title: No Evidence of the Ego-Depletion Effect across Task Characteristics and Individual Differences: A Pre-Registered Study.
abstract: Ego-depletion, a psychological phenomenon in which participants are less able to engage in self-control after prior exertion of self-control, has become widely popular in the scientific community as well as in the media. However, considerable debate exists among researchers as to the nature of the ego-depletion effect, and growing evidence suggests the effect may not be as strong or robust as the extant literature suggests. We examined the robustness of the ego-depletion effect and aimed to maximize the likelihood of detecting the effect by using one of the most widely used depletion tasks (video-viewing attention control task) and by considering task characteristics and individual differences that potentially moderate the effect. We also sought to make our research plan transparent by pre-registering our hypotheses, procedure, and planned analyses prior to data collection. Contrary to the ego-depletion hypothesis, participants in the depletion condition did not perform worse than control participants on the subsequent self-control task, even after considering moderator variables. These findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting ego-depletion is not a reliable phenomenon, though more research is needed that uses large sample sizes, considers moderator variables, and pre-registers prior to data collection.
authors: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.
authors: John H
authors: JH
authors: Lurquin
authors: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.
authors: Laura E
authors: LE
authors: Michaelson
authors: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.
authors: Jane E
authors: JE
authors: Barker
authors: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.
authors: Daniel E
authors: DE
authors: Gustavson
authors: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.
authors: Claudia C
authors: CC
authors: von Bastian
authors: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.
authors: Nicholas P
authors: NP
authors: Carruth
authors: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.
authors: Akira
authors: A
authors: Miyake
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D003625:Data Collection; D004532:Ego; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009040:Motion Pictures; D011582:Psychological Theory; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D018401:Sample Size; D012649:Self Concept; D013334:Students