http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-...ieve-it-is
"But what if you happened to be someone who believed that engaging in difficult tasks was energizing, rather than depleting? What if you were convinced that using your willpower activates resources, rather than drains them? What would happen?
You'd be right! Thanks to a new set of studies by Veronika Job, Carol Dweck, and Gregory Walton, it's become clear that people's beliefs about the nature of self-control determine whether or not it is depleted by use.
The researchers distinguished between people who believed that willpower is a limited resource or a non-limited resource, and found that only those who believed in the limited-resource theory had less self-control (i.e., made lots of mistakes) after working on something very difficult."
Original paper: Ego Depletion—Is It All in Your Head? Implicit Theories About Willpower Affect Self-Regulation
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.
Bonus - Previously posted from Dweck: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...140430.htm ; http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...090949.htm
"But what if you happened to be someone who believed that engaging in difficult tasks was energizing, rather than depleting? What if you were convinced that using your willpower activates resources, rather than drains them? What would happen?
You'd be right! Thanks to a new set of studies by Veronika Job, Carol Dweck, and Gregory Walton, it's become clear that people's beliefs about the nature of self-control determine whether or not it is depleted by use.
The researchers distinguished between people who believed that willpower is a limited resource or a non-limited resource, and found that only those who believed in the limited-resource theory had less self-control (i.e., made lots of mistakes) after working on something very difficult."
Original paper: Ego Depletion—Is It All in Your Head? Implicit Theories About Willpower Affect Self-Regulation
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.
Bonus - Previously posted from Dweck: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...140430.htm ; http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...090949.htm
Edited: 2010-10-14, 7:38 pm