Ego Depletion Is the Active Self a Limited Resource.docx

Ego Depletion Is the Active Self a Limited Resource.docx

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EgoDepletionIstheActiveSelfaLimitedResource

EgoDepletion:

IstheActiveSelfaLimitedResource?

Abstract

Choice,activeresponse,self-regulation,andothervolitionmayalldrawonacommoninnerresource.InExperiment1,peoplewhoforcedthemselvestoeatradishesinsteadoftemptingchocolatessubsequentlyquitfasteronunsolvablepuzzlesthanpeoplewhohadnothadtoexertself-controlovereating.InExperiment2,makingameaningfulpersonalchoicetoperformattitude-relevantbehaviorcausedasimilardecrementinpersistence.InExperiment3,suppressingemotionledtoasubsequentdropinperformanceofsolvableanagrams.InExperiment4,aninitialtaskrequiringhighself-regulationmadepeoplemorepassive（i.e.,morepronetofavorthepassive-responseoption）.Theseresultssuggestthattheself'scapacityforactivevolitionislimitedandthatarangeofseeminglydifferent,unrelatedactsshareacommonresource.

Manycrucialfunctionsoftheselfinvolvevolition:

makingchoicesanddecisions,takingresponsibility,initiatingandinhibitingbehavior,andmakingplansofactionandcarryingoutthoseplans.Theselfexertscontroloveritselfandovertheexternalworld.Tobesure,notallhumanbehaviorinvolvesplanfulordeliberatecontrolbytheself,and,infact,recentworkhasshownthatagreatdealofhumanbehaviorisinfluencedbyautomaticornonconsciousprocesses（seeBargh,1994,1997）.Butundoubtedlysomeportioninvolvesdeliberate,conscious,controlledresponsesbytheself,andthatportionmaybedisproportionatelyimportanttothelong-termhealth,happiness,andsuccessoftheindividual.Evenifitwereshownthat95%ofbehaviorconsistedoflawful,predictableresponsestosituationalstimulibyautomaticprocesses,psychologycouldnotaffordtoignoretheremaining5%.Asananalogy,carsareprobablydrivenstraightaheadatleast95%ofthetime,butignoringtheother5%（suchasbybuildingcarswithoutsteeringwheels）wouldseriouslycompromisethecar'sabilitytoreachmostdestinations.Bythesametoken,therelativelyfewactive,controllingchoicesbytheselfgreatlyincreasetheself'schancesofachievingitsgoals.Andifthosefew“steering”choicesbytheselfareimportant,thensoiswhateverinternalstructureoftheselfisresponsibleforit.

Inthepresentinvestigationwewereconcernedwiththiscontrollingaspectoftheself.Specifically,wetestedhypothesesofegodepletion,asawayoflearningabouttheself'sexecutivefunction.Thecoreideabehindegodepletionisthattheself'sactsofvolitiondrawonsomelimitedresource,akintostrengthorenergyandthat,therefore,oneactofvolitionwillhaveadetrimentalimpactonsubsequentvolition.Wesoughttoshowthatapreliminaryactofself-controlintheformofresistingtemptation（Experiment1）orapreliminaryactofchoiceandresponsibility（Experiment2）wouldundermineself-regulationinasubsequent,unrelateddomain,namelypersistenceatadifficultandfrustratingtask.Wethensoughttoverifythattheeffectsofegodepletionareindeedmaladaptiveanddetrimentaltoperformance（Experiment3）.Last,weundertooktoshowthategodepletionresultingfromactsofself-controlwouldinterferewithsubsequentdecisionmakingbymakingpeoplemorepassive（Experiment4）.

Ourresearchstrategywastolookateffectsthatwouldcarryoveracrosswidegapsofseemingirrelevance.Ifresistingthetemptationtoeatchocolatecanleaveapersonpronetogiveupfasteronadifficult,frustratingpuzzle,thatwouldsuggestthatthosetwoverydifferentactsofself-controldrawonthesamelimitedresource.Andifmakingachoiceaboutwhethertomakeaspeechcontrarytoone'sopinionsweretohavethesameeffect,itwouldsuggestthatthatverysameresourceisalsotheoneusedingeneralfordeliberate,responsibledecisionmaking.Thatresourcewouldpresumablybeoneofthemostimportantfeaturesoftheself.

ExecutiveFunction

Thetermagencyhasbeenusedbyvariouswriterstorefertotheself'sexertionofvolition,butthistermhasmisleadingconnotations:

Anagentisquintessentiallysomeonewhoactsonbehalfofsomeoneelse,whereasthephenomenonunderdiscussioninvolvestheselfactingautonomouslyonitsownbehalf.Thetermexecutivefunctionhasbeenusedinvariouscontextstorefertothisaspectofselfandhencemaybepreferable（e.g.,Epstein,1973;seeBaumeister,1998）.Meanwhile,weusethetermegodepletiontorefertoatemporaryreductionintheself'scapacityorwillingnesstoengageinvolitionalaction（includingcontrollingtheenvironment,controllingtheself,makingchoices,andinitiatingaction）causedbypriorexerciseofvolition.

Thepsychologicaltheorythatvolitionisoneoftheself'scrucialfunctionscanbetracedbackatleasttoFreud（1923/1961a,1933/1961b）,whodescribedtheegoasthepartofthepsychethatmustdealwiththerealityoftheexternalworldbymediatingbetweenconflictinginnerandouterpressures.Inhisscheme,forexample,aVictoriangentlemanstandingonthestreetmightfeelurgedbyhisidtoheadforthebrothelandbyhissuperegotogotochurch,butitisultimatelyleftuptohisegotostarthisfeetwalkinginonedirectionortheother.Freudalsoseemstohavebelievedthattheegoneededtousesomeenergyinmakingsuchadecision.

Recentresearchhasconvincinglyilluminatedtheself'snearlyrelentlessquestforcontrol（Brehm,1966;Burger,1989;DeCharms,1968;Deci&Ryan,1991,1995;Langer,1975;Rothbaum,Weisz,&Snyder,1982;Taylor,1983,1989;White,1959）.Itisalsoknownthatwhentheselffeelshighlyresponsible（accountable）foritsactions,itscognitiveandbehavioralprocesseschange（Cooper&Scher,1994;Linder,Cooper,&Jones,1967;Tetlock,1983,1985;Tetlock&Boettger,1989）.Activeresponsesalsohavemorepowerfuleffectsontheselfanditssubsequentresponsesthandopassiveones（Allison&Messick,1988;Cioffi&Garner,1996;Fazio,Sherman,&Herr,1982）.Theprocessesbywhichtheselfmonitorsitselfinordertoapproachstandardsofdesiredbehaviorhavealsobeenstudied（Carver&Scheier,1981;Duval&Wicklund,1972;Wegner,1994;Wegner&Pennebaker,1993）.Despitetheseefforts,itishardtodisputethatunderstandingoftheexecutivefunctionremainsfarmorevagueandrudimentarythanotheraspectsofself-theory.Researchersinvestigatingcognitiverepresentationsofselfhavemadeenormousprogressinrecentdecades（forreviews,seeBanaji&Prentice,1994;Fiske&Taylor,1991）.Likewise,therehasbeenconsiderableprogressoninterpersonalaspectsofselfhood（e.g.,Leary,1995;Leary&Kowalski,1990;Schlenker,1980;Tesser,1988）.Incomparison,understandingoftheself'sexecutivefunctionlagsbehindatafairlyprimitivelevel.

EgoDepletion

Thenotionthatvolitiondependsontheself'sexpenditureofsomelimitedresourcewasanticipatedbyFreud（1923/1961a,1933/1961b）.Hethoughttheegoneededtohavesomeformofenergytoaccomplishitstasksandtoresisttheenergeticpromptingsofidandsuperego.Freudwasfondoftheanalogyofhorseandrider,becauseashesaidtherider（analogoustotheego）isgenerallyinchargeofsteeringbutissometimesunabletopreventthehorsefromgoingwhereitwantstogo.Freudwasrathervagueandinconsistentaboutwheretheego'senergycamefrom,butherecognizedtheconceptualvalueofpostulatingthattheegooperatedonanenergymodel.

Severalmodernresearchfindingssuggestthatsomeformofenergyorstrengthmaybeinvolvedinactsofvolition.Mostofthesehavebeenconcernedwithself-regulation.Indeed,Mischel（1996）hasrecentlyproposedthatthecolloquialnotionofwillpowerberevivedforself-regulationtheory,andaliteraturereviewbyBaumeister,Heatherton,andTice（1994）concludedthatmuchevidenceaboutself-regulatoryfailurefitsamodelofstrengthdepletion.

AnimportantearlystudybyGlass,Singer,andFriedman（1969）foundthatparticipantsexposedtounpredictablenoisestresssubsequentlyshoweddecrementsinfrustrationtolerance,asmeasuredbypersistenceonunsolvableproblems.1Glassetal.concludedthatadaptingtounpredictablestressinvolvesa“psychiccost,”whichimpliesanexpenditureordepletionofsomevaluableresource.Theyleftthenatureofthisresourcetofutureresearch,whichhasnotmademuchfurtherprogress.

AdditionalevidenceforastrengthmodelwasprovidedbyMuraven,Tice,andBaumeister（1998）,whoseresearchstrategyinfluencedthepresentinvestigation.Muravenetal.soughttoshowthatconsecutiveexertionsofself-regulationwerecharacterizedbydeterioratingperformance,eventhoughtheexertionsinvolvedseeminglyunrelatedspheres.Inonestudy,theyshowedthattryingnottothinkaboutawhitebear（athought-controltaskborrowedfromWegner,1989;Wegner,Schneider,Carter,&White,1987）causedpeopletogiveupmorequicklyonasubsequentanagramtask.Inanotherstudy,anaffect-regulationexercisecausedsubsequentdecrementsinenduranceatsqueezingahandgrip.Thesefindingssuggestthatexertionsofself-controldocarryapsychiccostanddepletesomescarceresource.

Tointegratethesescatteredfindingsandimplications,wesuggestthefollowing.Oneimportantpartoftheselfisalimitedresourcethatisusedforallactsofvolition,suchascontrolled（asopposedtoautomatic）processing,active（asopposedtopassive）choice,initiatingbehavior,andoverridingresponses.Becausemuchofself-regulationinvolvesresistingtemptationandhenceoverridingmotivatedresponses,thisself-resourcemustbeabletoaffectbehaviorinthesamefashionthatmotivationdoes.Motivationscanbestrongorweak,andstrongerimpulsesarepresumabl