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Self‐regulatory strength amplification through selective information processing
Author(s) -
Trudel Remi,
Murray Kyle B.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1016/j.jcps.2012.02.002
Subject(s) - pleasure , self control , psychology , consumption (sociology) , control (management) , regulatory focus theory , focus (optics) , information processing , social psychology , cognitive psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , social science , physics , neuroscience , sociology , creativity , optics
We propose and demonstrate that although depletion of self‐regulatory strength is common, it is not inevitable. Four experiments show that under certain conditions, consumers can amplify their self‐regulatory strength and, as a result, increase their ability to control their behavior. Experiments 1–3 examine the depleting effects of information processing by exposing dieters and nondieters to either cost or pleasure information about chocolate. The results of experiments 1–3 show that when dieters have the ability to monitor the costs of consumption, they are motivated to mobilize additional strength and increase their ability to self‐regulate. In experiment 4 we show the practical implications of our work and show that dieters are better able to control their eating because they choose to focus more on the cost (versus pleasure) of consumption.