Veronika Job

• Ph.D.
• Professor at University of Vienna

Much recent research suggests that willpower—the capacity to exert self-control—is a limited resource that is depleted after exertion. We propose that whether depletion takes place or not depends on a person’s belief about whether willpower is a limited resource. Study 1 found that individual differences in lay theories about willpower moderate ego...

Significance The present research provides critical new findings about the role of glucose ingestion in self-control and cognitive performance. It argues against the popular view that self-control depends on a limited physiological resource (blood glucose) that is depleted by even brief acts of self-control and is restored by glucose consumption. I...

Past research indicates that peoples' implicit theories about the nature of willpower moderate the ego-depletion effect. Only people who believe or were led to believe that willpower is a limited resource (limited-resource theory) showed lower self-control performance after an initial demanding task. As of yet, the underlying processes explaining t...

Significance Many extraordinary human skills like reading, mastering an instrument, or programming require thousands of hours of practice and continued exertion of mental effort. However, the importance of mental effort often contrasts with currently dominant theories suggesting that effort is aversive and something people avoid whenever possible....

Self-control denotes the ability to override current desires to render behavior consistent with long-term goals. A key assumption is that self-control is required when short-term desires are transiently stronger (more preferred) than long-term goals and people would yield to temptation without exerting self-control. We argue that this widely shared...

Challenging prominent neuroscientific conceptions of effort as generally aversive, recent research suggests that people can learn to seek effort. Importantly, it is unknown whether people once they learn to value effort for its instrumentality, experience pleasure when engaging in effortful tasks. In this preregistered study (N = 194), we tested th...

Most scientists consider the ego depletion effect—worsened task performance after prior cognitive demand due to the exhaustion of a specific and limited resource—invalid. Yet, the negative effect of prior task engagement on self-control performance is a salient human experience. In the current study we aim to dissociate the effect of prior engageme...

Effort is commonly characterized as a negative, unpleasant experience. This research explores the extent to which individuals vary in whether they believe effort to be enjoyable or aversive and how this relates to a range of behavioral and physiological indicators of effort exertion. In five studies (N = 2,338), participants either completed an Eff...

The ego depletion effect—a sometimes-observed reduction in self-control performance following repeated self-control exertion—has been a topic of debate for over a decade. While a multitude of models have aimed to explain the effect, two prominent hypotheses are the focus of the current research: 1) the motivation shift hypothesis and 2) the compens...

Scientific discourse often posits that for humans being honest in tempting situations, where cheating would go unnoticed, is inherently costly. Because honesty requires sacrificing immediate extrinsic rewards and enduring the aversive costs of recruiting control processes, it is difficult to argue that honesty holds inherent value for the individua...

Previous research has often portrayed first-generation college students through a deficit lens, depicting them as lacking in skills, knowledge, or potential compared to continuing-generation students. It, however, remains unknown how first-generation and continuing-generation students perceive themselves with respect to their own goals and obligati...

Reframing failures as an opportunity for learning rather than a sign of fixed ability is a prominent element in a variety of growth mindset interventions – interventions that have enhanced people’s performance, interest, and well-being by highlighting that people can grow their abilities. We investigated the isolated effect of this treatment. Would...

Many people see climate change as a major problem that needs to be addressed. However, many still do not engage in the necessary proenvironmental behavior. One possible problem is that proenvironmental behavior may require self-control given that being nonenvironmental is usually less effortful or otherwise less costly. In the present research, we...

Many people see climate change as a major problem that needs to be addressed. However, many still do not engage in the necessary pro-environmental behavior. One possible problem is that pro-environmental behavior may require self-control given that being non-environmental is usually less effortful or otherwise less costly. In the present research,...

Students from low-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds such as first-generation or low-income students are often portrayed as deficient, lacking in skills and potential to succeed at university. We hypothesized that such representations lead low-SES students to see their SES-identity as a barrier to success and impair achievement. If so, reframin...

Climate change is a large-scale problem that might leave people paralyzed by feeling too small to make a difference. Indeed, low response efficacy has been shown to be related to low pro-environmental behavior. There have been some attempts to increase people’s efficacy. However, these have often been less successful than hoped. In the present rese...

Effort is commonly characterized as a negative, unpleasant experience. This research explores the extent to which individuals vary in whether they believe effort to be enjoyable or aversive and how this relates to a range of behavioural and physiological indicators of effort exertion. In 4 studies (N = 1690), participants either completed an Effort...

Widespread narratives frame mental illness as a sign of personal weakness. We theorized that these narratives impair individuals’ ability to realize their strengths and pursue their goals. To test this hypothesis, and to attain a practical intervention-tool, we developed a brief (~20-minutes), highly-scalable exercise that inverts weakness-narrativ...

Students from low socioeconomic-status (SES) backgrounds such as first-generation and low-income students are often portrayed as deficient, lacking in skills and potential to succeed at university. We hypothesized that such representations lead low-SES students to see their SES-identity as a barrier to success and impair achievement. If so, reframi...

Research on implicit theories of intelligence (a.k.a. intelligence mindset) has shown that endorsing a stronger growth mindset (the belief that intelligence can be improved) is adaptive in the face of difficulties. Although the theory presumes implicit processes (i.e., unaware beliefs, guiding behaviors and actions automatically), the concept is ty...

Societal narratives suggest that cheating for one’s benefit in a situation where it goes unnoticed is common. One reason is that resisting cheating and being honest implies extrinsic costs and is inherently aversive. Here we challenge this view, showing that honesty is frequent, immediately rewarding, and buffers the negative affective consequences...

While there is anecdotal evidence and some scientific support for the value of having multiple paths to reach one’s life goals, recent work concerning backup plans argues that their mere availability undermines commitment to and performance in the originally chosen path. In this paper, we evaluated this phenomenon amongst college students (N = 345)...

A limited willpower belief describes the belief that one’s willpower is depletable and that mental exertion results in a diminished self-control capacity. Limited willpower beliefs have been associated with detrimental personal outcomes (such as poorer goal progress) and may even be related to a lower quality of one’s romantic relationship. With dy...

Research on implicit theories of intelligence (a.k.a. intelligence mindset) has shown that a growth mindset (the belief that intelligence can be improved) is adaptive in the face of challenges and setbacks. Even though the theory presumes implicit processes (i.e., people are supposed to be unaware of these beliefs, guiding behaviors and actions aut...

Many people report pro-environmental attitudes but fail to integrate pro-environmental behavior into their daily lives. One reason might be that other high demands in daily life (e.g., from work) make people vulnerable to the temptation to choose easier, but environmentally unfriendly options. Research from other domains indicates that believing th...

Ego depletion refers to decrements in self-control performance resulting from prior use of self-control. The ego depletion effect has received much research attention, but the more recent literature reports small or null effects. This registered report examined the moderating effect of task similarity on the ego depletion effect. We predicted a cro...

Ego depletion refers to decrements in self-control performance resulting from prior use of self-control. The ego depletion effect has received much research attention, but the more recent literature reports small or null effects. This registered report examined the moderating effect of task similarity on the ego depletion effect. We predicted a cro...

Is the way that kindergarteners view their willpower – as a limited or as a non-limited resource – related to their motivation and behavioral self-regulation? This study is the first to examine the structure of beliefs about willpower in relation to behavioral self-regulation by interviewing 147 kindergarteners (52% girls) aged 5 to 7 years (M = 6....

People may be more or less vulnerable to changes in self-control across the day, depending on whether they believe willpower is more or less limited. Limited willpower beliefs might be associated with steeper decreases in self-control across the day, which may result in less goal-consistent behaviour by the evening. Community members with health go...

When a romantic partner behaves in an annoying way – for example, by leaving a mess – we might respond with frustration or understanding. Responses may vary with contextual factors, including whether the partner could be mentally fatigued or depleted. We hypothesized that limited willpower theorists – who believe self‐control diminishes with use –...

A prominent, hotly debated idea—the “ego depletion” phenomenon—suggests that engaging in effortful, demanding tasks leads to poorer subsequent self-control performance. Several theories seek to explain the emergence of ego depletion effects. The two most prominent ones are the strength model of self-control (Baumeister & Vohs, 2016) and the process...

Objective: Implicit theories of health describe the extent to which health is perceived as a fixed (entity theory) versus malleable (incremental theory) characteristic. In four studies, it was investigated how these theories correspond to health-related attitudes and behaviours. Design: In Study 1 (N = 130), the relationship of implicit theories of...

A prominent, hotly debated idea—the ‘ego depletion’ phenomenon—suggests that engaging in effortful, demanding tasks leads to poorer subsequent self-control performance. Several theories seek to explain the emergence of ego depletion effects. The two most prominent ones are the strength model of self-control (Baumeister & Vohs, 2016) and the process...

Background Regular physical activity (PA) was found to alleviate pain and improve functioning among patients with osteoarthritis of the knee (OAK). Heightened health demands due to OAK severity, body mass index (BMI), and depressive symptoms may require self-regulatory strategies to engage in more PA. Research on willpower—the capacity to exert sel...

Although providing support in romantic relationships is important for the well-being of both partners, providing support can be effortful. People have varying implicit theories about the exertion of effort; limited willpower theorists believe that mental resources become exhausted with use, while nonlimited willpower theorists believe that exerting...

In this chapter, we will introduce Mindset Theory which proposes that people hold different beliefs about the malleability of human attributes, such as intelligence and personality. Research demonstrated that these so-called mindsets or implicit theories predict a variety of key outcomes in the achievement and interpersonal domain, such as academic...

While most people are aware of the importance of sleep for their health, well‐being, and performance, bedtime procrastination is a pervasive phenomenon that can be conceptualized as a case of self‐control failure (Kroese et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 2014, 1). Two daily diary studies (N1 = 185, N2 = 137) investigated beliefs about willpower a...

People who believe that willpower is not limited exhibit higher self-regulation and well-being than people who believe that willpower is a limited resource. So far, only little is known about the antecedents of people’s beliefs about willpower. Three studies examine whether autonomous goal striving promotes the endorsement of a nonlimited belief an...

This longitudinal study over a 23-year time span examined predictive associations between self-control development in adolescence and love and work outcomes in adulthood. Participants were 1,527 adults aged 35 years (48.3% female). The predictor variable self-control was measured yearly at the ages of 12 to 16 years. Adult outcome variables were me...

What people believe about their capacity to exert self-control (willpower), whether it is a limited or a nonlimited resource, affects their self-regulation and well-being. The present research investigated age-related differences in people’s beliefs—called implicit theories—about willpower. Study 1 (n = 802, age range 18–83 years) showed that with...

Past research suggests that trait self-control, trait mindfulness, and implicit theories about willpower contribute to self-control, however, their incremental value for this adaptive capacity is unknown. Applying the four-step model of motivated behavior (Hofmann, Baumeister, Förster, & Vohs, 2012), we assessed the frequency of desire experience,...

Why do some people struggle with self-control (colloquially called willpower) whereas others are able to sustain it during challenging circumstances? Recent research showed that a person’s implicit theories of willpower – whether they think self-control capacity is a limited or nonlimited resource – predict sustained self-control on laboratory task...

Some people believe that willpower relies on a limited resource and that performing cognitive work (such as using self‐control) results in mental fatigue. Others believe that willpower is nonlimited and that performing cognitive work instead prepares and energizes them for more. These differing lay theories of willpower determine whether or not one...

Self-control is positively associated with a host of beneficial outcomes. Therefore, psychological interventions that reliably improve self-control are of great societal value. A prominent idea suggests that training self-control by repeatedly overriding dominant responses should lead to broad improvements in self-control over time. Here, we conduc...

Why do people sometimes fail to regulate their behavior effectively to accomplish their goals? How can they do better? This chapter explores the role of prominent beliefs in society about the nature of willpower, and how these beliefs shape self-regulation. Social factors can convey, and people can believe, that self-control relies on a limited res...

The strength model of self-control has been predominantly tested with people from Western cultures. The present research asks whether the phenomenon of ego-depletion generalizes to a culture emphasizing the virtues of exerting mental self-control in everyday life. A pilot study found that whereas Americans tended to believe that exerting willpower...

Past research finds that people behave as though the particular qualities of specific, strongly valenced individuals “rub off” on objects. People thus value a sweater worn by George Clooney but are disgusted by one worn by Hitler. We hypothesized that social traces of generic humans can also adhere to objects, increasing their value. Experiments 1...

Background and objectives: We examined the implicit affective mechanisms underlying provision of support in intimate dyads. Specifically, we hypothesized that in individuals with high relationship satisfaction, the perception that one’s partner is stressed leads to increased implicit positive attitudes toward communal goals. In turn, this change in...

Previous research suggests that people's implicit theories about willpower affect continuous self-control performance in the domain of strenuous mental activities. The present research expands these findings to two further domains of self-control: resisting temptations and emotion control. In Study 1, participants were either led to resist a tempta...

Research on age differences in implicit motives is rare and has shown contradictory results. We investigated age and gender differences in implicit motives (achievement, power, affiliation and intimacy), measured by the Picture Story Exercise (PSE), in an extensive, heterogeneous dyadic sample of 736 adults aged 20 to 80 years. Data were analyzed w...

People endorse different beliefs-implicit theories-about the nature of willpower. These beliefs affect their self-control on consecutive tasks in the laboratory as well as their goal striving and psychological adjustment in everyday life. Only when people believe that willpower is a limited resource (limited-resource theory), they show the ego-depl...

Person–environment fit has been identified as a key prerequisite for employee well-being. We investigated to what extent a misfit between motivational needs and supplies at the workplace affects two key health outcomes: burnout and physical symptoms. Individual needs (implicit affiliation and power motives) and environment supplies (motive specific...

Beliefs about aging influence how we interpret and respond to changes within and around us. Essentialist beliefs about aging are defined as views that link chronological age with inherent and immutable properties underlying aging-related changes. These beliefs may influence the experience of aging-related changes and shape people’s outlook of the f...

Research has suggested that regular practice can improve self-control, usually indicated by self-report measures assessed during or shortly after the practice intervention. The present study looked at objectively measured end-of-year grade point average (GPA) as the focal outcome of a self-control training intervention. Participants in the self-con...

Research suggests that beliefs about willpower affect self-regulation following previous self-regulatory demands (Job et al., 2010). Some people believe that their willpower is limited, meaning that after a demanding task it needs to be replenished (limited theory). By contrast, others believe that willpower is not limited and that previous self-co...

Lay theories about willpower-the belief that willpower is a limited versus nonlimited resource-affect self-control and goal striving in everyday life (Job, Dweck, & Walton, 2010). Three studies examined whether willpower theories relate to people's subjective well-being by shaping the progress they make towards their personal goals. A cross-section...

Research suggests that self-control, the ability to forego immediate needs for the sake of future rewards, promotes health behavior. The present study examined the role of beliefs about willpower as predictor of self-control in the context of diabetes. Seventy-nine type 2 diabetes patients reported their beliefs about willpower, therapy adherence (...

Laboratory research shows that when people believe that willpower is an abundant (rather than highly limited) resource they exhibit better self-control after demanding tasks. However, some have questioned whether this "nonlimited" theory leads to squandering of resources and worse outcomes in everyday life when demands on self-regulation are high....

The Model of Action Phases (Gollwitzer, 1990, 2012) distinguishes an implemental mindset evoked by planning goal-directed actions, from a deliberative mindset evoked by pondering pros/cons of adopting a particular goal. The present research demonstrates that mindsets affect time predictions. In Study 1 (N = 151), participants in an implemental mind...

The authors test the assumption that the core of implicit motives is the desire for particular affective experiences and that motive satisfaction need not be tied to any particular domain. Using the context of romantic relationships, cross-sectional Study 1 and experimental Study 2 showed that people with a high affiliation motive were more satisfi...

Building cognitive abilities often requires sustained engagement with effortful tasks. We demonstrate that beliefs about willpower-whether willpower is viewed as a limited or non-limited resource-impact sustained learning on a strenuous mental task. As predicted, beliefs about willpower did not affect accuracy or improvement during the initial phas...

Limited and non-limited questionnaire items. (DOCX)

Growth curve analysis methods. (DOCX)

Limited and non-limited questionnaire responses. The distribution of responses for the limited and non-limited willpower questionnaires. Both groups indicated overall agreement with the questionnaires. (DOCX)

An online version of a Picture Story Exercise (PSE) was administered to 180 participants to assess implicit motives for achievement, affiliation, and power. First, data were analyzed with respect to different aspects of participant behavior (dropout, writing time, story length, setting). Second, online data were compared with data collected in the...

Many people change their eating behavior as a consequence of stress. One source of stress is intrapersonal psychological conflict as caused by discrepancies between implicit and explicit motives. In the present research, we examined whether eating behavior is related to this form of stress. Study 1 (N=53), a quasi-experimental study in the lab, sho...

Studies show that motive-goal congruence is an important predictor of well-being (Baumann, Kaschel, & Kuhl, 2005; Brunstein, Schultheiss, & Grässmann, 1998). However, little is known about the factors that promote congruence between implicit motives and goals. Relying on McClelland's (1985) concept of implicit motives and the theory of fantasy real...

Taking the affiliation motive as an example, present research examines whether the negative effects of implicit–explicit motive incongruence on health is moderated by emotional disclosure. Starting from the point of view that motive incongruence works as a chronic stressor and therefore causes impairment of health, we predicted that participants wh...

This research is based on the theoretical conception of motives and goals as distinct motivational concepts. Previous research has demonstrated that discrepancies between implicit motives and goals have negative consequences for well-being. The authors have extended these findings to the explicit motive system, with four studies investigating the m...

The present study investigated the relationship between forgivingness and action orientation, and examined the mediating role of action orientation for the neuroticism-forgivingness association. Participants (N = 210) completed the Tendency to Forgive Scale (TTF; Brown, 2003), two subscales from the Action Control Scale (ACS-90; Kuhl, 1994b) and th...

Satisfaction of the implicit affiliation motive is known to be positively related to emotional well-being, whereas the frustration of the implicit affiliation motive leads to impairment of well-being. In the present research we specified two conditions that are responsible for the satisfaction and frustration of the implicit motive. Referring to re...