Social Psychology: Willpower and Ego Depletion

implementation intentions example

As soon as I get out of bed in the morning I will put on my running shoes and go for a run

Ego depletion study involving radishes and cookies (Baumeister et al., 1998)

IV: eat radishes (ego depleting) vs. eat chocolate/cookies (control) DV: time spent persisting at solving an unsolvable puzzle *Radish people worked less than half as long in solving the puzzle

Ego depletion study involving regulating emotional responses and performing a handgrip

IV: regulate responses to emotional film vs. not DV: physical stamina (time spent squeezing hand grip) *regulated response (really let emotions show or not...this is depleting) people held for much less long the second attempt (after watching film)

ego depletion

-The "active self" seems to be a limited resource (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven & Tice, 1998) -After using self-control, people perform worse at self-control related tasks ...even if tasks are in a new domain! -This limited resource appears to act like a muscle... it can be temporarily drained, but can get stronger with use (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000) -What kinds of activities "strengthen the muscle"? Spending 2 weeks focusing on improving posture Monitoring and detailing what you eat Using nondominant hand Upholding new speech rules *Ego depletion can be overcome*

The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment (Mischel et al., 1972)

Children were presented with a marshmallow, told they could ring the bell to eat it right away, or wait until the experimenter came back and get two whole marshmallows! -10 years later, follow up: children (now adolescents) who waited longer were rated as more competent Second follow up: children who had waited longer received higher SAT scores *Importance of delay of gratification

Beliefs about Willpower cont.

Manipulate depletion (or resource use): Nondepletion condition: cross out each e on a page of typewritten text Depletion condition: Follow complex rules that sometimes required them to inhibit the previously established response (e.g., not to cross out an e followed by a vowel) DV: Accuracy on incongruent trials of a stroop task (when the word "green" is yellow, etc.)

Beliefs about Willpower

Measured beliefs about willpower After a strenuous mental activity your energy is depleted and you must rest to get it refueled again" (limited-resource theory) Your mental stamina fuels itself; even after strenuous mental exertion you can continue doing more of it" (nonlimited-resource theory) Combined into one score: higher scores mean more limited resource theory views

Effects of people's beliefs about willpower (Job et al., 2010)

People's beliefs about willpower influence how it works (Job, Dweck & Walton, 2010) Believing that a challenging mental task will make you feel drained leads to typical ego-depletion effects (worse performance on self-control after using some) Believing that a challenging mental task will energize you makes people perform just as well (sometimes even better!)

implementation intentions

Statements of the form: ''As soon as situation y occurs, I will initiate goal-directed behavior x." Results in "strategic automatization" When the environmental cue specified in the implementation intention is encountered, the intended behavior is automatically initiated Effective in bringing about a variety of behaviors E.g., cervical cancer screening; vitamin use Implementation intentions can help overcome the effects of ego depletion