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Overcoming ego depletion: the influence of exemplar priming on self‐control performance
Author(s) -
Martijn Carolien,
Alberts Hugo J. E. M.,
Merckelbach Harald,
Havermans Remco,
Huijts Annemiek,
de Vries Nanne K.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.350
Subject(s) - psychology , ego depletion , priming (agriculture) , id, ego and super ego , prime (order theory) , task (project management) , persistence (discontinuity) , self control , social psychology , control (management) , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , mathematics , botany , germination , management , geotechnical engineering , combinatorics , engineering , economics , biology
Abstract Self‐regulation research suggested that active self‐control depends on a limited resource. Therefore the capacity for self‐control is lower among people who already exercised control, a phenomenon labelled as ego depletion. This experiment examines whether priming of a persistent person exemplar may help to overcome ego depletion. Half of the participants engaged in a demanding self‐control task (solving extremely difficult labyrinths) whereas the other half took part in a task that demanded little self‐control (solving easy labyrinths). Then, half of the participants received a person exemplar prime related to persistence; the other half received a neutral prime. Finally, participants' persistence on a subsequent self‐control task (squeezing a handgrip) was measured. The effect of a person exemplar prime on a subsequent self‐control task depended on initial self‐control demands. Participants who exercised high initial self‐control and were then presented with a persistent exemplar prime showed assimilation. Their handgrip persistence was higher than the persistence of participants who received a neutral prime. Under conditions of low initial self‐control the opposite pattern was found. A persistent person prime resulted in contrast and resulted in lower handgrip performance as compared to those who received a neutral prime. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.