Changes in pupil size track self-control failure.

People are more likely to perform poorly on a self-control task following a previous task requiring self-control (ego-depletion), but the mechanism for this effect remains unclear. We used pupillometry to test the role of attentional effort in ego-depletion. We hypothesized that an elevated pupil diameter (PD)-a common physiological measure of effort-during an initial task requiring self-control should be negatively associated with performance on a subsequent control task. To test this hypothesis, participants were first assigned to either a high- or low-demand attention task (manipulation; a standard ego-depletion paradigm), after which all participants completed the same Stroop task. We then separately extracted both sustained (low-frequency) and phasic (high-frequency) changes in PD from both tasks to evaluate possible associations with lapses of cognitive control on the Stroop task. We first show that in the initial task, sustained PD was larger among participants who were assigned to the demanding attention condition. Furthermore, ego-depletion effects were serially mediated by PD: an elevated PD response emerged rapidly among the experimental group during the manipulation, persisted as an elevated baseline response during the Stroop task, and predicted worse accuracy on incongruent trials, revealing a potential indirect pathway to ego-depletion via sustained attention. Secondary analyses revealed another, independent and direct pathway via high levels of transient attentional control: participants who exhibited large phasic responses during the manipulation tended to perform worse on the subsequent Stroop task. We conclude by exploring the neuroscientific implications of these results within the context of current theories of self-control.

[The influencing factors of functional somatic discomfort in clinical nurses].

Objective: To investigate the functional somatic discomfort status, and to analyze the effect of job stress, hostile attribution bias and ego depletion on functional somatic discomfort in clinical nurses. Methods: In May 2019, 10 cities in Henan Province and Fujian Province were randomly selected as sampling cities. Using the stratified cluster sampling method, nurses of clinical nursing posts in 22 third class hospitals and 23 second class hospitals were selected as the research objects. The general information, job stress, hostile attribution bias, ego depletion and functional somatic discomfort of clinical nurses were investigated by self-designed general information questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, Social Information Processing-attribution Bias Questionnaire, Self-regulatory Fatigue Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-15. 1200 clinical nurses included, and a total of 1159 valid questionnaires were collected, the effective rate of questionnaire collection was 96.6%. The t test was used to compare the difference of the functional somatic discomfort scores of clinical nurses with different demographic characteristicst. The influence of job stress, hostile attribution bias and ego depletion on functional somatic discomfort of clinical nurses were analyzed with Bootstrap. Results: The functional somatic discomfort score of clinical nurses was (8.95±4.38), of which 859 (74.12%) had functional somatic discomfort symptom. The functional somatic discomfort score of clinical nurses aged 36-50 years old was higher than that of 19-35 years old, the functional somatic discomfort score of clinical nurses with service age ≥5 years was higher than that of <5 years, the functional somatic discomfort score of non-permanent clinical nurses was higher than that of permanent clinical nurses, the functional somatic discomfort score of clinical nurses in tertiary hospitals was higher than that of secondary hospitals, the functional somatic discomfort score of clinical nurses in surgical departments were higher than those in non-surgical departments, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Job stress affected functional somatic discomfort through the single mediating role of hostile attribution bias, the single mediating role of ego depletion, and the chain mediating role of hostile attribution bias and ego depletion (ß=0.17, 95%CI: 0.10-0.20; ß=0.16, 95%CI: 0.10-0.20; ß=0.07, 95%CI: 0.03-0.10; P<0.05) . Conclusion: The functional somatic discomfort symptoms of clinical nurses are significant and varied among different age, working age, employment form, hospital grade and department groups. They are affected by work stress directly and through the separate mediating effect of hostile attribution bias and ego depletion, and the chain mediating effect of hostile attribution bias and ego depletion.

Effect of self-control on health promotion behavior in patients with coronary heart disease: mediating effect of ego-depletion.

The present study used a cross-sectional survey design to explore the role of ego-depletion in the relationship between self-control and health-promoting behaviors in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). This study recruited 277 patients with CHD to measure the levels of ego-depletion, self-control and health-promotion (HP) behavior using Self-Regulatory Fatigue Scale (SRF-s), Dual-Mode of Self-Control Scale (DMSD-s) and Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II) to examine the relationship between the three. Study found that self-control improved the patients' HP behaviors to some extent. Self-control in patients with CHD uses ego-depletion as the mediating variable to indirectly and positively predict the level of HP behavior, and the mediating effects account for 47.76% (impulsive system) and 15.6% (control system) of the total effects, respectively.

[The influence of workplace violence on burnout sense in clinical nurses].

Objective: To explore the influence mechanism of intrusive thoughts and ego depletion between effects of workplace violence on burnout sense in clinical nurses. Methods: In May 2019, 10 cities in Henan Province and Fujian Province were selected as sampling cities by the method of grabbing random balls. Using the stratified cluster sampling method, nurses in clinical nursing posts in 22 third class hospitals and 23 second class hospitals were selected as the research objects for a cross-sectional epidemiological survey, including 1200 nurses. A total of 1159 valid questionnaires were collected, and the effective rate was 96.6%. 1159 clinical nurses were investigated by workplace violence scale, event impact scale, self-regulation fatigue scale and job burnout scale. The items contained in the questionnaire were analyzed by exploratory factor analysis with Harman single factor test, and the demographic characteristics of nurses' workplace violence, invasive thinking, self loss and job burnout were compared and analyzed with s-n-k. Results: Those with less than 3 years of service, those with more than 3 years of aggressive thinking and self loss score, and those with less than 3 years of job burnout score; The score of job burnout of unmarried was lower than that of married; The scores of invasive thinking and self loss of non editors were higher than those of current editors; The scores of workplace violence, aggressive thinking, self loss and job burnout of clinical nurses in tertiary hospitals were higher than those in secondary hospitals; The score of job burnout of undergraduate and above is higher than that of junior college and below; The scores of workplace violence, aggressive thinking and self loss of clinical nurses in surgical departments were higher than those in non-surgical departments; The job burnout score of those aged 36 and above was higher than that of those aged <36, The difference was statistically significant (P< 0.05) . Aggressive thinking and self attrition played a mediating role between workplace violence and job burnout. Workplace violence affected job burnout through the single mediating role of aggressive thinking, the single mediating role of self attrition, and the chain mediating role of aggressive thinking self attrition (ß=0.16、0.08、0.03, 95%CI: 0.251~0.190、0.121~0.028、0.050~0.012, P<0.05) . Conclusion: Workplace violence affects burnout sense through the independent mediating role of intrusive thoughts and ego depletion and the chain mediating role of intrusive thoughts and ego depletion in clinical nurses.

A Multisite Preregistered Paradigmatic Test of the Ego-Depletion Effect.

We conducted a preregistered multilaboratory project (k = 36; N = 3,531) to assess the size and robustness of ego-depletion effects using a novel replication method, termed the paradigmatic replication approach. Each laboratory implemented one of two procedures that was intended to manipulate self-control and tested performance on a subsequent measure of self-control. Confirmatory tests found a nonsignificant result (d = 0.06). Confirmatory Bayesian meta-analyses using an informed-prior hypothesis (δ = 0.30, SD = 0.15) found that the data were 4 times more likely under the null than the alternative hypothesis. Hence, preregistered analyses did not find evidence for a depletion effect. Exploratory analyses on the full sample (i.e., ignoring exclusion criteria) found a statistically significant effect (d = 0.08); Bayesian analyses showed that the data were about equally likely under the null and informed-prior hypotheses. Exploratory moderator tests suggested that the depletion effect was larger for participants who reported more fatigue but was not moderated by trait self-control, willpower beliefs, or action orientation.

Sexual Attentional Bias in Young Adult Heterosexual Men: Attention Allocation Following Self-Regulation.

Being sexually aroused can lead to a stronger propensity to engage in sexual risk-taking and sexually coercive behaviors possibly by narrowing attentional focus toward immediate gratification rather than long-term consequences. The goal of this paper was to investigate the attentional processes implicated in sexual self-regulation failure and its moderating factors, namely having a stronger sensitivity to sexual cues (dual control model) or being less able to implement behavioral intentions (action control theory) following a first effortful task. A total of 82 young adult heterosexual men completed a Dot Probe task to assess their attentional bias toward sexual stimuli. Effortful control was manipulated using a Stroop task. Regardless of conditions, higher sexual excitability was predictive of a stronger attentional bias toward sexual cues, while higher inhibition due to threat of performance failure was predictive of a lower bias for such cues. In the experimental condition, action-oriented individuals were able to negate this attentional bias by staying more focused on the task, while state-oriented participants showed higher orientation toward the sexual cues and thus a higher bias. These results suggest that both higher-order processes, like intention implementation, and lower-order processes, like sexual inhibition and excitation systems, are the key to regulation failure.

Detrimental effects of prior self-control exertion on subsequent sporting skill performance.

The prior exertion of self-control has previously been shown to negatively affect physical performance, yet the effects on complex sporting skill performance have not been examined. Therefore, this study examined whether prior self-control exertion influences performance on a field hockey task, alongside measuring plasma cortisol concentration and attention as potential mechanisms to explain any effects. Following familiarization, 13 male hockey players (20 ± 1 years) participated in a randomized, order-balanced, crossover design. For the manipulation of self-control, participants completed an incongruent (self-control exertion trial) or a congruent (control trial) Stroop task. Skill performance was assessed using a field hockey skills task. Capillary blood samples, for the determination of plasma cortisol concentration, were taken at baseline, post-Stroop task, and post-field hockey skills task. Cognitive tests of attention (RVIP and Flanker tasks) were completed following the field hockey skills task. Participants made more errors in the latter stages of the field hockey skills task following self-control exertion (trial*time interaction, p = 0.041). Participants also made more errors on the RVIP task following self-control exertion (p = 0.035); yet the time taken to complete the hockey skills task, performance on the flanker task, and plasma cortisol concentrations were unaffected (all p > 0.05). Overall, these findings suggest that prior self-control exertion has detrimental effects on subsequent sporting skill performance (more errors made on the field hockey task), which may be explained by poorer sustained attention (lower accuracy on the RVIP task). This suggests that athletes should aim to avoid self-control exertion before a competitive match to optimize performance.

Job crafting promotes internal recovery state, especially in jobs that demand self-control: a daily diary design.

BACKGROUND: Research on how employees recover from work has focused primarily on recovery during non-work hours (external recovery) rather than recovery during work hours (internal recovery). Using the conservation of resources theory as a conceptual framework, we tested whether job crafting promotes an internal recovery state, and examined the processes that explain this association. METHODS: Using the daily diary method, 120 full-time employees provided information before and after work for 5 days by rating job crafting, ego depletion, self-control demands at work, fatigue and vigor. RESULTS: The results of multilevel modeling showed that after controlling for employees' fatigue and vigor before work, daily job crafting predicted significantly better internal recovery (greater vigor and lower fatigue at the end of workday), and this association was mediated by lower ego depletion. The links between job crafting and internal recovery were stronger for employees with high self-control demands at work. CONCLUSIONS: This study extends recovery research by examining internal recovery as well as job crafting as its antecedent. Further, the present study suggests that managers may consider encouraging and offering job crafting interventions for employees to achieve internal recovery state.

Trajectories of boredom in self-control demanding tasks.

Self-control does not always work effectively. Whether this reflects the depletion of a global self-control resource is subject to an ongoing debate. We turned to boredom as a potential confounding variable to advance this debate. In a high-powered experiment (N = 719), participants worked on a primary (transcription) task of varying self-control demands (low, high) and length (2, 4, 8 min), followed by a secondary (Stroop) task with low and high self-control demanding trials. In addition to trait boredom, we measured effort, difficulty, tiredness, frustration, and boredom after the primary task and repeatedly during the secondary task. Effort, difficulty, tiredness, and frustration increased with the demand and duration of the primary task; however, without affecting performance in the secondary task. Importantly, participants rated both the primary and the secondary task as boring, and higher boredom at the state and the trait level was associated with lower effort and higher difficulty, tiredness, and frustration. During the secondary task, boredom increased steadily but was generally lower in more self-control demanding trials. Finally, boredom predicted performance in the secondary task. These results show an intricate relationship between self-control and boredom that research on these two constructs should carefully disentangle.

Perceptual breakdown during a global pandemic: introducing phenomenological insights for digital mental health purposes.

Online therapy sessions and other forms of digital mental health services (DMH) have seen a sharp spike in new users since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Having little access to their social networks and support systems, people have had to turn to digital tools and spaces to cope with their experiences of anxiety and loss. With no clear end to the pandemic in sight, many of us are likely to remain reliant upon DMH for the foreseeable future. As such, it is important to articulate some of the specific ways in which the pandemic is affecting our self and world-relation, such that we can identify how DMH services are best able to accommodate some of the newly emerging needs of their users. In this paper I will identify a specific type of loss brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and present it as an important concept for DMH. I refer to this loss as loss of perceptual world-familiarity. Loss of perceptual world-familiarity entails a breakdown in the ongoing effortless responsiveness to our perceptual environment that characterizes much of our everyday lives. To cash this out I will turn to insights from the phenomenological tradition. Initially, my project is descriptive. I aim to bring out how loss of perceptual world-familiarity is a distinctive form of loss that is deeply pervasive yet easily overlooked-hence the relevance of explicating it for DMH purposes. But I will also venture into the space of the normative, offering some reasons for seeing perceptual world-familiarity as a component of well-being. I conclude the paper with a discussion of how loss of perceptual world-familiarity affects the therapeutic setting now that most if not all therapeutic interactions have transitioned to online spaces and I explore the potential to augment these spaces with social interaction technologies. Throughout, my discussion aims to do justice to the reality that perceptual world-familiarity is not an evenly distributed phenomenon, that factors like disability, gender and race affect its robustness, and that this ought to be reckoned with when seeking to incorporate the phenomenon into or mitigate it through DMH services.

Strong Effort Manipulations Reduce Response Caution: A Preregistered Reinvention of the Ego-Depletion Paradigm.

People feel tired or depleted after exerting mental effort. But even preregistered studies often fail to find effects of exerting effort on behavioral performance in the laboratory or elucidate the underlying psychology. We tested a new paradigm in four preregistered within-subjects studies (N = 686). An initial high-demand task reliably elicited very strong effort phenomenology compared with a low-demand task. Afterward, participants completed a Stroop task. We used drift-diffusion modeling to obtain the boundary (response caution) and drift-rate (information-processing speed) parameters. Bayesian analyses indicated that the high-demand manipulation reduced boundary but not drift rate. Increased effort sensations further predicted reduced boundary. However, our demand manipulation did not affect subsequent inhibition, as assessed with traditional Stroop behavioral measures and additional diffusion-model analyses for conflict tasks. Thus, effort exertion reduced response caution rather than inhibitory control, suggesting that after exerting effort, people disengage and become uninterested in exerting further effort.

Regulating disappointment can impair cognitive performance in kindergarten children: Individual differences in ego depletion.

Cognitive performance can be affected adversely when exerting self-control beforehand; a phenomenon known as ego depletion. The aim of the current study was to examine whether regulation of disappointment impairs cognitive performance in kindergarten children (mean age = 5 years, 6 months). Disappointment was induced by means of a modified version of the disappointing gift paradigm. Ego depletion effects were examined based on two different variables: cognitive performance and behavioral responses. Participants assigned to the experimental condition (n = 74) were disappointed before solving a cognitive executive function task. Participants assigned to the control condition (n = 74) were not disappointed before solving the cognitive task. Group comparisons (i.e., control group vs. experimental group) showed reduced cognitive performance for the experimental group in terms of accuracy and in terms of speed. Subsequent analyses for the experimental group revealed that only children who expressed appreciative positive emotions when receiving the unwanted gift showed impaired performance on the subsequent cognitive task. Children who expressed negative emotions when receiving the unwanted gift, as well as children who displayed no reaction toward the unwanted gift, did not show impaired cognitive performance. Furthermore, results revealed the crucial role of language for self-regulation skills. Overall, the current results underline the importance of taking individual difference in regulation strategies into account when examining ego depletion.

After-effects of self-control: The reward responsivity hypothesis.

Exercising self-control can be phenomenologically aversive. Insofar as individuals strive to maintain a positive emotional state, one consequence of exercising self-control may thus be a temporarily tuning toward or amplification of reward-related impulses (perhaps arising to countermand the aversive feelings that stem from self-control). Reward-relevant after-effects are relatively underappreciated in self-control research. In the current paper, we review theory and research pertaining to the idea that exercising self-control increases reward responsivity. First, we review theoretical models of self-control focusing on the relationship between control systems and reward systems. Second, we review behavioral studies regarding the effects of exercising self-control on subsequent reactivity to food, money, drugs, and positive emotional images. Third, we review findings from functional neuroimaging and electroencephalographic research pertaining to the reward responsivity hypothesis. We then call for additional research to integrate how, when, and under what circumstances self-control exertion influences reward processing. Such an endeavor will help to advance research and theory on self-control by offering a more precise characterization of the dynamic interactions between control systems and reward systems.

Is Ego Depletion Real? An Analysis of Arguments.

An influential line of research suggests that initial bouts of self-control increase the susceptibility to self-control failure (ego depletion effect). Despite seemingly abundant evidence, some researchers have suggested that evidence for ego depletion was the sole result of publication bias and p-hacking, with the true effect being indistinguishable from zero. Here, we examine (a) whether the evidence brought forward against ego depletion will convince a proponent that ego depletion does not exist and (b) whether arguments that could be brought forward in defense of ego depletion will convince a skeptic that ego depletion does exist. We conclude that despite several hundred published studies, the available evidence is inconclusive. Both additional empirical and theoretical works are needed to make a compelling case for either side of the debate. We discuss necessary steps for future work toward this aim.

Ego depletion and the use of force: Investigating the effects of ego depletion on police officers' intention to use force.

The current study aims to investigate corresponding self-control and self-control failures that are the result of ego depletion and its impact on police officers' decision to use force. For that purpose, a total of 200 German police recruits were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. Ego depletion was manipulated using the "e" crossing task. Participants then worked through a video-based scenario exercise, in which they encountered a provocative citizen. They were required to indicate the time that they would take to resort to using force to resolve the situation. Results showed that ego depleted officers intended to use force earlier than controls. This indicates that circumstances that produce ego depletion could lead to the inappropriate use of force by reducing self-control. This has major implications for the police use of force and how we understand police officers' decision making in response to provocation.

Unwilling but not unable to control: Ego depletion increases effortful dishonesty with material rewards.

Previous studies have found that ego depletion increases dishonesty. However, it remains unclear whether ego depletion makes participants unable to exert self-control or unwilling to exert self-control when it increases dishonesty. The present study aimed to clarify this. Based on the process model, ego depletion causes individuals to pay more attention to material rewards and increases the motivation to act on impulse. Therefore, it is possible that ego-depleted participants are unwilling, rather than unable, to be honest. We conducted two experiments to examine this hypothesis. Results showed that ego depletion increased material-based dishonesty even when the dishonest behavior was more complicated and effortful than was the honest behavior. However, participants were reluctant to cheat just for convenience, and ego depletion had no apparent effect on convenience-based dishonesty without any material rewards. The theoretical implications and future directions of these results are discussed.

Exposure to nature counteracts aggression after depletion.

Acts of self-control are more likely to fail after previous exertion of self-control, known as the ego depletion effect. Research has shown that depleted participants behave more aggressively than non-depleted participants, especially after being provoked. Although exposure to nature (e.g., a walk in the park) has been predicted to replenish resources common to executive functioning and self-control, the extent to which exposure to nature may counteract the depletion effect on aggression has yet to be determined. The present study investigated the effects of exposure to nature on aggression following depletion. Aggression was measured by the intensity of noise blasts participants delivered to an ostensible opponent in a competition reaction-time task. As predicted, an interaction occurred between depletion and environmental manipulations for provoked aggression. Specifically, depleted participants behaved more aggressively in response to provocation than non-depleted participants in the urban condition. However, provoked aggression did not differ between depleted and non-depleted participants in the natural condition. Moreover, within the depletion condition, participants in the natural condition had lower levels of provoked aggression than participants in the urban condition. This study suggests that a brief period of nature exposure may restore self-control and help depleted people regain control over aggressive urges.

Networks of self-defining memories as a contributing factor to emotional openness.

Emotional openness is characterised by a capacity to tolerate threatening self-relevant material and an interest towards new emotional situations. We investigated how specific networks of memories could be an important contributing factor to emotional openness. At Phase 1, participants completed measures of personality traits and emotional intelligence, described a self-defining memory, provided other memories associated with it, and rated the valence of each of their memories. A score assessing the complexity of this memory network, comprising the number of memories reported and their valence diversity, was created. Two weeks later, in laboratory, participants watched an anxiety-inducing film and took part in an interview assessing their emotional openness to the film. They completed a cognitive task before and after the film to measure ego depletion. Controlling for traits and emotional intelligence, memory network complexity was positively associated with emotional openness and negatively with ego depletion. The mental organisation of self-defining memories thus appears to be a critical factor contributing to emotional openness.

Nature-based solutions to promote human resilience and wellbeing in cities during increasingly hot summers.

Air temperatures are increasing because of global climate change. A warming phenomenon strongly related to global climate change is the urban heat island. It has been shown that the hotter temperatures occurring in cities during the summer negatively affect human wellbeing, but little is known about the potential mechanisms underlying the relationships between hotter temperatures, cognitive psychological resources and wellbeing. The aim of the present research is to understand whether, and how, spending time in urban green spaces, which can be considered as a specific kind of Nature-Based Solution (NBS), helps the recovery of cognitive resources and wellbeing. The main hypothesis is that contact with urban green is related to wellbeing through the depletion of cognitive resources (i.e., ego depletion). Moreover, we expected that individuals showing higher scores of ego depletion also report a higher estimate of the maximum temperature reached during the summer. The results of a survey (N = 115) conducted among visitors to Parco Nord Milano, a large urban park located in Milan (Italy), point out that people visiting the park during the summer show a higher level of wellbeing as well as a lower level of ego depletion. A mediation analysis shows that visiting urban green spaces is associated with greater wellbeing through less ego depletion. Our results also point out that, as expected, people showing a higher level of ego depletion tend to overestimate the maximum air temperature. Implications for future studies and applied interventions regarding the role of NBS to promote human wellbeing are discussed.

The Influence of Agreeableness and Ego Depletion on Emotional Responding.

OBJECTIVE: Agreeable individuals report more intense withdrawal-oriented negative emotions across aversive situations. Two studies tested the hypothesis that self-regulatory depletion (i.e., ego depletion) moderates the relationship between trait Agreeableness and negative emotional responding. METHOD: Ego depletion was manipulated using a writing task. Emotional responding was measured with startle eye-blink responses (Study 1, N = 71) and self-reported valence, arousal, and empathic concern (Study 2, N = 256) during emotional picture viewing. Trait Agreeableness was measured using a questionnaire. RESULTS: In Study 1, Agreeableness predicted especially large startle responses during aversive images and especially small startles during appetitive images. After exercising self-control, the relationship between startle magnitudes and Agreeableness decreased. In Study 2, Agreeableness predicted more empathic concern for aversive images, which in turn predicted heightened self-reported negative emotions. After exercising self-control, the relationship between Agreeableness and empathic concern decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Agreeable individuals exhibit heightened negative emotional responding. Ego depletion reduced the link between Agreeableness and negative emotional responding in Study 1 and moderated the indirect effect of Agreeableness on negative emotional responding via empathic concern in Study 2. Empathic concern appears to be a resource-intensive process underlying heightened responding to aversive stimuli among agreeable persons.