title: Self-regulating the effortful "social dos".
abstract: In the current research, we explored differences in the self-regulation of the personal dos (i.e., engaging in active and effortful behaviors that benefit the self) and in the self-regulation of the social dos (engaging in those same effortful behaviors to benefit someone else). In 6 studies, we examined whether the same trait self-control abilities that predict task persistence on personal dos would also predict task persistence on social dos. That is, would the same behavior, such as persisting through a tedious and attentionally demanding task, show different associations with trait self-control when it is framed as benefitting the self versus someone else? In Studies 1-3, we directly compared the personal and social dos and found that trait self-control predicted self-reported and behavioral personal dos but not social dos, even when the behaviors were identical and when the incentives were matched. Instead, trait agreeableness--a trait linked to successful self-regulation within the social domain--predicted the social dos. Trait self-control did not predict the social dos even when task difficulty increased (Study 4), but it did predict the social don'ts, consistent with past research (Studies 5-6). The current studies provide support for the importance of distinguishing different domains of self-regulated behaviors and suggest that social dos can be successfully performed through routes other than traditional self-control abilities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Kassandra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cortes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University.
authors.forename: Lara K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Kammrath
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Abigail A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Scholer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carleton University.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peetz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004532:Ego; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D055815:Young Adult