@article{ref1,
title="A series of meta-analytic tests of the depletion effect: self-control does not seem to rely on a limited resource",
journal="Journal of experimental psychology: general",
year="2015",
author="Carter, Evan C. and Kofler, Lilly M. and Forster, Daniel E. and McCullough, Michael E.",
volume="144",
number="4",
pages="796-815",
abstract="Failures of self-control are thought to underlie various important behaviors (e.g., addiction, violence, obesity, poor academic achievement). The modern conceptualization of self-control failure has been heavily influenced by the idea that self-control functions as if it relied upon a limited physiological or cognitive resource. This view of self-control has inspired hundreds of experiments designed to test the prediction that acts of self-control are more likely to fail when they follow previous acts of self-control (the depletion effect). Here, we evaluated the empirical evidence for this effect with a series of focused, meta-analytic tests that address the limitations in prior appraisals of the evidence. We find very little evidence that the depletion effect is a real phenomenon, at least when assessed with the methods most frequently used in the laboratory. Our results strongly challenge the idea that self-control functions as if it relies on a limited psychological or physical resource. (PsycINFO Database Record<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0096-3445",
doi="10.1037/xge0000083",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000083"
}