Self Control Flashcards
What is ego depletion?
The process of using up mental reserves of willpower and fatiguing the ability
People who initially resisted the temptation of chocolates were less able to persist in a frustrating puzzle task (Baumeister et al, 1998)
This suggests that they experienced ego depletion after fatiguing their willpower
What are the environmental influences on self control?
Unstable, unpredictable home environment
Belief in/trust in others
Just world beliefs: ‘no matter what I do my outcomes will be bad’
This can be intervened if children in primary school are taught the importance of self control and the value of saving resources
People who watch Sesame street interventions have been found to perform better in school
What is the motivational account of self control?
Molden et al (2012)
It has been found that Carbohydrate mouth rinses activate dopaminergic pathways in the striatum—a region of the brain associated with responses to rewards (Kringelbach, 2004) whereas artificially sweetened noncarbohydrate mouth rinses do not (Chambers et al., 2009)
Suggests that the increase in self control was not due to restocking of energy, but a greater motivation to gain a reward
Does glucose really affect willpower?
No- Molden et al (2012)
rinsing mouth with carbohydrate water but not ingesting it, showed immediate boosts in self control- but this is not a result of metabolism. It is a result of motivation of reward.
Had blood sugar levels taken before doing a Perceptual vigilance task requiring high or low levels of self control, then took the measures again and finally an anagram task to measures continued levels of self control
Higher levels of self control did not lead to greater drops in blood sugar level
Also had P’s grip a wad of paper above their heads to reach a baseline level of self control fatigue then the same vigilance task as in the previous experiment before rinsing their mouths with either sugar or control water and finally completing another hand grip task
There was less persistence in high vigilant conditions when sugar was not rinsed but not for the sugar rinsing condition
Rinsing the sugar solution itself did not raise glucose levels
What are the biological differences in self control?
Beck (2009)
When faced with tempting stimuli, compared to individuals high in self-control, those with low self-control show less activation of the prefrontal cortex and more activation of the ventral striatum
This has implications for things such as benefits, perhaps some people are dependent because they have an underlying lack of capacity for self control
At a neurological level, people with high self control display completely different brain responses; this could be argued to be a form of handicap
What causes ego depletion?
The metabolising of carbohydrates- Galliot et al (2007)
Found that participants blood sugar levels went down after being asked to complete a self control task (Stroop test)
Low blood sugar levels after one task predicted poor performance on further tasks of self control
Self control impairments from one task onto the next were eliminated by drinking a high sugar content drink
What are the lifelong effects of self control?
Moffit, Poulton & Caspi (2013)
1000 students studied from birth to 40
Lower levels of self control shown in childhood tests predicted:
Higher risk of health problems such as STDs,
Health status (STDs, cholesterol, hypertension, obesity, lung damage)
Substance dependence
Income, saving habits, credit ratings, social welfare dependence (all early warning signs for later-life poverty)
Criminal convictions: 80% of the study cohort who had been incarcerated (5% of the total) came from the two lowest quintiles of childhood self-control.
Quality of parent-child interaction (poor self- control cohort turned out to be the least skilled parents)
Marital success
Life satisfaction
Of participants in the bottom 5th of self-control scorers, 22% attempted or died by suicide by age 38 compared to only 7% in the top 5th of self-control scorers. This 7% could be accounted for by an excess of control, 1/5 of Duke students have an eating disorder and 20% of Harvard graduates have self harmed
What is the resource-strenght model?
Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996
Self control is like a muscle, and exercising it uses up internal resources and it eventually becomes fatigued
This fatigue is known as ego depletion。 Self control is an inner capacity that relies on some limited internal source of energy.
- conscious process. A vivid conscious thought of these desired outcomes enables one to execute self control.
- but becausing executing self control depletes inner energy, this leaves one in a state of “ego depletion”.
- further self control prone to failure
- People are less motivated to engage in further deliberative control and want to engage in things that are personally rewarding, interesting and enjoyable.
- Shift in attention away from cues signalling the need to exert control and towards cues signalling gratification
- self control often initiated by discrepancies between desired states and current states
How can we improve childhood self control?
Self-control is a fairly malleable trait (only half as stable as IQ)
Factors increasing people’s self-control rank:
Working as a supervisor responsible for subordinate employees
High school jobs and activities involving supervision as a social role can improve the self control of children by changing their self perception, ‘I am responsible, trusted and capable of self control’
Self-control interventions (earlier in life, the better)
Peer groups for children have descriptive norms that affect how well self control is developed
When p’s were asked to talk to themselves when lacking self control to motivate themselves, performance in attentional and self control tasks improved (Meichenbaum & Goodman, 1971)
