1 University of Zurich, Switzerland.
2 University of Mannheim, Germany.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2019 Aug;45(8):1295-1307. doi: 10.1177/0146167218820921. Epub 2019 Jan 17.
People who believe that willpower is not limited exhibit higher self-regulation and well-being than people who believe that willpower is a limited resource. So far, only little is known about the antecedents of people's beliefs about willpower. Three studies examine whether autonomous goal striving promotes the endorsement of a nonlimited belief and whether this relationship is mediated by vitality, the feeling of being awake and energetic. Study 1 ( = 208) showed that autonomous goal striving predicts a change in willpower beliefs over 4 months and that this change is mediated by vitality. Study 2 ( = 92) replicated this finding using experience sampling assessments of vitality. Experimental Study 3 ( = 243) showed that inducing an autonomous mind-set enhances people's endorsement of a nonlimited belief by fostering vitality. The studies support the idea that what people believe about willpower depends, at least in part, on recent experiences with tasks as being energizing or draining.
相信意志力并非有限资源的人，比相信意志力是有限资源的人表现出更高的自我调节能力和幸福感。到目前为止，人们对意志力信念的前提知之甚少。三项研究考察了自主目标追求是否会促进对非限制定律的认可，以及这种关系是否通过活力（即清醒和精力充沛的感觉）来中介。研究 1（n=208）表明，自主目标追求可以预测 4 个月内意志力信念的变化，而这种变化是由活力来中介的。研究 2（n=92）使用活力的经验抽样评估重复了这一发现。实验研究 3（n=243）表明，通过培养活力，诱导自主心态会增强人们对非限制定律的认可。这些研究支持这样一种观点，即人们对意志力的信念至少部分取决于最近对任务的体验，即这些任务是令人精力充沛还是消耗精力。
