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Group Influences on Engaging Self-Control: Children Delay Gratification and Value It More When Their In-Group Delays and Their Out-Group Doesn't
Sabine Doebel & Yuko Munakata
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Self-control emerges in a rich sociocultural context. Do group norms around self-control influence the degree to which children use it? We tested this possibility by assigning 3- to 5-year-old children to a group and manipulating their beliefs about in-group and out-group behavior on the classic marshmallow task. Across two experiments, children waited longer for two marshmallows when they believed that their in-group waited and their out-group did not, compared with children who believed that their in-group did not wait and their out-group did. Group behavior influenced children to wait more, not less, as indicated by comparisons with children in a control condition who were assigned to a group but received no information about either groups' delay behavior (Experiment 1). Children also subsequently valued delaying gratification more if their in-group waited and their out-group did not (Experiment 2). Childhood self-control behavior and related developmental outcomes may be shaped by group norms around self-control, which may be an optimal target for interventions.
(How) Does Initial Self-Control Undermine Later Self-Control in Daily Life?
Benjamin Wilkowski et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Past research suggests that self-control lapses occur more frequently following demanding experiences in daily life. However, the reason for these effects is debated. Three studies were therefore conducted to better understand self-control lapses. Exploratory analyses were conducted in Study 1 to identify possible effects. Studies 2 and 3 evaluated these effects' reliability. Two patterns were identified. First, initial desire-goal conflict predicted later increases in subjective fatigue. This was in turn related to less effective self-control attempts. Second, initial self-control attempts also led participants to enact desires more frequently. This latter effect occurred even when (and perhaps especially when) those later desires were not resisted. In contrast, the strength model of self-control did not receive support, as initial self-control attempts did not affect the success of subsequent self-control attempts. These studies therefore suggest initial self-control does play an important role in producing later self-control lapses - just a different role than predicted by the strength model.
The Mere Deadline Effect: Why More Time Might Sabotage Goal Pursuit
Meng Zhu, Rajesh Bagchi & Stefan Hock
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Contrary to the common belief that having more time facilitates goal pursuit by allowing for more flexibility and less restrictions, the current work argues that long deadlines may produce unintended detrimental consequences on goal pursuit. In particular, this research identifies a mere deadline effect, showing that longer versus shorter deadlines, once imposed, lead consumers to infer the focal goal as more difficult, even when the deadline length is resultant from incidental factors that cannot be meaningfully used to make any other diagnostic inferences about the task itself besides completion frame. Further, these difficulty inferences consequently lead consumers to commit more resources (e.g., time and money). Thus, while long incidental deadlines might be beneficial for essential yet often underestimated aspects of long-term well-being (e.g., when consumers exert more effort to save for college and plan for retirement), the unintended difficulty perception arising from deadline length will sometimes sabotage goal pursuit (e.g., when consumers commit more resources that are beyond their capability, and when elevated resource estimates lead to increased procrastination and higher likelihood of quitting).
Imaginary alternatives: The effects of mental simulation on powerless negotiators
Michael Schaerer, Martin Schweinsberg & Roderick Swaab
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This research demonstrates that people can act more powerfully without having power. Researchers and practitioners advise people to obtain alternatives in social exchange relationships to enhance their power. However, alternatives are not always readily available, often forcing people to interact without having much power. Building on research suggesting that subjective power and objective outcomes are disconnected and that mental simulation can improve aspirations, we show that the mental imagery of a strong alternative can provide some of the benefits that real alternatives provide. We tested this hypothesis in one context of social exchange - negotiations - and demonstrate that imagining strong alternatives (vs. not) causes powerless individuals to negotiate more ambitiously. Negotiators reached more profitable agreements when they had a stronger tendency to simulate alternatives (Study 1) or when they were instructed to simulate an alternative (Studies 3-6). Mediation analyses suggest that mental simulation enhanced performance because it boosted negotiators' aspirations and subsequent first offers (Studies 2-6), but only when the simulated alternative was attractive (Study 5). We used various negotiation contexts, which also allowed us to identify important boundary conditions of mental simulations in interdependent settings: mental simulation no longer helped when negotiators did not make the first offer, when their opponents simultaneously engaged in mental simulation (Study 6), and even backfired in settings where negotiators' positions were difficult to reconcile (Study 7). An internal meta-analysis of the file-drawer produces conservative effect size estimates and demonstrates the robustness of the effect. We contribute to social power, negotiations, and mental simulation research.
Personality and Genetic Associations With Military Service
Matthew Miles & Donald Haider-Markel
Armed Forces & Society, forthcoming
Abstract:
Existing literature connects military service to regional characteristics and family traditions, creating real distinctions between those who serve and those who do not. We engage this discussion by examining military service as a function of personality. In the second portion, we examine military service as predisposed by genetics. Our findings indicate there is a significant heritability component of serving in the military. We find a significant genetic correlation between personality traits associated with progressive political ambition and military service, suggesting that military service represents a different form of political participation to which individuals are genetically predisposed. We discuss the long-term implications of our findings for policy makers and recruiters.
The risk attitudes of professional athletes: Optimism and success are related
Han Bleichrodt, Olivier L'Haridon & David Van Ass
Decision, April 2018, Pages 95-118
Abstract:
This article studies whether measured risk attitudes and athletic success are related. We measured the risk preferences of the players of the Dutch men's field hockey team, the reigning European champions, and runners-up in the 2012 Olympics and in the 2014 World Championships, and compared those with a matched sample of recreational hockey players. We had the rare opportunity to interview each professional individually. Our measurements were based on prospect theory. We disentangled the various components of risk attitudes using a parameter-free method that makes it possible to completely observe prospect theory without imposing simplifying assumptions and that captures individual heterogeneity. The professionals were more optimistic for gains than the nonprofessionals: they overweighted the probability of winning compared with the nonprofessional group. Utility curvature (diminishing sensitivity) and loss aversion were very close in the 2 groups. As probabilities were given, the difference in optimism was not caused by inaccurate beliefs. It was also unrelated to differences in overconfidence or in venturesomeness and impulsivity, 2 psychological traits associated with risk taking. Our findings indicate that success in sports may be related to differences in optimism. They are consistent with previous findings that optimistic people are more successful and that optimism may be associated with better outcomes.
Peer effects in marathon racing: The role of pace setters
Jamie Emerson & Brian Hill
Labour Economics, June 2018, Pages 74-82
Abstract:
Marathon races are rank-order tournaments with prizes determined primarily by relative performance. As a result, peer performance is an important determinant of an individual's performance. Peer effects have been extensively studied in a variety of settings, with much of the research concerned with finding a measure of peer performance that is exogenous. We focus our research on marathon races with pace setters as their presence allows for us to identify exogenous peer effects by identifying variation in peer performance and ability that is exogenous. Using data on elite male runners from 2009 to 2014 marathons in Berlin, Chicago, and London, we find the presence of negative exogenous peer effects and this result is robust to a number of peer performance variables. We attribute our result to the self-sorting of runners by ability and the subsequent invidious comparison that occurs in marathons with pace setters.
Decision muscles? How choosing more food (despite incentives to eat less) is associated with the brain's cortical thickness
Martin Reimann
Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, March 2018, Pages 45-56
Abstract:
Can the mind be understood as a muscle? Both embodiment theorists and cognitive scientists have proposed that the architecture of the mind is flexible and adaptable. This proposition implies that cognitions can be shaped through repeated bodily actions and modal simulations, making them physically embodied at the brain level. To explore this notion, a measure of cortical thickness is extracted from anatomical brain scans to test whether cortical thickness is correlated with choice (here, in the domain of fast food). Results revealed that consumers' large-sized fast-food choices are significantly correlated with the cortical thickness of structures in the prefrontal cortex and that this association holds even for cases in which the participants were offered a possible monetary incentive to choose a smaller-sized portion. Body mass index, age, and sex were not correlated with cortical thickness or portion choice in the present data set. In summary, this work provides preliminary insights into the possible existence of a malleable, muscle-like brain, which would support the idea that cognitions are grounded in a plastic sensory system and subject to repeated bodily actions and modal simulations.