Though human beings embody a unique ability for planned behavior, they also often act impulsively. This insight may be important for the study of self-control situations in which people are torn between their long-term goals to restrain behavior and their immediate impulses that promise hedonic fulfillment. In the present article, we outline a dual-systems perspective of impulse and self-control and suggest a framework for the prediction of self-control outcomes. This framework combines three elements that, considered jointly, may enable a more precise prediction of self-control outcomes than they do when studied in isolation: impulsive precursors of behavior, reflective precursors, and situational or dispositional boundary conditions. The theoretical and practical utility of such an approach is demonstrated by drawing on recent evidence from several domains of self-control such as eating, drinking, and sexual behavior.

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In the present research, the authors investigated how individual differences in working memory capacity moderate the relative influence of automatic versus controlled precursors on self-regulatory behavior. In 2 studies, on sexual interest behavior (Study 1) and the consumption of tempting food (Study 2), automatic attitudes toward the temptation of interest had a stronger influence on behavior for individuals who scored low rather than high in working memory capacity. Analogous results emerged in Study 3 on anger expression in a provoking situation when a measure of the automatic personality trait of angriness was employed. Conversely, controlled dispositions such as explicit attitudes (Study 1) and self-regulatory goals (Studies 2 and 3) were more effective in guiding behavior for participants who scored high rather than low in working memory capacity. Taken together, these results demonstrate the importance of working memory capacity for everyday self-regulation and suggest an individual differences perspective on dual-process or dual-system theories of human behavior.

Recent theories in social psychology suggest that explicitly measured attitudes are particularly valuable for the prediction of deliberate, controlled behaviour. In contrast, implicitly measured attitudes are assumed to be more important for the prediction of less controlled, more impulsive behaviour. Yet, conclusive evidence for the differential predictive validity of both measures is scarce. We hypothesized that limitations of different control resources would lead to functionally equivalent effects. In Study 1, cognitive capacity moderated the predictive validity of both explicit and implicit attitude measures in a choice task. Self-regulatory resources led to similar patterns for eating (Study 2) and drinking behaviour (Study 3). In addition to the predictive validity of implicit and explicit attitude measures, in Study 3 we more closely investigated the relative contributions of explicitly measured attitudes and general restraint standards as two distinct, but complementing constructs that are dependent on control resources.

Interpersonal provocation is a common and robust antecedent to aggression. Four studies identified angry rumination and reduced self-control as mechanisms underlying the provocation-aggression relationship. Following provocation, participants demonstrated decreased self-control on an unpleasant task relative to a control condition (Study 1). When provoked, rumination reduced self-control and increased aggression. This effect was mediated by reduced self-control capacity (Study 2). State rumination following provocation, but not anger per se, mediated the effect of trait rumination on aggression (Study 3). Bolstering self-regulatory resources by consuming a glucose beverage improved performance on a measure of inhibitory control following rumination (Study 4). These findings suggest that rumination following an anger-inducing provocation reduces self-control and increases aggression. Bolstering self-regulatory resources may reduce this adverse effect.

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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In contrast to the original Implicit Association Test (IAT), the Single-Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT) measures the evaluation of a target object without the need to simultaneously evaluate a counter-category. The present research investigates (a) whether position within a series of several ST-IATs affects reliability and validity, and (b) whether the ST-IAT exhibits adequate construct validity if the target objects are closely interrelated. We address these questions by taking five interrelated yet distinct political parties in Germany as an exemplary domain. The ST-IAT reliably and validly assessed attitudes towards political parties (Study 1). Serial position effects did not affect the results. The ST-IATs mostly captured a specific party evaluation and exhibited discriminant validity. At the same time, discriminant validity was limited among parties within one wing of the political left-right spectrum that underlies implicit and explicit party evaluations (Study 2). If used with caution, the ST-IAT can be a valuable supplement to implicit measures in the case of multiple single-target assessments. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.The aim of this paper is to illuminate the usefulness of a new implicit measure tailored to assess automatic affective reactions-the Single-Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT;Wigboldus, Holland, & van Knippenberg, 2004; cf. Karpinski & Steinman, 2006)-and to explore the methodological properties of this recent offspring of the well-known Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). In particular, we investigate whether the ST-IAT can achieve what has not been demonstrated for other implicit tools so far, namely, to reliably and validly assess the evaluation of several (five) interrelated target objects-while remaining resistant to fatigue or exercise effects in a line of repeated measurements.Scientists have developed several indirect approaches to tapping automatic affective components that are important for guiding spontaneous behaviour (Fazio & Olson, 2003). The IAT has gained particular support as a tool for the assessment of such spontaneous evaluations. While acknowledging the IAT's valuable features (flexibility, reliability, validity;Nosek, Greenwald, & Banaji, 2006), it has been pointed out that (a) IATs provide only an ambiguous answer to the question of the absolute evaluation of target concepts (Blanton, Jaccard, Gonzales, & Christie, 2006;Fiedler, Messner, & Bluemke, 2006;Nosek, Greenwald, & Banaji, 2005), (b) the choice of a counter-category against which the target object of interest is contrasted may pose a natural complement (e.g. men vs. women), but in many cases the choice of category is highly subjective (compare a liberal/conservative IAT to a liberal/socialist IAT; Karpinski, 2004) and (c) the evaluation of multiple target concepts such as social groups within a multi-ethnic nation (e.g. White vs. Asian Americans, White vs. African Americans, African vs. Asian Americans; Devos & Banaji, 2005) requires num...