Individual differences and self-regulatory fatigue: optimism, conscientiousness, and self-consciousness

Abstract

Ability to self-regulate varies and self-regulatory strength is a limited source that can be depleted or fatigued. Research on the impact of individual differences on self-regulatory capacity is still scarce, and this study aimed to examine whether personality factors such as dispositional optimism, conscientiousness, and self-consciousness can impact or buffer self-regulatory fatigue. Participants were patients diagnosed with chronic multi-symptom illnesses (N = 50), or pain free matched controls (N = 50), randomly assigned to either a high or low self-regulation task, followed by a persistence task. Higher optimism predicted longer persistence (p = .04), and there was a trend towards the same effect for conscientiousness (p = .08). The optimism by self-regulation interaction was significant (p = .01), but rather than persisting despite self-regulatory effort, optimists persisted longer only when not experiencing self-regulatory fatigue. The effects of optimism were stronger for controls than patients. There was also a trend towards a similar conscientiousness by self-regulation interaction (p = .06). These results suggest that the well-established positive impact of optimism and conscientiousness on engagement and persistence may be diminished or reversed in the presence of self-regulatory effort or fatigue, adding an important new chapter to the self-regulation, personality, and pain literature.

Self-regulatory fatigue in chronic multisymptom illnesses: scale development, fatigue, and self-control

“…Rather unexpectedly, the SRF-18 correlated significantly but negatively ( r = −0.51) with the personality measure of dispositional optimism. Although unpredicted these results do support recent research indicating that individual differences in personality (eg, trait optimism) may play a role in the concept or manifestation of SRF 26. However, evidence for the impact of personality on SRF is still somewhat unclear, because optimism and conscientiousness were found to be beneficial for engagement and persistence in that study only when not combined with self-regulatory effort 26.…”

Self-regulatory Fatigue in Hematologic Malignancies: Impact on Quality of Life, Coping, and Adherence to Medical Recommendations

“…Future research is needed to advance translation of the self-regulation paradigm from theory to practice. Preliminary intervention work suggests that self-regulatory fatigue is amenable to intervention [51]. High potential exists to extend this research to clinical populations to improve self-regulatory capacity and patient health behaviors.…”

Goal adjustment ability predicts magnitude of emotional and physiological responses to an unsolvable anagram task

“…In fact, our finding that goal reengagement ability was associated with greater likelihood of persisting when confronted with an impossible anagram solving task, raises the possibility that the scale may be measuring other facets of positive disposition that relate to goal perseverance. For instance, a growing number of studies show that positive traits, such as conscientiousness or optimism, predict persistence behavior in real life and in a laboratory setting (Ozer and Benet-Martínez, 2006;Segerstrom & Solberg Nes, 2007;Solberg Nes, Carlson, Crofford, de Leeuw, & Segerstrom, 2011). Indeed, it is suggested that positive dispositional traits may maintain positive emotional experiences during goal pursuit and motivate individuals to persevere (Solberg Nes et al, 2011).…”

“…For instance, a growing number of studies show that positive traits, such as conscientiousness or optimism, predict persistence behavior in real life and in a laboratory setting (Ozer and Benet-Martínez, 2006;Segerstrom & Solberg Nes, 2007;Solberg Nes, Carlson, Crofford, de Leeuw, & Segerstrom, 2011). Indeed, it is suggested that positive dispositional traits may maintain positive emotional experiences during goal pursuit and motivate individuals to persevere (Solberg Nes et al, 2011). Consistent with this possibility, we found that individuals who persisted during unsolvable anagram sets showed higher positive mood at baseline and tended to experience a smaller reduction in positive mood while working on the task.…”