570 class 14 ego depletion

what component of the model of self regulation proposed by baumeister does ego depletion fall under?

capacity to override _prepotent_ but unwanted responses

describe how beliefs affect willpower and ego depletion.

holding a global theory that difficult tasks are ENERGIZING rather than depleting prevent ego depletion and help people sustain self regulation. iv: questionnaire with limited vs. nonlimited resource theory dv: crossing e's task; participants more successful if they had a nonlimited resource theory. difference only observed for depletion condition. study 2: participants who were influenced into believing a nonlimited resource model performed better on the stroop and the e task.

what are 4 problems with the literature on self control training?

lack of active control group often no checks in adherence to training inconsistent findings / lack of replicability unpublished null results

describe the glucose hypothesis of self-control

metabolization of glucose in the bloodstream increases executive functioning. exerting self control consumes glucose.

what is evidence against the 'self control is a muscle' model of willpower?

miles, sheeran et al iv: training - daily executive function tasks, or use non-dominant hand for daily tasks for 6 weeks dv: near transfer: performance under ego depletion far transfer: making and breaking habits, self-control behavior in the lab meta-cognitive transfer: self-control behavior in everyday life, and well being results: NO EFFECT (Bayesian analysis)

study that explores self-control as a muscle that can be strengthened

muraven et al participants who avoided sweets and used a handgrip went more days (12 days on average) without smoking relapse than those who did not strengthen their willpower (6 days on average)

3 criticisms of the glucose hypothesis

not replicable. biologically plausible? the brain should always have a supply of glucose, the body always routes glucose to the brain preferentially. consumption of glucose may not be necessary. mere presence of glucose in the oral cavity suffices.

explaining ego depletion

self-control is a resource that is depleted with use and needs time to recover and can be strengthened with exercise

2 studies that back the glucose hypothesis of self-control?

study 1: iv: participants must discuss affirmative action w/ black or white confederate. other: motivation to respond without prejudice dv: those discussing w/ black candidate w/ low motivation to respond w/o prejudice demonstrated a huge net change in glucose levels ... (more effortful study 2: 2x2 design (ego depleted v. non-depleted, drink glucose or placebo). those who were given glucose in the ego depletion group performed much better (less errors) on the stroop task than those who were given placebo. this effect was only observed in the depletion condition

what are three classical demonstrations of ego depletion?

IV: radishes and not cookies DV: time spent on puzzle task and number of attempts; less in the radishes condition radishes--> puzzle IV: emotion suppression while watching a sad or happy movie DV: number of anagrams solved; lower in the suppression condition emotion suppression --> anagrams IV: increase or decrease emotional response DV: change in performance on handgrip task emotion increasing/suppression --> handgrip

*** what is ego depletion? ***

an initial act of self control reduces performance on a second task that also requires self control