Self‐control depletion impairs goal maintenance: A meta‐analysis

Abstract

Initial exertion of self-control has been suggested to impair subsequent self-regulatory performance. The specific cognitive processes that underlie this ego depletion effect have rarely been examined. Drawing on the dual-process theory of executive control (Engle & Kane, ; Kane & Engle, ), the current meta-analysis revealed that initial self-control exertion impairs participants' capacities of maintaining the task goal but its effect on capacities of resolving response competition is in need of further investigation. Our results are more consistent with recent theoretical views that consider ego depletion as a switch cost and a result arising from reduced motivation to engage in further self-control.

Ego Depletion in Real-Time: An Examination of the Sequential-Task Paradigm

“…In a subsequent meta-analysis Carter et al ( 2015 ) examined effect size as a function of the outcome task used, showing that carry-over depletion effects differed across tasks, but again, when bias-correction techniques were adopted, effect sizes were not distinguishable from zero. Moreover, the most recent meta-analysis focused solely on the Stroop Task and found little evidence to support the strength model, and what evidence there was, was contaminated by publication bias (Dang et al, 2017 ).…”

“…For example, a demonstration that no change in behavior occurred in the depletion task over time but carry-over effects did emerge, would present strong disconfirming evidence for the strength model (Baumeister et al, 1998 , 2007 ). On the other hand such an outcome would not be problematic for models that attribute depletion effects to task switching aspects of cognitive control, where it is the nature of the two tasks that is important, not what happens within each task (Dang et al, 2013 , 2017 ). Moreover, examining what happens in the depletion task is important from a methodological perspective.…”

“…While there are a number of different theories that address self-regulation, some based upon shifts in motivation (Inzlicht and Schmeichel, 2012 ), and some based on notions of cognitive control (Dang et al, 2017 ), the current experiments deal specifically with the strength model of self-regulation which still exerts influence on current research in spite of doubts concerning the veracity or utility of the model (e.g., Inzlicht and Berkman, 2015 ). While we focus on this model, we would argue that the issues raised have implications for other models as well.…”

Time to Set a New Research Agenda for Ego Depletion and Self-Control

“…Future research is needed to develop a more comprehensive theory that could reconcile the strength model, the process model, as well as related cognitive models of ego depletion (Dang, Björklund, et al, 2017;Dewitte, Bruyneel, & Geyskens, 2009).…”

Does Willpower Mindset Really Moderate the Ego-Depletion Effect? A Preregistered Replication of Job, Dweck, and Walton (2010)

“…We added this extension block because prior research has suggested that the 50/50 mixture of congruent and incongruent trials (as was done in the original study) has been known to elicit a phenomenon known as goal neglect (Kane & Engle, 2003; see also Dang, Björklund, , & Bäckström, 2017), a temporary loss of the task goal (i.e., color naming) from working memory due to the abundance of cues supporting an inappropriate task goal (in this case, word reading, due to the large number of congruent trials for which word reading suffices). In contrast, a 50/50 mixture of incongruent and neutral (asterisk) trials used in Block 2 would make the Stroop task more appropriate as a measure of overriding dominant yet inappropriate responses.…”