Effortful

Effortful is an adjective describing actions, tasks, or processes that require significant physical or mental energy and deliberate exertion. It implies attention, concentration, and sustained effort, in contrast to tasks that are automatic or easy.

In everyday language, effortful is used for activities that are difficult, exhausting, or require persistence, such as learning a new skill, solving complex problems, or maintaining self-control in challenging situations.

In psychology, effortful control is a key concept in temperament research. It refers to the capacity to regulate attention and behavior, delaying gratification, and resisting impulses. It is considered part of self-regulation and is linked to later cognitive and social outcomes.

In cognitive psychology, effortful processing, or controlled processing, describes mental operations that require attention and conscious effort, such as encoding new information or applying deliberate problem solving. This contrasts with automatic processing, which operates without focused attention.

Related terms include arduous, laborious, and strenuous as synonyms; and effortless as the antonym.