Mind: The down Side of Self-Control

Participants who [did not have to exercise much self control in a previous experiment] claimed 25 percent more correct answers in the self-scoring condition, which “suggests some dishonesty,” the researchers note. But those who [did have to control themselves earlier] claimed more than twice as many correct answers than their counterparts. This suggests “self-control research depletion led to dishonest behavior,” the researchers conclude.

A second, similar test found that participants who had been forced to exercise self-control were not only more likely to cheat, but also more prone “to put themselves in a situation that enabled cheating.” Those self-control-depleted people cheated three times as much as members of a control group.

In related research published last year, University of Minnesota psychologist Kathleen Vohs reported that the act of making decisions makes it more difficult to control one’s impulses. She noted at the time that “almost all of our previous research on this model has found that if you engage in self-control in one domain, you’ll have less self-control in another domain.”

Together, these studies suggest that if you’ve been successfully engaging in self-control all day — say, by avoiding that plate of pastries in the workplace lunchroom — it’s best to avoid contact with any type of temptation that evening. You may find yourself unable to resist.

From The down Side of Self-Control by Tom Jacobs, February 26, 2009, at miller-mccune.com.