Abstract
This study tests the assumption that disengagement from a task indicates poor self-control, especially following little progress. A total of 120 undergraduate students worked on Sudoku puzzles, a logical reasoning task for which progress could be measured. A binary logistic regression revealed a three-way interaction among dispositional self-control, dispositional self-awareness, and actual task progress in predicting disengagement versus persistence. Among individuals with high self-awareness, greater self-control was associated with significantly higher probabilities of task persistence during high task progress. Alternatively, greater self-control was associated with lower probabilities of task persistence during low task progress among individuals with high self-awareness. These results support theories of adaptive goal disengagement suggesting that how individuals apply control is dependent on factors other than self-regulatory capacity. Specifically, assessments of progress among highly self-aware individuals may facilitate adaptive self-regulation.
References
(1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1252–1265.
(1996). Self-regulation failure: An overview. Psychological Inquiry, 7, 1–15.
(2004). Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications. New York: Guilford.
(1980). The role of ego-control and ego-resiliency in the organization of behavior. In , The Minnesota symposia on child psychology (Vol. 13, pp. 39–101). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(1982). Control theory: A useful conceptual framework for personality, social, clinical, and health psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 92, 111–135.
(1998). On the self-regulation of behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.
(1975). Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43, 522–527.
(2000). Self-monitoring: Appraisal and reappraisal. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 530–555.
(2010). Rethinking the work-life interface: It’s not about balance, it’s about resource allocation. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 2, 127–159.
(2008). Goals and responses to failure: Knowing when to hold them and when to fold them. Motivation and Emotion, 32, 127–140.
(1988). The nature of adolescent competencies predicted by preschool delay of gratification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 687–696.
(2000). Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does self-control resemble a muscle? Psychological Bulletin, 126, 247–259.
(2006). Conserving self-control strength. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 524–537.
(2003). Mechanisms of self-control failure: Motivation and limited resources. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 894–906.
(1998). Self-control as limited resource: Regulatory depletion patterns. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 774–789.
(2003). Intellectual performance and ego depletion: Role of the self in logical reasoning and other information processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 33–46.
(1974). Self-monitoring of expressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 526–537.
(2004). High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. Journal of Personality, 72, 271–322.
(2003). The importance of goal disengagement in adaptive self-regulation: When giving up is beneficial. Self and Identity, 2, 1–20.
(2003). Adaptive self-regulation of unattainable goals: Goal disengagement, goal re-engagement, and subjective well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1494–1508.
