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Self-control has been measured using a variety of methods including self-report measures, cognitive inhibition tasks, delay discounting and delay of gratification tasks, and persistence and willpower tasks. Although these are all theoretically linked to processes involved in self-control, recent evidence has shown that these diverse measurement techniques relate only minimally to one another. Assuming that self-control is a reflective construct, this would indicate that many of these tasks are poor indicators of self-control. The present research challenges the common assumption that self-control is a reflective construct and instead proposes that self-control is a formative construct. Conceptualizing of self-control as a formative construct could reconcile some of the inconsistencies in the literature, in particular the fact that many indicators for self-control do not correlate highly. To examine the possibility of a formative model of self-control, this research examines 13 commonly used measures of self-control and investigates indicator intercorrelations, indicator relationships with the theoretical consequences of self-control, and performs a vanishing tetrad test (Bollen & Ting, 2000). Results show that in general, indicator intercorrelations are low and nonsignificant as well as indictor correlations with theorized construct consequences. The results of the vanishing tetrad test suggest a reflective interpretation of self-control, but concerns with uniformly low covariances between indicators limit the interpretation of this test. It is concluded that currently available measures of self-control contain large sources of error variance and that questions about the ontological nature of the construct will be unanswerable until more precise measures are developed.

Exerting cognitive self-control leads to subsequent decrements in muscular and cardiovascular endurance performance. According to the Process Model of self-control, affective feeling states may account for later self-control impairments. Affective feeling states are sensitive to exercise and show a pronounced negative shift in valence at the ventilatory threshold (VT). The purpose of this study was to investigate feeling states in response to a challenging cognitive control task (stop-signal task; SST) followed by a graded exercise task to exhaustion (GXT). Recreationally active participants (N = 20; Mage = 20.25) completed two testing sessions separated by one week. Sessions were counterbalanced, with either a control (SST-C) or experimental (SST-E) task performed prior to each GXT. Feeling states were measured using the Feeling Scale (FS) and Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) throughout both tasks. Time to exhaustion on the GXT was significantly shorter following the SST-E than the SST-C (p < .05; d = .49). Repeated measures MANOVA showed similar within-task changes in FS in both conditions, but no significant differences between conditions during the SST tasks; however, FAS scores were significantly higher during the SST-E compared to the SST-C (p < .01). There were no significant differences in feeling states prior to, or upon completion of, the GXTs. However, FS was significantly less positive at iso-time corresponding to predicted VT in the SST-E condition (p < .05). Results show feeling states during exercise are altered by prior cognitive control exertion. Decreases in positive valence in concert with increased activation may prime a negative shift in affect as exercise becomes more strenuous and thereby reduce self-control (exercise tolerance), as predicted by the Process Model. Alternatively, shifts in affect may reflect responses to physiological manifestations of fatigue that carry over from cognitive to physical tasks and become salient at moderate exercise intensities. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Flora et al. (1992, 2003) found that aversive stimulation in the form of intense noise or cold water increased the number of impulsive responses when presented concurrently to a choice task. Hurtado-Parrado et al. (2023) systematically replicated Flora et al.’s (1992) study and found that adding a visual matching-to-sample task with images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Lang et al., 2008) produced a higher number of responses on the impulsive option (Sooner-Smaller - SS) near indifference, as compared to a No-images group who showed preference for the self-controlled option (Larger-Later - LL). They also found that the overall rate of correct matching across all conditions was low. Hurtado-Parrado et al. proposed that the potential aversive or distractive effect of frequent failure during the matching task, and thus frequent point loss, could have had a similar effect of the cold pressor and aversive noise on impulsive responses (SS). The present study systematically replicated Hurtado-Parrado et al.’s (2023) experiment to evaluate the effects on SS responses of different rates of correct responses during the matching-to-sample component of the experimental task across four conditions: No-images, 0%, 60%, and 100% correct matching. Fourteen college students were exposed to all conditions in a within-subject design. The prediction that the number of SS responses would increase as the percentage of correct responses in the matching task decreased was not confirmed. Participants developed one of three choice patterns during the first no matching condition (No Images), namely preference for the self-control or impulsive option, or indifference. Subsequent changes in percentages of correct matching did not affect indifference or self-control preference, but contrary to the predicted effect, decreased impulsive responses towards indifference or self-control preference. These findings are discussed in terms of possible effects of (a) motivating operations (e.g., monetary compensation in the present study differed from previous studies by Flora et al., 1992, 2003 and Hurtado-Parrado et al., 2023); (b) extra-experimental contingencies (e.g., several students participated during the last days of the semester trying to complete course credits in small amount of time); (c) rule-construction and rule-following behavior (e.g., rule-construction during the No images condition could explain insensitivity to subsequent changes in percentage of correct matching), and (d) local and molar reinforcement rate variations across conditions (e.g., an increase in rates of point gain, and thus increase in their reinforcement value, could explain the reduction in initial impulsive preference of some participants when correct matching was later manipulated).

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