title: Sweetened blood sweetens behavior. Ego depletion, glucose, guilt, and prosocial behavior.
abstract: Although guilt feels bad to the individual, it is good for society because guilty feelings can prompt people to perform good deeds. Previous research shows that fatigue decreases guilty feelings and helpful behavior. This present research tests whether glucose restores guilty feelings and increases helpful behavior. Depleted participants watched a movie about butchering animals for their meat or skin and were told to express no emotions, whereas non-depleted participants watched the same movie, but could express their emotions. Afterwards they drank a glucose or placebo beverage. Having participants play a game in which another person was punished for their errors induced guilt. Finally, participants played a dictator game in which they could leave lottery tickets for the next participant. Depleted participants felt less guilty and helped less than non-depleted participants, and those who consumed a placebo beverage felt less guilt and helped less than those who consumed a glucose beverage.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Psychologie, University of Grenoble 2, UFR SHS, 1251 avenue Centrale, BP 47, 38040, Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Hanyi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Psychologie, University of Grenoble 2, UFR SHS, 1251 avenue Centrale, BP 47, 38040, Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bègue
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Psychologie, University of Grenoble 2, UFR SHS, 1251 avenue Centrale, BP 47, 38040, Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sauve
authors.affiliation: School of Communication and the Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, 3016 Derby Hall, 154 N Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Communication Science, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: bushman.20@osu.edu.
authors.forename: Brad J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bushman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000533:Altruism; D001628:Beverages; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D004532:Ego; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Ego depletion; Glucose; Guilt; Prosocial behavior; Self-control