@article{ref1,
title="Ego Depletion—Is It All in Your Head?",
journal="Psychological science",
year="2010",
author="Job, Veronika and Dweck, Carol S. and Walton, Gregory M.",
volume="21",
number="11",
pages="1686-1693",
abstract="Much recent research suggests that willpower—the capacity to exert self-control—is a limited resource that is depleted after exertion. We propose that whether depletion takes place or not depends on a person’s belief about whether willpower is a limited resource. Study 1 found that individual differences in lay theories about willpower moderate ego-depletion effects: People who viewed the capacity for self-control as not limited did not show diminished self-control after a depleting experience. Study 2 replicated the effect, manipulating lay theories about willpower. Study 3 addressed questions about the mechanism underlying the effect. Study 4, a longitudinal field study, found that theories about willpower predict change in eating behavior, procrastination, and self-regulated goal striving in depleting circumstances. Taken together, the findings suggest that reduced self-control after a depleting task or during demanding periods may reflect people’s beliefs about the availability of willpower rather than true resource depletion.<p />",
language="",
issn="0956-7976",
doi="10.1177/0956797610384745",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797610384745"
}