休息对自我损耗的补偿作用

两个实验旨在检验自我损耗效应并探讨休息对自我损耗的补偿作用。在实验1中,损耗组被试通过观看注意控制视频诱发自我控制资源的损耗,然后完成Stroop任务。实验2与实验1的不同之处在于,诱发自我损耗后进行不同时间（5分钟、10分钟）的休息处理。两个实验结果发现：（1）注意控制视频成功诱发了自我损耗效应;（2）休息对自我损耗具有补偿作用;（3）在损耗状态下,休息5分钟即对自我控制资源具有补偿作用。研究结果证实了自我损耗的资源枯竭观。     

Unable to resist temptation: How self-control depletion promotes unethical behavior

Across four experimental studies, individuals who were depleted of their self-regulatory resources by an initial act of self-control were more likely to “impulsively cheat” than individuals whose self-regulatory resources were intact. Our results demonstrate that individuals depleted of self-control resources were more likely to behave dishonestly (Study 1). Depletion reduced people’s moral awareness when they faced the opportunity to cheat, which, in turn, was responsible for heightened cheating (Study 2). Individuals high in moral identity, however, did not show elevated levels of cheating when they were depleted (Study 3), supporting our hypothesis that self-control depletion increases cheating when it robs people of the executive resources necessary to identify an act as immoral or unethical. Our results also show that resisting unethical behavior both requires and depletes self-control resources (Study 4). Taken together, our findings help to explain how otherwise ethical individuals predictably engage in unethical behavior.     

Can implementation intentions help to overcome ego-depletion?

Research on ego-depletion suggests that the ability to self-regulate one’s behavior is limited: Exerting self-control on an initial task reduces performance on a subsequent task that also requires self-control. Two experiments tested whether forming implementation intentions could prevent ego-depletion and/or offset the effects of ego-depletion. Experiment 1 found that participants who formed implementation intentions during an initial ego-depleting task subsequently showed greater persistence on an unsolvable puzzles task compared to participants who did not form implementation intentions. Experiment 2 found that among participants who had been ego-depleted during an initial task, forming implementation intentions improved subsequent performance on a Stroop task to the level exhibited by non-depleted controls. Thus, implementation intentions help to enhance people’s ability to self-regulate their behavior.     

Cheating more for less: Upward social comparisons motivate the poorly compensated to cheat

Intuitively, people should cheat more when cheating is more lucrative, but we find that the effect of performance-based pay-rates on dishonesty depends on how readily people can compare their pay-rate to that of others. In Experiment 1, participants were paid 5 cents or 25 cents per self-reported point in a trivia task, and half were aware that they could have received the alternative pay-rate. Lower pay-rates increased cheating when the prospect of a higher pay-rate was salient. Experiment 2 illustrates that this effect is driven by the ease with which poorly compensated participants can compare their pay to that of others who earn a higher pay-rate. Our results suggest that low pay-rates are, in and of themselves, unlikely to promote dishonesty. Instead, it is the salience of upward social comparisons that encourages the poorly compensated to cheat.     

自我损耗的视听通道效应

采用双任务实验范式,通过两个实验探讨了自我损耗的通道效应。实验1考察了完成视听工作记忆任务对执行手柄任务（非视听任务）的影响,结果发现,完成视觉损耗任务导致手柄任务的成绩显著地变差,完成听觉损耗任务、视听非损耗任务均对手柄任务的成绩没有影响。实验2考察了完成视听工作记忆任务对执行Stroop任务（视觉任务）的影响,结果发现,完成视觉损耗任务导致Stroop任务的成绩显著地变差,完成听觉损耗任务、视听非损耗任务对Stroop任务的成绩没有影响。研究结果表明同一自我控制任务通过视听通道完成对随后另一自我控制任务的影响不同,证实了自我损耗的视听通道效应。     

Financial deprivation selectively shifts moral standards and compromises moral decisions

Previous research suggests people firmly value moral standards. However, research has also shown that various factors can compromise moral behavior. Inspired by the recent financial turmoil, we investigate whether financial deprivation might shift people’s moral standards and consequently compromise their moral decisions. Across one pilot survey and five experiments, we find that people believe financial deprivation should not excuse immoral conduct; yet when people actually experience deprivation they seem to apply their moral standards more leniently. Thus, people who feel deprived tend to cheat more for financial gains and judge deprived moral offenders who cheat for financial gains less harshly. These effects are mediated by shifts in people’s moral standards: beliefs in whether deprivation is an acceptable reason for immorality. The effect of deprivation on immoral conduct diminishes when it is explicit that immoral conduct cannot help alleviate imbalances in deprived actors’ financial states, when financial deprivation seems fair or deserved, and when acting immorally seems unfair.     

Depletion,moral identity,and unethical behavior: Why people behave unethically after self-control exertion

Self-control enables people to resist short-term temptations in the service of long-term goals. Previous exertion of self-control leads to a state of ego depletion. Three studies demonstrated that ego depletion leads to a high level of unethical behavior. These studies also hypothesized and confirmed that depleted individuals behave unethically because of low moral identity. Study 1 found that depleted participants were more likely to over-report their performance than non-depleted participants. Study 2 revealed that depletion reduced people’s moral identity, which in turn increased their propensity to engage in unethical behavior. Study 3 proved that priming moral identity eliminated the effect of depletion on cheating. Findings suggest that reduced moral identity accounts for the effect of self-control depletion on unethical behavior.     

Ego depletion increases risk-taking

We investigated how the availability of self-control resources affects risk-taking inclinations and behaviors. We proposed that risk-taking often occurs from suboptimal decision processes and heuristic information processing (e.g., when a smoker suppresses or neglects information about the health risks of smoking). Research revealed that depleted self-regulation resources are associated with reduced intellectual performance and reduced abilities to regulate spontaneous and automatic responses (e.g., control aggressive responses in the face of frustration). The present studies transferred these ideas to the area of risk-taking. We propose that risk-taking is increased when individuals find themselves in a state of reduced cognitive self-control resources (ego-depletion). Four studies supported these ideas. In Study 1, ego-depleted participants reported higher levels of sensation seeking than non-depleted participants. In Study 2, ego-depleted participants showed higher levels of risk-tolerance in critical road traffic situations than non-depleted participants. In Study 3, we ruled out two alternative explanations for these results: neither cognitive load nor feelings of anger mediated the effect of ego-depletion on risk-taking. Finally, Study 4 clarified the underlying psychological process: ego-depleted participants feel more cognitively exhausted than non-depleted participants and thus are more willing to take risks. Discussion focuses on the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

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.     

Moral spillovers: The effect of moral violations on deviant behavior

Two experiments investigated whether outcomes that violate people’s moral standards increase their deviant behavior (the moral spillover effect). In Study 1, participants with and without a moral mandate (i.e., a strong attitude rooted in moral conviction) read about a legal trial in which the outcome supported, opposed or was unrelated to their moral mandate. Relative to when outcomes supported moral mandates, when outcomes opposed moral mandates people judged the outcome to be less fair, were more angry, were less willing to accept the outcome, and were more likely to take a borrowed pen. In Study 2, participants who recalled another person’s moral violation were more likely to cheat on an experimental task relative to angry or neutral condition participants. Taken together, results provide evidence for moral spillover: outcomes that violate moral standards increase deviant behavior.     

Rude and inappropriate: the role of self-control in following social norms

Following social norms to avoid deviant or socially inappropriate behavior may require self-control. This was tested in two experiments that experimentally manipulated individuals' level of self-control strength. In the first experiment, individuals whose self-control capacity was depleted were more likely to misrepresent how many problems they solved and work after being told to stop while working on a timed test. These same results were found in individuals low in trait self-control. This was especially true when the certainty of getting caught was low. In the second experiment, depleted individuals were ruder to the experimenter than nondepleted participants. The results have implications for understanding how self-control contributes to normative behavior.     

Hungry for love: the influence of self-regulation on infidelity

The current research examines the effect of self-regulation on the likelihood of committing infidelity. Thirty-two college students in exclusive romantic relationships interacted through a private chat room with an opposite-sex confederate. Prior to this interaction, a food-restriction task depleted half the participants of self-control. As predicted, depleted levels of self-regulation increased the likelihood of infidelity. Specifically, depleted participants were more likely to both accept a coffee date from and supply a personal telephone number to the confederate than non-depleted participants. Weakened self-control may be one potential cause for the levels of infidelity occurring in romantic partnerships today.     

The abundance effect: Unethical behavior in the presence of wealth

Three laboratory studies investigated the hypothesis that the presence of wealth may influence people’s propensity to engage in unethical behavior for financial gain. In the experiments, participants were given the opportunity to cheat by overstating their performance on an anagram task. In each study, one group was stimulated by the visible proximity of monetary wealth. We found that the presence of abundant wealth led to more frequent cheating than an environment of scarcity. Our experiments also investigated the potential mechanisms behind this effect. The results showed that the presence of abundant wealth provoked feelings of envy toward wealthy others that, in turn, led to unethical behavior. Our findings offer insights into when and why people engage in unethical behavior.     

Reflexively mindblind: Using theory of mind to interpret behavior requires effortful attention

People commonly interpret others’ behavior in terms of the actors’ underlying beliefs, knowledge, or other mental states, thereby using their “theory of mind.” Two experiments suggest that using one’s theory of mind is a relatively effortful process. In both experiments, people reflexively used their own knowledge and beliefs to follow a speaker’s instruction, but only effortfully used their theory of mind to take into account a speaker’s intention to interpret those instructions. In Experiment 1, people with lower working memory capacity were less effective than people with larger working memory capacity in applying their theory of mind to interpret behavior. In Experiment 2, an attention-demanding secondary task reduced people’s ability to apply their theory of mind. People appear to be reflexively mindblind, interpreting behavior in terms of the actor’s mental states only to the extent that they have the cognitive resources to do so.     

Triggering Conservation of the Self's Regulatory Resources

Three experiments investigated people's motivation to conserve the self's limited regulatory resource after it is depleted by initial self-control exertion. Across the experiments, the results supported the idea of a conservation process. In Experiment 1, depleted participants' subsequent performance decreased when expecting to engage in a future self-regulation task compared to engaging in no task at all. In Experiments 2 and 3 we employed the “end-effect” pattern found in past vigilance research to further examine conservation. In Experiment 2, depleted and nondepleted participants who knew the study ran for 30 min performed similarly following 20 min of self-regulation, whereas 3 min or 10 min of self-regulation produced typical depletion effects. Likewise, the findings from Experiment 3 revealed this same conservation pattern using a shortened 6-min initial task. Specifically, when depleted participants believed the study was finished their task performance was better compared to those who believed the study would run for another 20 min. In short, the current findings support the idea of conservation—decrements in self-regulatory performance may represent an adaptive inclination to conserve the self's diminished resources rather than an inability to wield further self-control.     

How surveillance begets perceptions of dishonesty: the case of the counterfactual sinner

Three studies support the hypothesis that observers' impressions of actors reflect not only what actors do but also what they can easily be imagined doing. Participants in Studies 1 and 2 observed a 10-year-old boy take a math test in a context in which the incentive to cheat and the constraints against cheating varied. When the incentive to cheat was high but the likelihood of getting caught was also high, observers perceived a target who resisted the temptation to cheat as less honest than the average boy. This effect was not found when the incentive to cheat was low, which suggests that its occurrence under high temptation resulted from observers in that condition generating the counterfactual thought that the target would have cheated had the likelihood of detection been low. Study 3 further supported the link between spontaneous counterfactual thought and inferences of dishonesty. The implications of the counterfactual correspondence bias are discussed.     

Bringing ethics into focus: How regulatory focus and risk preferences influence (Un)ethical behavior

In four laboratory studies, we find that regulatory focus induced by situational cues (such as the framing of an unrelated task) or primed influences people’s likelihood to cross ethical boundaries. A promotion focus leads individuals to be more likely to act unethically than a prevention focus (Studies 1, 2, and 3). These higher levels of dishonesty are explained by the influence of a person’s induced regulatory focus on his or her behavior toward risk. A promotion focus leads to risk-seeking behaviors, while a prevention focus leads to risk avoidance (Study 3). Through higher levels of dishonesty, promotion focus also results in higher levels of virtuous behavior (Studies 2 and 3), thus providing evidence for compensatory ethics. Our results also demonstrate that the framing of ethics (e.g., through an organization’s ethics code) influences individuals’ ethical behavior and does so differently depending on an individual’s induced regulatory focus (Study 4).     

When do primes prime? The moderating role of the self-concept in individuals’ susceptibility to priming effects on social behavior

Using cooperative behavior in economic decision-making settings, we predicted and found that people’s susceptibility to priming influences is moderated by two factors: people’s chronic accessibility to a behavioral repertoire and people’s self-concept activation. In Experiment 1, we show that individuals highly consistent in their social value orientation (SVO) assimilate their behavior to their dispositions rather than to the primes, whereas the opposite effect is obtained among individuals with a low consistent SVO. In Experiment 2, we show that low consistent SVO individuals become less susceptible to priming influences when their self-concept is activated. These studies shed new light on individuals’ susceptibility to priming influences on social behavior.     

无意识自我控制目标启动对自我损耗的补偿效应

本研究基于对无意识目标启动的研究,采用阈上、阈下启动方式探讨无意识目标启动对自我损耗的补偿作用。实验1发现,阈上无意识目标启动能够有效提高自我控制,促进自控表现。实验2发现,阈下无意识目标启动对自我损耗存在补偿效应。上述结果提示,通过无意识启动方式激活自我控制目标,可以克服自我损耗的不良效应,且无需意识参与。     

Mechanisms of self-control failure: motivation and limited resources

Research has found that individuals who are lower in self-control strength because of previous self-control exertions perform more poorly on subsequent tests of self-control. The present studies suggest that this effect may be moderated by motivation. In particular, depletion and motivation jointly determine self-control performance. Individuals who were depleted and believed that the task would help others (Experiment 1) or believed that their efforts could benefit them (Experiment 2) performed better on a subsequent test of self-control than individuals who were depleted and lower in motivation. The results of Experiment 3 replicated these findings and suggested that depletion only affects performance on tasks that require self-control; tasks that are difficult but do not require self-control are immune to the effects of depletion. Hence, depleted individuals may compensate for their lack of self-control resources when sufficiently motivated. The results may help explain the nature of self-control strength.