Effects of theories about willpower on self-control 

Veronika Job

University of Zurich

The strength model of self-control suggests that acts of self-control consume from a limited resource, 
leaving people in a state of ego depletion and making them less able to exert self-control on subsequent 
tasks. In a series of studies we showed that the way people think about willpower (as consuming from a 
limited vs. as a non-limited resource) affects their ability to exert self-control on subsequent tasks. 
Exploring mechanisms that may explain these effects we found that people who think that willpower is a 
limited resource are motivated to preserve and replenish their resources after they experience a task as 
exhausting. People who view willpower as non-limited show no such motivational shifts. Taken together, 
the findings suggest that reduced self-control after a depleting task or during demanding periods may 
reflect people’s beliefs about the availability of willpower and the consequential motivation to preserve 
resources rather than true resource depletion.