The present study aimed to integrate situational and dispositional perspectives on the investigation of unethical and dishonest behavior through an experimental and a correlational study. More explicitly, the current study explored the effects of state self-control and social influence on cheating, and investigated the trait self control and conformity as predictors of academic dishonesty. Two preliminary studies were conducted. First, a pilot study with 230 undergraduate students was conducted to assess the reliability of the Turkish versions of the four scales intended to measure the constructs of interest. All four scales were found to have sufficient reliabilities. A second preliminary study was conducted to observe and to ameliorate the effects of two manipulations constructed for the main study, namely the rewriting task (depletory versus neutral) and the norm induction (deciding to cheat, not to cheat or to meet with a friend after the study). The main study was conducted with 87 undergraduate students. Correlational results underlined the importance of low self-control and high susceptibility to social influence as predictors of past behavior of academic dishonesty. Experimental results revealed that first, groups

The aim of the current study is to examine the potential parenting factors and mediating mechanisms that lead to ego-depletion within the framework of Self-Determination Theory. Previous research has suggested that whereas behaviourally controlling and autonomy-supportive parenting contributes to the development of autonomous motivation, psychologically controlling parenting leads to introjected motivation for self-regulation. Moreover, recent studies have shown that as compared to introjected regulation, autonomous regulation depletes less ego-resource. Thus, it was expected that parental psychological control positively, but behavioural control negatively, affects ego-depletion via controlled regulation style. In the first study, university students (N = 179) completed three groups of measures assessing parenting behaviours, motivation type of self-regulation, and state self-control capacity. The results of SEM analysis partially supported the proposed mediational model. Whereas both maternal and paternal psychological control indirectly predicted self-control capacity corresponding higher levels of ego depletion via controlled regulation, parental behavioural control did not have direct or indirect effect on self-control capacity. In the second study, the same hypotheses were tested experimentally on a group of participants (N = 91) from the first study by exposing them either an upsetting or a funny video condition that requires emotional control. Results revelaled that perceived high levels of maternal psychological control and low levels of paternal behavioural control make individuals more vulnerable to ego-depletion under emotional control. Furthermore, those with high introjected motivation for emotion-control were relatively resistant to ego-depletion. Findings were discussed considering the practice effect of self-control, implications of diverging parenting behaviours and cultural factors.

Under conditions of high self-regulatory effort, peripheral organ systems have been found to slow, potentially to rearrange energetic priorities in favor of the brain. The present study tested an expansion of this model by exploring the possibility that alcohol metabolism (i.e., liver function) may slow during self-regulation. We also anticipated that high trait self-control would attenuate the effect of condition on metabolism. Twelve males aged 21-25 completed two conditions in counterbalanced order. During each session, the participant received 0.33 ml/kg of absolute alcohol for a target peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.03 g%. Participants then performed tasks (self-regulatory tasks in the high self-regulation condition and identical tasks without a self-regulatory component in the low self-regulation condition) and BAC was measured throughout. Although there was no main effect of condition, trait self-regulation moderated the effect of condition on alcohol metabolism such that only those with lower trait self-control had slower alcohol metabolism under high self-regulatory effort. These results provide support for the hypothesis that liver function may indeed be altered by self-regulatory effort. In addition to suggesting the liver as a target organ for psychophysiological research, these data provide further support for slowing of peripheral systems during high self-regulatory demand.

In unserer hierarchisch organisierten Gesellschaft prägen Machtunterschiede das alltägliche Leben. Personen in Machtpositionen haben Kontrolle über andere Personen, verfügen über mehr materielle und immaterielle Ressourcen und erreichen dadurch ihre eigenen Ziele leichter als Personen ohne Machtbefugnisse. Macht bewirkt aber auch Veränderungen innerhalb einer Person. So beeinflusst Macht beispielsweise die Art und Weise, wie wir unser eigenes Verhalten steuern und unsere Ziele angehen. Für die erfolgreichere Umsetzung eigener Ziele durch mächtige Personen werden vor allem kognitive Prozesse verantwortlich gemacht. Motivationale und selbstregulatorische Prozesse scheinen ebenso wichtig für die Erklärung des Phänomens, wurden bisher zur Erklärung aber kaum herangezogen. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es zu klären, ob und wie Macht unsere Fähigkeit beeinflusst, unser eigenes Verhalten zu steuern und uns selbst zu kontrollieren. Dazu werden zwei Formen der Selbstregulation unterschieden (Kuhl, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000): selbstintegrierte, autonome und selbstdiskrepante, kontrollierte Regulation. Beide wirken sich unterschiedlich auf funktionale Komponenten von Selbstregulation wie z. B. die Selbstregulationsressourcen aus. In drei Studienreihen wurde gezeigt, dass das Machtausmaß und die Machtform die Art der Selbstregulation und ihre funktionalen Komponenten beeinflussen. In der ersten Studienreihe wurde der Einfluss von Macht auf die Verfügbarkeit und den Verbrauch von Selbstregulationsressourcen auf drei Ebenen untersucht: auf der Verhaltensebene, experientiell und physiologisch. In den ersten beiden Studien zeigte sich, dass Versuchspersonen nach einem Machtpriming länger bei einer Selbstkontrollaufgabe durchhielten und sich vitaler und weniger erschöpft fühlten als nach einem Machtlosigkeitspriming. In der dritten Studie zeigte sich außerdem, dass Versuchspersonen während einer anstrengenden Aufgabe umso weniger physiologischer Ressourcen verbrauchten, umso mächtiger sie sich vor der Bearbeitung fühlten. Mediiert wurde dieser Effekt über eine Zunahme autonomer Selbstregulation. In der zweiten Studienreihe wurde untersucht, wie die Art der Selbstregulation und die Selbstregulationsressourcen von zwei unterschiedlichen Formen der Macht beeinflusst werden: persönliche Macht (der Unabhängigkeit von anderen) und soziale Macht (der Kontrolle über andere). Beide Formen von Macht sind mit dem Gefühl von Kontrolle verbunden und sollten deshalb zu einer autonomeren Selbstregulation und vermehrter Selbstregulationskapazität führen. Aufgrund der stärkeren Fokussierung auf andere sollte soziale Macht außerdem kontrollierte Selbstregulation verstärken und damit Erschöpfung und Stress erhöhen, während der vermehrte Fokus auf die eigenen Interessen im Zusammenhang mit persönlicher Macht beides verringern sollte. Die Ergebnisse beider Studien bestätigten diese Annahmen. In einem dritten Forschungsstrang wurde festgestellt, dass Macht sich auch auf die Effektivität automatischer Selbstregulationsmechanismen auswirkt. Der Affekttransfer von Zielen zu dazugehörenden Aktivitäten bewirkt folgenden Prozess: je mehr positiven Affekt eine Person mit einem Ziel verbindet, umso positiver erlebt sie Aktivitäten, die sie dem Ziel näher bringen. Während dieser Selbstregulations-mechanismus bei Mächtigen reibungslos abläuft, ist er bei Machtlosen blockiert. Dies zeigte sich in allen drei Studien. Weitere Analysen untermauerten wiederum die Rolle der autonomen Selbstregulation als Mediator, denn es zeigte sich, dass Macht die autonome Selbstregulation erhöht und dadurch den Affekttransfer ermöglicht. Insgesamt versetzt Macht Menschen in die Lage, ihr eigenes Verhalten erfolgreicher zu regulieren und zu kontrollieren. Denn Macht erhöht die verfügbaren Selbstregulationsressourcen und beeinflusst die Wirkungsweise eines automatischen Selbstregulationsmechanismus positiv. Diesen Effekten liegt der Einfluss von Macht auf autonome und kontrollierte Selbstregulation zugrunde. Abschließend werden die theoretischen und praktischen Implikationen dieser Befunde diskutiert.

The thesis investigated the notion of ego depletion in children, on classroom-based, 'academic' type tasks. Two major studies conducted with primary school students, aged between 10 and 14 years explored how an act of effortful self-control can impact adversely on performance and volition on a second, seemingly unrelated task. A third study investigated teacher perceptions of ego depletion effects.

The strength model of self-control predicts that when people exert self-control, they should show performance decrements on subsequent self-control tasks. However, it is possible that this pattern of behaviour is confined to specific experimental procedures, which amplifies the effect. The aims of this thesis are to; 1) test the strength model predictions in sport; and 2) examine emotion as a mediator of self-control performance effects. Study 1 consisted of two experiments. Experiment 1 set out to demonstrate a pattern of resource depletion. Forty-three sport and exercise students performed either an incongruent (self-control depletion) or congruent (control) Stroop task before and after performing a virtual reality cycling task on an indoor cycling ergometer. Findings showed the depletion group performed worse on the second Stroop task than on their first task or than the control group. Experiment 2 sought to address some of the methodological concerns in Experiment 1, and examine emotion as a factor explaining performance. Forty-eight physically active participants followed the same experimental protocol, but with an additional iteration of both tasks. Results demonstrated that both cycling and Stroop task performance improved across time. In addition, participants reported feeling happier and more motivated during the second cycling task. Study 2 provided a conceptual replication of Study 1, using different tests of self-control. Twenty-six university-level male soccer players either performed the Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT) with (self-control depletion) or without (control) an audio file simulating crowd noise, and then performed the wall squat muscle endurance test. The self-control depletion group reported feeling more anxious during the LSPT and performed worse than the controls on the wall squat. III Next, in Study 3, nineteen well-trained competitive endurance runners performed a self-paced 1600 m running trial and then ran a second trial either self-paced or with a pacemaker. The pacemaker had no significant effect on actual performance time but participants reported feeling more anxious beforehand and adopted a fast start strategy, whereas the self-paced group had a conservative pacing pattern. Study 4 showed that, for females, consuming a sports drink—as opposed to plain water—associated with better physical (high-intensity track running) and cognitive self-control (Stroop) performance. In addition, they appeared to be happier drinking water, and more anxious drinking the sports drink—an effect that diverged over the six weeks. Study 5 examined the effects of three strategies—designed to increase or decrease the intensity of emotions—on emotion, pacing strategy and 1600 m performance. Results showed the intervention designed to decrease unpleasant emotions was associated with lower anxiety, higher calmness, a slower first 400 m, and more overall consistent pacing strategy. Study 6 examined the effects of imagery training on swimming tumble-turn performance. Findings showed no significant intervention effect, a result that goes against the proposed benefits of psychological skills training and runs counter to the predictions of the strength model. Collectively, the evidence in the thesis provides limited support for the strength model. It is concluded that self-control performance does not inevitably deteriorate across self-control tasks where the individual is well-versed with the task demands, or where tasks are not physically strenuous enough to tax mental resources. In contrast, the explanation for performance deterioration across a series of novel tasks is likely to extend beyond that of a self-control resources perspective. Future research might profitably test this proposal.

This thesis is presented as a collection of four studies in which the role of self-control in athletic performance is examined. Considerable evidence has documented the beneficial effects of trait self-control and robust self-confidence on a wide range of behaviours. However, the relationships between these constructs have yet to be specifically explored within the sport domain. As well as exploring the trait perspective of self-control, research has employed self-control manipulations and laboratory performance to examine state self-control. The completion of tasks requiring self-control have led to impaired performance on physical tasks, also requiring self-control. But it remains unclear whether previous exertion of self-control impairs subsequent performance when self-regulation is potentially automatic, and if any observed effects are variable over different stages of performance. Building on this work, glucose supplementation, and the duration of self-control effort have been proposed as potential moderators that may influence performance effects, yet controversy exists surrounding glucose consumption, and task duration has not been appropriately considered. Furthermore, the identification of explanatory mechanisms for performance decrements following self-control use is of theoretical significance. In particular, research is yet to explore whether an individual s perceptions of pain may explain why self-control exertion interferes with subsequent performance on a physical task. The current thesis aims to address these limitations of the extant literature. Study One examined whether an individual s general ability to exert self-control might be an important mechanistic variable that explains the relationship between robust self-confidence and athletic performance. Following an examination of trait self-control, an exploration of state self-control was deemed more relevant to situational performance. Therefore, Study Two and Three utilised a sequential-task paradigm to examine whether exerting self-control impairs subsequent endurance performance in well-trained individuals, and whether any observed effects are variable over different stages of endurance performance. Study Two and Three also examined moderators of the depletion effect. In particular, the potential for glucose supplementation (Study Two), and duration of self-control effort (Study Three), to attenuate any decrements in performance due to initial self-control exertion were explored. Following the investigation of moderators, Study Four examined whether performance decrements can be explained by an individual s perceptions of pain. Overall, the findings of this thesis suggest that trait self-control represents a potentially important mechanism by which athlete s with strong robust self-confidence progress and perform successfully. Furthermore, prior exertion of self-control impairs subsequent self-regulatory efforts during well-practiced endurance performance, but these effects are variable over different stages of performance. In addition, extended self-control effort may lead to the conservation of self-control, whilst glucose supplementation does not moderate self-control ability. Finally, perceptions of pain may explain why self-control exertion interferes with subsequent performance on a physical task.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-06-06T21:13:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriano Viana Bednaski.pdf: 1498729 bytes, checksum: 9c421862e93efbaf635b89436ff7c6ce (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-06T21:13:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriano Viana Bednaski.pdf: 1498729 bytes, checksum: 9c421862e93efbaf635b89436ff7c6ce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-26 / In addition to performing a number of decisions daily, an individual living in a world where you need greater control of emotions, impulses and thoughts. All these activities require an intense self-control, which leads to a condition of the Ego Depletion - Ego Depletion (BAUMEISTER et al., 2007). This condition is characterized by a reduced ability to exercise self-control, causing a temporary reduction in the willingness to engage in a next task (BAUMEISTER, 1998). When putting in a consumer choice situation at the end of the day, an individual can make purchases differently than you would if the activity was held in the morning. This relationship of purchase has been studied by several authors (BAUMEISTER, 2002b; Vohs, 2006; Vohs and Faber, 2007; HOFMANN et al., 2008). The purpose of this work was to understand the effects that a brand has on individuals in a state of ego depletion. For this there were three independent experiments with 148 college students from both institutions of Brazilian higher education. Empirical data indicate that individuals, when the Ego Depletion conditions, buy more branded products than individuals who are not exhausted. And even if the mark is well-known, they still buy more branded products as compared to a mark not recognized, even if the choice of brand is less advantageous in the rational assessment of cost / benefit. The results indicate the brand moderating effect on purchases consumers with Ego Depletion, and also a moderating effect of brand awareness on purchases of these individuals. / Além de realizar diversas decisões diariamente, um indivíduo vive em um mundo no qual é necessário grande controle de emoções, impulsos e pensamentos. Todas essas atividades exigem um intenso autocontrole, o que o leva a uma condição de Esgotamento do Ego – Ego Depletion (BAUMEISTER et al., 2007). Esta condição se caracteriza por uma capacidade reduzida de exercer o autocontrole, ocasionando uma redução temporário da vontade de se envolver numa próxima tarefa (BAUMEISTER, 1998). Ao se colocar em uma situação de escolha de consumo no fim do dia, um indivíduo pode realizar compras diferentemente de como faria se a atividade fosse realizada na parte da manhã. Essa relação de compra foi estudada por vários autores (BAUMEISTER, 2002b; VOHS, 2006; VOHS e FABER, 2007; HOFMANN et al., 2008). O propósito desse trabalho foi compreender os efeitos que uma marca exerce sob indivíduos em estado de Esgotamento do Ego. Para isso foram realizados três experimentos independentes com 148 estudantes universitários de duas instituições de ensino superior brasileiras. Os dados empíricos indicam que os indivíduos, quando em condições de Esgotamento do Ego, compram mais produtos de marca do que indivíduos que não estão esgotados. E ainda que se a marca for notória, eles compram ainda mais produtos com marca em comparação a uma marca não reconhecida, mesmo que a escolha da marca seja menos vantajosas na avaliação racional de custo/benefício. Os resultados indicam um efeito moderador da marca nas compras em consumidores com Esgotamento do Ego, e também, um efeito moderador do reconhecimento da marca nas compras desses indivíduos.

Given increasing interest in the therapeutic benefits of mindfulness, limitations of its treatment utility are frequently questioned. As such, the purpose of the study was to examine the effects of mindfulness on a subsequent self-control task in a sample of college students. A total of 67 participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a control condition, an experimental mindfulness-only condition or a comparison expectancy-plus-mindfulness condition to investigate the utility of mindfulness practice when motivated by an outcome of increased self-control. Results did not indicate a difference in persistence on a difficult task between conditions, regardless of the manipulation. Conceptual and experimental limitations of current study’s findings, as well as future directions, are discussed.

No description available.