Calvillo Dustin P, Rodriguez Katie, Nguyen Theresa Ngan
Psychology Department, California State University San Marcos, San Marcos, CA, USA.
J Gen Psychol. 2022 Oct-Dec;149(4):509-523. doi: 10.1080/00221309.2021.1922341. Epub 2021 May 11.
Ego depletion, the finding that initial exertion of self-control hinders performance on subsequent self-control tasks, has become a controversial topic. There have been discrepant results from empirical studies and different conclusions drawn from meta-analyses and multilab studies. We examined ego depletion and three potential moderators in a preregistered experiment using a within-subjects design in order to overcome limitations of the standard between-subjects design. In two sessions separated by 1 week, participants ( = 214) completed an ego depletion or control version of a Stroop task. Each Stroop task was followed by manipulation check questions and an antisaccade task. Participants also completed measures of lay theory of willpower, trait self-control, and action orientation. There was no significant evidence for ego depletion, and Bayes factors strongly favored the null hypotheses that there was no difference in antisaccade performance (accuracy or response time) after ego depletion and control Stroop tasks. Additionally, lay theory willpower, trait self-control, and action orientation were not significantly related to ego depletion effects. Exploratory between-subjects comparisons that omitted participants who responded at lower than chance accuracy levels, however, found significant ego depletion effects. These results provide further evidence that ego depletion effects are elusive.
自我损耗，即最初的自我控制努力会妨碍后续自我控制任务表现的这一发现，已成为一个有争议的话题。实证研究结果存在差异，元分析和多实验室研究也得出了不同结论。我们在一项预先注册的实验中采用被试内设计来检验自我损耗及三个潜在调节变量，以克服标准被试间设计的局限性。在间隔1周的两个阶段中，参与者（n = 214）完成了一项斯特鲁普任务的自我损耗版本或控制版本。每个斯特鲁普任务之后都有操纵检验问题和一项反扫视任务。参与者还完成了意志力的朴素理论、特质自我控制和行动取向的测量。没有显著证据支持自我损耗，贝叶斯因子强烈支持零假设，即自我损耗和控制斯特鲁普任务后的反扫视表现（准确性或反应时间）没有差异。此外，意志力的朴素理论、特质自我控制和行动取向与自我损耗效应没有显著关联。然而，排除了准确率低于随机水平的参与者的探索性被试间比较发现了显著的自我损耗效应。这些结果进一步证明自我损耗效应难以捉摸。
