Again, No Evidence for or Against the Existence of Ego Depletion: Opinion on “A Multi-Site Preregistered Paradigmatic Test of the Ego Depletion Effect”

Englert, Chris; Bertrams, Alex

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2021.658890

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(47 reference statements)

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“…Successful self-control behavior depends on the availability of current self-control energy (Baumeister et al, 2007). On account of the current replication crisis regarding the assumptions of the strength model of self-control (Englert & Bertrams, 2021; Vohs et al, 2021). The future research not only needs to carry out meta-analysis and repetitive experiments, but also needs to clearly define the operational definition of self-control, and deeply analyze the potential variables (e.g., motivation, meaning) that affect the ego-depletion effect (Lurquin & Miyake, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does pregame “compulsive action” truly help athletes? Ritualized behavior enhances physical self-control.

Yun¹,

Zhang²,

Qiu³

2023

Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology

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Spectators at sporting events see not only the skills displayed but also the various forms of ritualized behavior exhibited by athletes. To test whether ritualized behavior contributes to physical self-control, Study 1 (n = 120) and Study 2 (n = 119) were carried out using the sprint start task and the wall-sit task, respectively. In Study 3 (n = 106), replication tests were conducted and the mechanism underlying the effect of ritualized behavior on physical self-control was investigated. We found that ritualized behavior had an enhancing effect on the sprint start task used to assess inhibitory self-control but not on the wall-sit task used to assess persistent self-control, supporting the important role of the psychological feature of ritualized behavior in enhancing inhibitory self-control. Moreover, the combination of psychological and physical features produces the greatest benefit. The present study provides new evidence on the enhancement of different forms of physical self-control through ritualized behavior. Future research should focus on whether there is a significant difference in the impact of ritualized behavior on self-control between competitive (high-pressure) versus noncompetitive sports.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does pregame “compulsive action” truly help athletes? Ritualized behavior enhances physical self-control.

Yun¹,

Zhang²,

Qiu³

2023

Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology

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“…The present research can also be challenged by the ongoing debate on whether individuals’ self-control capacity is actually reduced after initial self-control exertion. Some authors deny the view that initial self-control detrimentally affects subsequent self-control and cognition (e.g., Carter et al, 2015 ), while others defend it (e.g., Baumeister et al, 2020 ; see also Englert and Bertrams, 2021 ). We believe that discussing and investigating the underlying mechanisms and potential moderator variables regarding situational fluctuations in self-control capacity is an appropriate way forward (e.g., Bertrams, 2020 , 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is an ongoing debate regarding which mechanism underlies the effect of self-control-dependent performance decrements (e.g., Kurzban et al, 2013 ; Bertrams, 2020 ); in this regard, some authors have associated the detrimental effects of initial self-control on subsequent operations with mental fatigue or exhaustion (e.g., Job et al, 2010 ; Bertrams, 2020 ). It is also debated whether such an exhaustion effect of self-control exists at all (e.g., Englert and Bertrams, 2021 ). However, there is reasonable theory and empirical evidence for the existence of a varying self-control capacity, and many researchers have agreed that self-control cannot always be maintained in cognitively demanding situations ( Baumeister and Vohs, 2016 ; Garrison et al, 2019 ; Bertrams, 2020 ; Dang et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Control Capacity Moderates the Effect of Stereotype Threat on Female University Students’ Worry During a Math Performance Situation

et al. 2022

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Stereotype threat is a possible reason for difficulties faced by girls and women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The threat experienced due to gender can cause elevated worry during performance situations. That is, if the stereotype that women are not as good as men in math becomes salient, this stereotype activation draws women’s attention to task-irrelevant worry caused by the fear of conforming to the negative stereotype. Increased worry can reduce cognitive resources, potentially leading to performance decrements. We argue that such worry is more pronounced immediately after an unrelated self-control demand, which is assumed to temporarily decrease people’s self-control exertion over their attention and stream of thought (i.e., relatively low self-control capacity). This prediction was examined in an experiment conducted with 102 participating university students enrolled in courses in which math plays a crucial role. After the manipulation of self-control capacity (low vs. high), stereotype threat was induced for the female students, but not the male students. Then, the students were asked to report their thoughts during a math performance situation (i.e., written thought protocols) three times. Multiple-group autoregressive path models revealed that when self-control capacity was relatively low, female compared with male students reported more intense worry in the initial two thought protocols. In contrast, in the relatively high self-control capacity condition, female and male students did not differ significantly in their reported worry at any time. These results expand on previous findings, suggesting that threat effects depend on definable situational self-control conditions.

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“…However, this endeavor is not as easy as it might seem at first, as there are several flaws regarding the most frequently applied mentally demanding tasks (e.g., Englert et al, 2019). It is also important to mention that thus far there is no general agreement among researchers how long a self-control demanding task should ideally last, to reliably manipulate the level of perceived self-control strength (e.g., Giboin and Wolff, 2019;Englert and Bertrams, 2021;Wolff et al, 2021a). The validity of the most popular mentally fatiguing tasks should therefore be rigorously tested in future studies (e.g., Dang, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elites Do Not Deplete – No Effect of Prior Mental Exertion on Subsequent Shooting Performance in Elite Shooters

et al. 2021

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In order to perform at the highest level, elite shooters have to remain focused during the whole course of a tournament, which regularly lasts multiple hours. Investing self-control over extended time periods is often associated with lower levels of perceived self-control strength (i.e., the subjective estimation of how much mental effort one is capable of investing in a given task) and impaired performance in several sports-related domains. However, previous findings on the effects of prior self-control efforts on shooting performance have been mixed, as elite shooters seem to be less affected by preceding self-control demanding tasks than sub-elite athletes. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of self-control on shooting performance in elite shooters. Hence, we randomly assigned elite shooters to an experimental (n = 12) or a control condition (n = 11) and asked them to perform a series of 40 shots at baseline (T1) and again after a task which either did or did not require self-control (T2). Additionally, we continuously measured the shooters’ level of perceived self-control strength. We assumed that in elite athletes, shooting accuracy as well as the perceived level of self-control strength would not be significantly affected over time from T1 to T2 in both conditions. In line with our assumptions, Bayesian linear mixed effect models revealed that shooting performance remained relatively stable in both conditions over time and the conditions also did not differ significantly in their perceived levels of self-control strength. Contrary to resource-based theories of self-control, these results speak against the idea of a limited self-control resource as previous acts of self-control did not impair subsequent shooting performance in elite athletes.

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Again, No Evidence for or Against the Existence of Ego Depletion: Opinion on “A Multi-Site Preregistered Paradigmatic Test of the Ego Depletion Effect”

Cited by 16 publications

References 33 publications

Does pregame “compulsive action” truly help athletes? Ritualized behavior enhances physical self-control.

Does pregame “compulsive action” truly help athletes? Ritualized behavior enhances physical self-control.

Self-Control Capacity Moderates the Effect of Stereotype Threat on Female University Students’ Worry During a Math Performance Situation

Elites Do Not Deplete – No Effect of Prior Mental Exertion on Subsequent Shooting Performance in Elite Shooters

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