Towards a motivational alternative to the strength model of self-control

Abstract

Self-control is an area of research that has received increased attention over the last couple of decades. Failures of self-control, in particular, are held to be the underlying cause of a number of societal ills. The strength model of self-control (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998) purports to explain failures of self-control through the use of a limited resource model. According to the model, initial acts of self-control draw upon a resource, temporarily depleting it and making subsequent self-control acts more likely to fail - a process known as ego depletion. Although the model has inspired a great deal of research, researchers have begun to question both the model itself (e.g., Inzlicht & Schmeichel, 2012), and the research findings that it has generated (e.g., Carter & McCullough, 2013). The current project argues that the strength model suffers from conceptual confusions that render the model untenable, necessitating its replacement with an alternative. A reconceptualisation of drive theory (Maze, 1983), in concert with the process model (Inzlicht & Schmeichel, 2012), is offered as a deterministic framework through which to reinterpret existing findings. In light of suggestions that the ego depletion effect has been overstated, this project also aimed to investigate whether and under what conditions the ego depletion effect could be produced. Three experiments were performed, manipulating both the difficulty and length of the initial self-control task, using common strength model tasks. For all three experiments it was hypothesised that there would be an ego depletion effect, and that the magnitude of the effect would vary as a function of time and difficulty of the initial task. In all three experiments the hypothesis was not supported. There is a shift in current psychological science to recognise the importance of replications and null results; it is in this light that the findings are discussed. The future of self-control research is discussed in light of the null results, and the reconceptualisation of self-control provided by drive theory.

Date of Award	2016
Original language	English