Willpower

Question 1

Name 3 characteristics of willpower

Answer 1

1) Important for success
2) Not just something you have/don’t have
3) Choose to or not

Question 2

What is Willpower?

Answer 2

The ability to resist short-term temptations to achieve long-term goals, another component of self-regulation, equated with self-control

Question 3

Surprisingly, those who are best at self-regulation use will-power the least, why is this?

Answer 3

Because they have created environments where it is not needed

Question 4

The marshmallow test looking at the ability to delay gratification, what did this lead to?

Answer 4

Better mental health, better self-worth and better at coping with stress

Question 5

What is Ego Depletion?

Answer 5

Doing a task that requires self-control impairs performance on a second task

Question 6

Anything involving self-control can be ______

Answer 6

Depleting

Question 7

Outline evidence for this Ego Depletion (social exclusion, holding hand in ice water, Barack Obama, judges)

Answer 7

1) When people are told nobody chose them for a task, they ate more cookies in a taste task afterwards
2) When people had to make choices they performed less well on a second task of holding their hands in ice water
3) Barack Obama only wears grey/blue shirts to reduce the needs to make decisions that aren’t important and save his resources for important decisions
4) Judges make harsher decisions towards the end of the day as they have less resources available

Question 8

Name the 3 key elements of Baumeister’s Strength Model

Answer 8

1) Self-control depends on limited resources
2) Using self-control should reduce performance
3) But works like a muscle, repeatedly using it should increase resources

Question 9

Evidence against this model says that depletion effects are only present for people who believe their resources are limited, but what was Baumeisters come back to this?

Answer 9

That this would be the same way that people would use more if they were told it was unlimited

Question 10

More evidence against this model says that telling participants they could leave early if they performed well reversed the depletion effect, even after doing the task for 2 hours, but what was Baumeisters come back to this?

Answer 10

That the people weren’t fully depleted

Question 11

Motivating participants can _______ the depletion effect

Answer 11

Override

Question 12

Even though Baumeister tried to argue against these criticisms, why isn’t this okay?

Answer 12

Because you cant add things to a theory to decrease falsifiability e.g. saying all swans are black except Peter

Question 13

Outline the 3 key elements of the Process Model

Answer 13

1) After using self-control, you are more motivated to do something rewarding and less motivated to exert further self-control
2) Pay less attention to cues that signal us to use self-control
3) Ego depletion occurs as an inbuilt tendency to balance work with reward, not because we incapable

Question 14

The process model says we act on _____ and our priorities have _____

Answer 14

Impulse, Shifted

Question 15

Depletion is not ______, for example ordering a takeaway after a lecture as you are more motivated to have a reward and less attention on spending money on the takeaway

Answer 15

Inevitable

Question 16

Why is believing Baumeisters Strength Model bad for you?

Answer 16

Because it is an excuse to not exert willpower and undermine your self-control, like a self fulfilling prophecy

Question 17

What is believing this strength model associated with (negative outcome) ?

Answer 17

Less academic success

Question 18

Hagger et al carried out a meta-analysis and concluded a true effect size of the ego depletion effect, however?

Answer 18

After a reanalysis they argued that this could be a false positive, as studies were difficult to simulate and reproduce, only 40% were similar and comparable

Question 19

However, how can they say there is no effect when there are hundreds of studies showing __________

Answer 19

An effect

Question 20

Is the ego depletion effect replicable?

Answer 20

Results from a task with words on screen and computer task, produced a small and non-significant effect

Question 21

Even though it is not replicable, Baumeister argues what?

Answer 21

That failure to replicate does not falsify, manipulations might not have been depleting, and this was one study, there has been multiple studies that have proved it

Question 22

Evidence against the depletion effect, found that data is _____ times more likely under null hypothesis than under ego depletion exists hypothesis

Answer 22

Four

Question 23

However, ego depletion is only one operationalisation of the Strength Model, typical depleting tasks are only 5 minutes and we exert real-life self-control for ______ than this

Answer 23

Longer

Question 24

Why does motivation override the depletion

Answer 24

Baumeister says that when we are motivated, we expend more self-control from the reserves

Question 25

What 3 things have a shift, according to the Process Model?

Answer 25

Shift in Motivation, Attention, and Emotion

Question 26

Indians tended to believe that exerting willpower was ______ and showed a ______ ego-depletion effect

Answer 26

Energising, Reverse

Question 27

Despite ego depletion having a small effect in studies, in real life it has larger effects, for example?

Answer 27

In the workplace, mental fatigue is one of the most frequent causes of accidents

Question 28

From the key reading, what was found about the amenability of self-control?

Answer 28

Can be improved using psychological interventions, even in adulthood

Question 29

In the other key reading, what did they propose about the refractory period of self-control?

Answer 29

Product of evolutionary pressures motivating organisms to balance their desires for exploitation versus exploration