social dynamics are interrelated. Covering a broad range of topics, this book will appeal to those working in the fields of psychology, sociology, medicine, psychiatry, literature, and history.

Today our fatigue feels chronic; our anxieties, amplified. Proliferating technologies command our attention. Many people complain of burnout, and economic instability and the threat of ecological catastrophe fill us with dread. We look to the past, imagining life to have once been simpler and slower, but extreme mental and physical stress is not a modern syndrome. Beginning in classical antiquity, this book demonstrates how exhaustion has always been with us and helps us evaluate more critically the narratives we tell ourselves about the phenomenon. Medical, cultural, literary, and biographical sources have cast exhaustion as a biochemical imbalance, a somatic ailment, a viral disease, and a spiritual failing. It has been linked to loss, the alignment of the planets, a perverse desire for death, and social and economic disruption. Pathologized, demonized, sexualized, and even weaponized, exhaustion unites the mind with the body and society in such a way that we attach larger questions of agency, willpower, and well-being to its symptoms. Mapping these political, ideological, and creative currents across centuries of human development, Exhaustion finds in our struggle to overcome weariness a more significant effort to master ourselves.

The first and most popular of Blake's famous "Illuminated Books," in a facsimile edition reproducing all 31 brightly colored plates. Additional printed text of each poem. "The colors are lovely, the book is a joy." — Kliatt Paperback Book Guide.