• Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or My Tools.

Ego Depletion—Is It All in Your Head?

Implicit Theories About Willpower Affect Self-Regulation

  1. Gregory M. Walton
  1. Stanford University
  1. 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.

This Article

  1. Psychological Science
  1. Supplemental Material
  2. All Versions of this Article:
    1. Version of Record - Nov 10, 2010
    2. current version image indicator0956797610384745v1 - Sep 28, 2010
    What's this?

Share