We're happier when busy but our instinct is for idleness

Ugh, what's with the "evolutionary vestige" and "instinctual idleness" crap? The lead researcher is a behavioral psychologist, not an evolutionary biologist. There's no basis for the conclusion that this behavior is genetic, let alone instinctive.

This makes perfect intuitive sense to me and is reflected frequently in my life. I have a job where I can often get away with doing very little, but if I do that I feel bad (and it creates a negative spiral). If instead I engage and work hard, I feel much better, but it seems I am always batting a innate preference for inaction. Or just laziness :-)

I like the chocolate bar experiment. Even if the rewards were switched, more people would still opt for the "busy" option. That has very interesting implications: At times, the reward really doesn't matter. It's the process which is important.

Implications for user interface design?