Subjective fatigue does not reduce vigorous physical exercises when people believe that willpower is non-limited

Abstract

Background: In investigating how to improve people’s well-being, there are few variables as crucial as self-control [1-3]. Nevertheless, young adults in both western and eastern cultures reported a relatively low level of self-control (as compared to other character strengths) [4]. Fortunately, recent studies in social psychology suggested that repeated practice of small acts of self-control such as avoiding sweet can improve self-control [5-8]. For example, Finkel and his colleagues [5] asked people to regulate their speech (e.g. avoid using filler words and shorthand terms) for two weeks and found that this “exercise” reduced aggression. In addition, repeated practice of self-control was also found to improve performance in cognitive inhibition task [6] and prevent smoking relapse [7]. These studies suggested that self-control is trainable. Yet very few studies have examined the effects of this training paradigm on subjective well-being. Since self-control is a strong predictor of well-being, it is expected that self-control training is also an effective and sustainable way to improve well-being.

Aim: The present study aimed to use an extensive experience sampling method to test the effect of self-control training (repeated practice of small acts of self-control) on daily life self-control experiences and well-being.

Method: Fifty-five participants (43 females, 17 males; Mage = 20.07, SDage = 1.17) were recruited from Hong Kong universities. In the pre-training phase, participants’ baseline level of self-control and well-being was assessed by a one-week experience sampling survey. Five signals were sent to participants each day in randomly via smart phone. In each survey, participants were asked answer questions about their experience of self-control conflicts [9] and subjective well-being (satisfaction with life and positive affect). After that participants were randomly assigned to either practicing small acts of self-control or recording daily life activities for three weeks. Immediately after and one month after the training phase, participants performed the same experience sampling exercise as in Phase 1. The whole study lasted for 9 weeks (see figure 1). The response rate of all of the experience sampling phases was above 85%.

Results: The magnitude of the training effect on self-control and well-being was moderated by the nature of the self-control conflicts and goals. Overall, daily life self-control experience was related to well-being in all three phases of experience sampling. Further results would be discussed during the presentation.

Conclusions: With an intensive experience sampling method (5 signals per day X 3 weeks), the present study further pinpointed the role of self-control in subjective well-being. Importantly, self-control and well-being can be improved by a simple intervention although further investigation into the complex interaction between training method and nature of daily life self-control conflicts is needed.