Investigating the effectiveness of emotional design principle to attenuate ego depletion effect

Abstract. The ego depletion effect has been examined by over 300 independent studies during the past two decades. Despite its pervasive influence, recently this effect has been severely challenged and asserted to be a fake. Based on an up-to-date meta-analysis that examined the effectiveness of each frequently used depleting task, we preregistered the current experiment with the aim to examine whether there would be an ego depletion effect when the Stroop task is used as the depleting task. The results demonstrated a significant ego depletion effect. The current research highlights the importance of the depleting task’s effectiveness. That is to say, the “ego” could be “depleted,” but only when initial exertion is “depleting.”

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The Limits of Ego Depletion

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000365 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 50 (5-6) ◽

pp. 292-304 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mario Wenzel ◽

Marina Lind ◽

Zarah Rowland ◽

Daniela Zahn ◽

Thomas Kubiak

Keyword(s):

Research Agenda ◽

Statistical Power ◽

Interindividual Variability ◽

Ego Depletion ◽

Crossover Design ◽

Effect Sizes ◽

Future Research ◽

Future Research Agenda ◽

Depletion Effect ◽

Within Subjects

Abstract. Evidence on the existence of the ego depletion phenomena as well as the size of the effects and potential moderators and mediators are ambiguous. Building on a crossover design that enables superior statistical power within a single study, we investigated the robustness of the ego depletion effect between and within subjects and moderating and mediating influences of the ego depletion manipulation checks. Our results, based on a sample of 187 participants, demonstrated that (a) the between- and within-subject ego depletion effects only had negligible effect sizes and that there was (b) large interindividual variability that (c) could not be explained by differences in ego depletion manipulation checks. We discuss the implications of these results and outline a future research agenda.

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Ego Depletion

The Oxford Handbook of Human Motivation ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190666453.013.7 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 111-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mark Muraven ◽

Jacek Buczny ◽

Kyle F. Law

Keyword(s):

Limited Resource ◽

Ego Depletion ◽

Self Control ◽

Negative Outcomes ◽

Ego Strength ◽

Loss Of Self ◽

Comprehensive Theory ◽

Depletion Effect

Self-control all too often fails. Despite people’s best intentions and considerable negative outcomes, people often find themselves at the losing end of resisting temptation, combating urges, and changing their behavior. One reason for these failures may be that exerting self-control depletes a limited resource (ego depletion) that is necessary for the success of self-control. Hence, after exerting self-control, individuals are less able resist temptations, fight urges, or stop a behavior that results in a loss of self-control. This chapter reviews the evidence for this theory in a wide variety of domains and examines what behaviors appear to deplete ego strength and how depletion affects behavior. A comprehensive theory that examines how depletion operates is put forth and used to examine some factors that might moderate the depletion effect.

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A Multisite Preregistered Paradigmatic Test of the Ego-Depletion Effect

Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0956797621989733 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095679762198973

Author(s):

Kathleen D. Vohs ◽

Brandon J. Schmeichel ◽

Sophie Lohmann ◽

Quentin F. Gronau ◽

Anna J. Finley ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alternative Hypothesis ◽

Ego Depletion ◽

Self Control ◽

Bayesian Analyses ◽

Action Orientation ◽

Replication Method ◽

Depletion Effect ◽

Confirmatory Tests ◽

Nonsignificant Result ◽

Meta Analyses

We conducted a preregistered multilaboratory project ( k = 36; N = 3,531) to assess the size and robustness of ego-depletion effects using a novel replication method, termed the paradigmatic replication approach. Each laboratory implemented one of two procedures that was intended to manipulate self-control and tested performance on a subsequent measure of self-control. Confirmatory tests found a nonsignificant result ( d = 0.06). Confirmatory Bayesian meta-analyses using an informed-prior hypothesis (δ = 0.30, SD = 0.15) found that the data were 4 times more likely under the null than the alternative hypothesis. Hence, preregistered analyses did not find evidence for a depletion effect. Exploratory analyses on the full sample (i.e., ignoring exclusion criteria) found a statistically significant effect ( d = 0.08); Bayesian analyses showed that the data were about equally likely under the null and informed-prior hypotheses. Exploratory moderator tests suggested that the depletion effect was larger for participants who reported more fatigue but was not moderated by trait self-control, willpower beliefs, or action orientation.

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Testing the validity of the attention control video: An eye-tracking approach of the ego depletion effect

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0211181 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. e0211181 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Chris Englert ◽

Dennis Koroma ◽

Alex Bertrams ◽

Corinna S. Martarelli

Keyword(s):

Eye Tracking ◽

Ego Depletion ◽

Attention Control ◽

Depletion Effect

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Is Ego Depletion Real? An Analysis of Arguments

Personality and Social Psychology Review ◽

10.1177/1088868318762183 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 107-131 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Malte Friese ◽

David D. Loschelder ◽

Karolin Gieseler ◽

Julius Frankenbach ◽

Michael Inzlicht

Keyword(s):

Publication Bias ◽

Ego Depletion ◽

Self Control ◽

True Effect ◽

Depletion Effect ◽

Abundant Evidence ◽

Control Failure ◽

Future Work

An influential line of research suggests that initial bouts of self-control increase the susceptibility to self-control failure (ego depletion effect). Despite seemingly abundant evidence, some researchers have suggested that evidence for ego depletion was the sole result of publication bias and p-hacking, with the true effect being indistinguishable from zero. Here, we examine (a) whether the evidence brought forward against ego depletion will convince a proponent that ego depletion does not exist and (b) whether arguments that could be brought forward in defense of ego depletion will convince a skeptic that ego depletion does exist. We conclude that despite several hundred published studies, the available evidence is inconclusive. Both additional empirical and theoretical works are needed to make a compelling case for either side of the debate. We discuss necessary steps for future work toward this aim.

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Bored Into Depletion? Toward a Tentative Integration of Perceived Self-Control Exertion and Boredom as Guiding Signals for Goal-Directed Behavior

Perspectives on Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/1745691620921394 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (5) ◽

pp. 1272-1283 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Wanja Wolff ◽

Corinna S. Martarelli

Keyword(s):

Ego Depletion ◽

Self Control ◽

Strength Model ◽

Control Performance ◽

The Past ◽

Working Model ◽

Societal Relevance ◽

Depletion Effect ◽

Control Research ◽

Goal Directed Behavior

During the past two decades, self-control research has been dominated by the strength model of self-control, which is built on the premise that the capacity for self-control is a limited global resource that can become temporarily depleted, resulting in a state called ego depletion. The foundations of ego depletion have recently been questioned. Thus, although self-control is among the most researched psychological concepts with high societal relevance, an inconsistent body of literature limits our understanding of how self-control operates. Here, we propose that the inconsistencies are partly due to a confound that has unknowingly and systematically been introduced into the ego-depletion research: boredom. We propose that boredom might affect results of self-control research by placing an unwanted demand on self-control and signaling that one should explore behavioral alternatives. To account for boredom in self-controlled behavior, we provide a working model that integrates evidence from reward-based models of self-control and recent theorizing on boredom to explain the effects of both self-control exertion and boredom on subsequent self-control performance. We propose that task-induced boredom should be systematically monitored in self-control research to assess the validity of the ego-depletion effect.

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