Ego Depletion—Is It All in Your Head?
Implicit Theories About Willpower Affect Self-Regulation
- Veronika Job, University of Zurich, Department of Psychology, Binzmühlestrasse 14/6, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland E-mail: v.job{at}psychologie.uzh.ch
Abstract
Much recent research suggests that willpower—the capacity to exert self-control—is a limited resource that is depleted after exertion. We propose that whether depletion takes place or not depends on a person’s belief about whether willpower is a limited resource. Study 1 found that individual differences in lay theories about willpower moderate ego-depletion effects: People who viewed the capacity for self-control as not limited did not show diminished self-control after a depleting experience. Study 2 replicated the effect, manipulating lay theories about willpower. Study 3 addressed questions about the mechanism underlying the effect. Study 4, a longitudinal field study, found that theories about willpower predict change in eating behavior, procrastination, and self-regulated goal striving in depleting circumstances. Taken together, the findings suggest that reduced self-control after a depleting task or during demanding periods may reflect people’s beliefs about the availability of willpower rather than true resource depletion.
Article Notes
-
The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.
-
This research was supported by a Swiss National Science Foundation fellowship (PBZHP1-123313) to Veronika Job.
-
Additional supporting information may be found at http://pss.sagepub.com/content/by/supplemental-data
- Received December 24, 2009.
- Accepted April 17, 2010.
- © The Author(s) 2010












0956797610384745v1