Too tired to tell the truth: Self-control resource depletion and dishonesty

Abstract

The opportunity to profit from dishonesty evokes a motivational conflict between the temptation to cheat for selfish gain and the desire to act in a socially appropriate manner. Honesty may depend on self-control given that self-control is the capacity that enables people to override antisocial selfish responses in favor of socially desirable responses. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that dishonesty would increase when people’s self-control resources were depleted by an initial act of self-control. Depleted participants misrepresented their performance for monetary gain to a greater extent than did non-depleted participants (Experiment 1). Perhaps more troubling, depleted participants were more likely than non-depleted participants to expose themselves to the temptation to cheat, thereby aggravating the effects of depletion on cheating (Experiment 2). Results indicate that dishonesty increases when people’s capacity to exert self-control is impaired, and that people may be particularly vulnerable to this effect because they do not predict it.

Cognitive control and socially desirable behavior: The role of interpersonal impact

“…Research suggesting that people experience impulses to behave in a self-serving manner and that impairment of cognitive control leads to less socially desirable behavior (e.g., Gino et al, 2011;Mead et al, 2009;Muraven et al, 2006) Consequently, other-regarding impulses might not have been activated in this set of studies.…”

“…Using this paradigm, researchers find that people whose cognitive control is impaired engage in less socially desirable behavior, such as taking more resources by misrepresenting performance Mead et al, 2009). The conclusion drawn from these studies is that people have an impulse to behave self-servingly.…”

“…One set of findings suggests that people impulsively behave in a self-serving manner and that cognitive control impairment (which makes people less able to override self-serving impulses) leads to less socially desirable behavior (e.g., Gino et al, 2011;Mead et al, 2009;Muraven, Pogarsky, & Shmueli, 2006). The other set of findings suggests that people have the impulse to behave in an other-regarding manner and that cognitive control impairment (which makes them less able to override other-regarding impulses) leads to more socially desirable behavior (e.g., Cornelissen et al, 2011;Zhong, 2011).…”

“…Studies 1 and 2 tested Hypothesis 1 using an experimental design similar to the designs used in prior research on cognitive control and socially desirable behavior Mead et al, 2009). We either impaired or did not impair participants' cognitive control by making them exert cognitive control on an initial task (Baumeister et al, 1998).…”

“…One set of findings suggests that although people experience impulses to engage in self-serving behaviors, they use cognitive control to override impulses, enabling socially desirable ways (Baumeister, 2005;Baumeister & Exline, 1999, 2000. For example, studies find that impairing participants' cognitive control leads to less socially desirable behaviors, such as cheating (Gino, Schweitzer, Mead, & Ariely, 2011;Mead, Baumeister, Gino, Schweitzer, & Ariely, 2009). Another set of findings suggests that socially desirable behavior is motivated by other-regarding impulses rather than cognitive control (de Waal, 2006;Greene & Paxton, 2009;Zhong, 2011).…”