We conducted a preregistered multilaboratory project ( k = 36; N = 3,531) to assess the size and robustness of ego-depletion effects using a novel replication method, termed the paradigmatic replication approach. Each laboratory implemented one of two procedures that was intended to manipulate self-control and tested performance on a subsequent measure of self-control. Confirmatory tests found a nonsignificant result ( d = 0.06). Confirmatory Bayesian meta-analyses using an informed-prior hypothesis (δ = 0.30, SD = 0.15) found that the data were 4 times more likely under the null than the alternative hypothesis. Hence, preregistered analyses did not find evidence for a depletion effect. Exploratory analyses on the full sample (i.e., ignoring exclusion criteria) found a statistically significant effect ( d = 0.08); Bayesian analyses showed that the data were about equally likely under the null and informed-prior hypotheses. Exploratory moderator tests suggested that the depletion effect was larger for participants who reported more fatigue but was not moderated by trait self-control, willpower beliefs, or action orientation.
Thinking about the future highlights the constructive nature of consciousness, as opposed to merely representing what is therebecause the future is not yet available to be seen. We elaborate this point to emphasize how consciousness deals in alternative possibilities, and indeed preconscious interpretation confers meaning by recognizing these alternatives. Crucially, the goal of prospection is less to predict what is sure to happen than to prepare for action in situations defined by sets of incompatible alternative options, each of which might or might not come true. We review multiple lines of evidence indicating that people conceptualize the future as just such a matrix of maybe. Thus, people think of the future as highly changeable. Most prospective thinking involves planning, which is designed to bring about one outcome rather than alternatives. Optimism may often reflect an initial, automatic response that is soon followed by conscious appreciation of obstacles and other factors that can produce less desired, alternative outcomes. People moralize the future more than the past, presumably to promote the more desirable outcomes. Anticipated emotion helps people evaluate future possible outcomes. People specifically anticipate the matrix of maybe and sometimes seek to preserve multiplicity of options. We integrate these patterns of findings with a pragmatic theory of prospection: Thinking of the future as a multi-maybe matrix is useful for guiding action.
A neglected aspect of human selfhood is that people are information agents. That is, much human social activity involves communicating and discussing information. This occurs in the context of incompletely shared information—but also a group's store of collective knowledge and shared understanding. This article elucidates a preliminary theory of self as information agent, proposing that human evolution instilled both abilities and motivations for the various requisite functions. These basic functions include (a) seeking and acquiring information, (b) communicating one's thoughts to others, (c) circulating information through the group, (d) operating on information to improve it, such as by correcting mistakes, and (e) constructing a shared understanding of reality. Sophisticated information agents exhibit additional features, such as sometimes selectively withholding information or disseminating false information for self-serving reasons, cultivating a reputation as a credible source of information, and cooperating with others to shape the shared worldview in a way that favors one's subgroup. Meaningful information is thus more than a resource for individual action: It also provides the context, medium, and content within which the individual self interacts with its social environment.
Childhood unpredictability and harshness are associated with patterns of psychology and behavior that enable individuals to make the most of adverse environments. The current research assessed effects of childhood unpredictability and harshness on individual differences in sacrificial moral decision making. Six studies (N=1,503) supported the hypothesis that childhood unpredictability, but not harshness, would be associated with fewer decisions to reject harm (consistent with deontological ethics) and to maximize overall outcomes (consistent with utilitarian ethics). These associations were not moderated by perceptions of current environmental unpredictability (Studies 3a and 3b) and were robust to potential confounds (religiosity, political conservativism, Big-5 personality traits, and social desirability; Study 5).The associations between childhood unpredictability and lower deontological and utilitarian tendencies were statistically mediated by low levels of empathic concern and poor-quality social relationships (Study 4). Findings are consistent with the possibility that early calibration to ecological unpredictability, but not harshness, undermines other-oriented psychological processes which, in turn, reduce moral concerns about harm and consequences for other people. Keywords: childhood unpredictability, childhood harshness, behavioral ecology, moral dilemmas, process dissociation encourages interdependence and consideration of the wellbeing of others (e.g., Fiske & Markus, 2012;Lamont, 2000;Markus et al., 2004). Harshness, then, may not be systematically associated with moral dilemma decision making. Therefore, the overarching prediction guiding the current investigation was that unpredictability, but not harshness, would be associated with weak tendencies to reject harm and maximize outcomes in sacrificial moral dilemmas. We tested this hypothesis in six studies. Behavioral Ecology: Childhood Unpredictability and HarshnessRecent advances in behavioral ecology provide an overarching theoretical perspective useful for understanding the effects of childhood ecological variables (e.g., Ellis & Del Giudice, 2019;Sng et al., 2018). This perspective suggests that affordances encountered early in life calibrate psychological processes in an adaptive manner. 1 That is, early in development, people learn to behave in a way that is likely to maximize their reproductive fitness in the current environment and that learning processes sets the stage for patterns of behavior throughout the lifespan. Indeed, evidence suggests that early childhood environments fundamentally shape the way people navigate tradeoffs (e.g., between mating and parenting) in a way that helps them make the most of its limited bioenergetic resources . Two key elements of early childhood environments are unpredictability and harshness . Unpredictability denotes the extent to which an environment entails erratic or uncertain fluctuations in the presence of threat and/or the availability of resources . Harshness denotes the rates of morbidity-mort...
Remaining satisfied with a relationship often requires thinking in ways that use self-regulatory resources-satisfied couples discount undesirable experiences when forming global evaluations of the relationship. Nevertheless, recent work indicates that the self-regulatory resources required to engage in these processes are limited. Although consuming new energy may be one way to replenish these limited resources, sleep is another. The current study used a daily diary study of 68 newlywed couples to examine the implications of sleep for daily marital evaluations. Every day for up to 7 days, both members of the couples reported their evaluations of their interpersonal specific experiences, global relationship satisfaction, and amount of sleep. Multilevel analysis revealed that spouses were more satisfied on days after which they had slept for a longer period of time. Furthermore, sleep also buffered husbands', but not wives', marital satisfaction against the implications of negative specific evaluations-husbands were better able to remain more globally satisfied despite negative evaluations of specific aspects of the relationship on days following more sleep. These findings suggest that sleep may offer self-regulatory benefits and should thus be incorporated into existing interpersonal models that highlight the importance of self-regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record
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