Ego-depletion reduces self-efficacy to further self-control: A motivated cognition perspective of ego-depletion

Abstract

Recent research has demonstrated that ego-depletion motivates people to engage in cognitions that favor withdrawal of effort (e g , downplaying the importance of a goal) Across three experiments, we found that initial self-control exertion resulted in lower self-effcacy to further control oneself. We further found that self-effcacy mediated the interaction effect between ego-depletion manipulation and implicit theory of willpower on subsequent self-control (Experiment 3). Particularly, decrease in self-effcacy was observed only among “limited theorists” (vs “non-limited theorists”), who believe that willpower is limited and have strong motivation to conserve mental energy Taken together, the present research supports the idea that ego-depletion can impair self-control by motivating cognitions that favor conservation of mental resources Implications for the role of motivated cognition in self-control impairments will be discussed.