The ego depletion effect on undergraduate university students: A systematic review

Original Paper
First Online:
  • 90 Downloads

Abstract

For most, the transition from high school to university marks the simultaneous transition from adolescence into emerging adulthood. Many studies have discussed the degradation of health throughout this time period and identified the increased chance of this cohort engaging in risky or unhealthy behavior. Ego depletion may provide a useful tool for beginning the exploration of this transition and its challenges. This systematic review intends to identify the studies over the last 5 years that have focused on the effect of ego depletion on cognitive and emotional variables with university students. The systematic search resulted in 48 studies from which to draw data and revealed that undergraduate university students are susceptible to the ego depletion effect (92% significant), and that it pervades across wide variety of cognitive and emotional variables such as self-control, prospective memory, and anxiety. These studies could yield suggestions for future planning of advisor–student relationships, peer-to-peer assistance programs, and many other useful avenues for easing the early years of university.

Keywords

University students Ego depletion Systematic review Strength model of self-regulation Development 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access

References

  1. Achtziger, A., Alós-Ferrer, C., & Wagner, A. K. (2015). Money, depletion, and prosociality in the dictator game. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 8(1), 1–14.  https://doi.org/10.1037/npe0000031.Google Scholar
  2. Alós-Ferrer, C., Hügelschäfer, S., & Li, J. (2015). Self-control depletion and decision making. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 8(4), 203–216.  https://doi.org/10.1037/npe0000047.Google Scholar
  3. Barber, L., Grawitch, M. J., & Munz, D. C. (2013). Are better sleepers more engaged workers? A self-regulatory approach to sleep hygiene and work engagement. Stress and Health, 29(4), 307–316.  https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2468.Google Scholar
  4. Barber, L. K., & Budnick, C. J. (2015). Turning molehills into mountains: Sleepiness increases workplace interpretive bias. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36, 360–381.  https://doi.org/10.1002/job.Google Scholar
  5. Barber, L. K., & Smit, B. W. (2014). Using the networked fire chief for ego-depletion research: Measuring dynamic decision-making effort and performance. The Journal of Social Psychology, 154(5), 379–383.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2014.933161.Google Scholar
  6. Barnes, C. M., Lucianetti, L., Bhave, D. P., & Christian, M. S. (2015). “You wouldn’t like me when I’m sleepy”: Leaders’ sleep, daily abusive supervision, and work unit engagement. Academy of Management Journal, 58(5), 1419–1437.  https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.1063.Google Scholar
  7. Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1252–1265.Google Scholar
  8. Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2016). Strength model of self-regulation as limited resource: Assessment, controversies, update. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 54, 67–127.  https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aesp.2016.04.001.Google Scholar
  9. Bertrams, A., Baumeister, R. F., Englert, C., & Furley, P. (2015). Ego depletion in color priming research. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(3), 311–322.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214564968.Google Scholar
  10. Carter, E. C., Kofler, L. M., Forster, D. E., & McCullough, M. E. (2015). A series of meta-analytic tests of the depletion effect: Self-control does not seem to rely on a limited resource. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(4), 796–815.  https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000083.Google Scholar
  11. Charek, D. B., Meyer, G. J., & Mihura, J. L. (2015). The impact of an ego depletion manipulation on performance-based and self-report assessment measures. Assessment.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191115586580.Google Scholar
  12. Chatzisarantis, N. L. D., & Hagger, M. S. (2015). Unsuccessful attempts to replicate effects of self control operations and glucose on ego-depletion pose an interesting research question that demands explanation. Appetite, 84, 328–329.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.10.024.Google Scholar
  13. Chow, J. T., & Lau, S. (2015). Nature gives us strength: Exposure to nature counteracts ego-depletion. The Journal of Social Psychology, 155, 70–85.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2014.972310.Google Scholar
  14. Clark, T. D., Kassman, K. T., Derenne, A., & Weatherly, J. N. (2014). Do measures of executive functioning and manipulation of ego depletion predict how university students discount probabilistic gains and losses? Current Psychology, 33(2), 98–112.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-013-9200-7.Google Scholar
  15. Conley, C. S., Kirsch, A. C., Dickson, D. A., & Bryant, F. B. (2014). Negotiating the transition to college. Emerging Adulthood, 2(3), 195–210.  https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696814521808.Google Scholar
  16. Dang, J., Xiao, S., Shi, Y., & Mao, L. (2015). Action orientation overcomes the ego depletion effect. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 56(2), 223–227.  https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12184.Google Scholar
  17. DeHart, T., Peterson, L., Richeson, J. A., & Hamilton, H. R. (2014). A diary study of daily perceived mistreatment and alcohol consumption in college students. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 36(5), 443–451.  https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2014.938157.Google Scholar
  18. Englert, C., & Bertrams, A. (2013). The role of self-control strength in the development of state anxiety in test situations. Psychological Reports, 112(3), 976–991.  https://doi.org/10.2466/15.10.PR0.112.3.976-991.Google Scholar
  19. Englert, C., Zwemmer, K., Bertrams, A., & Oudejans, R. R. D. (2015). Ego depletion and attention regulation under pressure: Is a temporary loss of self-control strength indeed related to impaired attention regulation?. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 37(2), 127–137.  https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2014-0219.Google Scholar
  20. Fischer, P., Greitemeyer, T., & Frey, D. (2008). Self-regulation and selective exposure: The impact of depleted self-regulation resources on confirmatory information processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(3), 382–395.  https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.3.382.Google Scholar
  21. Gao, H., Zhang, Y., Wang, F., Xu, Y., Hong, Y.-Y., & Jiang, J. (2014). Regret causes ego-depletion and finding benefits in the regrettable events alleviates ego-depletion. The Journal of General Psychology, 141(3), 169–206.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.2014.884053.Google Scholar
  22. Hagger, M. S., Chatzisarantis, N. L. D., Alberts, H., Anggono, C. O., Batailler, C., Birt, A. R., … Zwienenberg, M. (2016). A multilab preregistered replication of the ego-depletion effect. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(4), 546–573.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616652873.Google Scholar
  23. Hagger, M. S., Wood, C., Stiff, C., & Chatzisarantis, N. L. D. (2009). The strength model of self-regulation failure and health-related behavior. Health Psychology Review 2(3), 208–238.  https://doi.org/10.1080/17437190903414387.Google Scholar
  24. Harkness, E. L., Paterson, H. M., Denson, T., Kemp, R. I., Mullan, B., & Sainsbury, K. (2015). Can ego depletion and post-event discussion change the way we remember a crime? Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 22(2), 172–183.  https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2014.924384.Google Scholar
  25. Haynes, A., Kemps, E., & Moffitt, R. (2016). Too depleted to try? Testing the process model of ego depletion in the context of unhealthy snack consumption. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 8(3), 386–404.  https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12080.Google Scholar
  26. Hoel, J. B., Schwab, B., & Hoddinott, J. (2016). Self-control exertion and the expression of time preference: Experimental results from Ethiopia. Journal of Economic Psychology, 52, 136–146.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2015.11.005.Google Scholar
  27. Lange, F. (2015). If ego depletion cannot be studied using identical tasks, it is not ego depletion. Appetite, 84, 325–327.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.10.026.Google Scholar
  28. Lange, F., & Eggert, F. (2014). Sweet delusion. Glucose drinks fail to counteract ego depletion. Appetite, 75, 54–63.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.12.020.Google Scholar
  29. Lewis, M., Patrick, M., Litt, D., Atkins, D., Kim, T., Blayney, J., Norris, J., George, W., & Larimer, M. (2014). Randomized controlled trial of a web-delivered personalized normative feedback intervention to reduce alcohol-related risky sexual behavior among college students. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82(3), 429–440.  https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035550.PubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  30. Li, C., Liu, J., Zhang, S., Huo, Y., You, J., & Wang, K. (2016). Effects of dispositional and temporarily primed attachment security on response inhibition following ego-depletion among Chinese college students. Personality and Individual Differences, 99, 368–375.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.04.092.Google Scholar
  31. Li, J.-B., Nie, Y.-G., Zeng, M.-X., Huntoon, M., Smith, J. L. (2013). Too exhausted to remember: Ego depletion undermines subsequent event-based prospective memory. International Journal of Psychology: Journal International de Psychologie.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2012.762778.Google Scholar
  32. Luciana, M. (2013). Adolescent brain development in normality and psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 25(4pt2), 1325–1345.  https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579413000643.PubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  33. Lurquin, J. H., Michaelson, L. E., Barker, J. E., Gustavson, D. E., Von Bastian, C. C., Carruth, N. P., & Miyake, A. (2016). No evidence of the ego-depletion effect across task characteristics and individual differences: A pre-registered study. PLoS ONE, 11(2), 1–20.  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147770.Google Scholar
  34. Lurquin, J. H., & Miyake, A. (2017). Challenges to ego-depletion research go beyond the replication crisis: A need for tackling the conceptual crisis. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 568.  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00568.PubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  35. Martinez-Inigo, D., Poerio, G. L., & Totterdell, P. (2013). The association between controlled interpersonal affect regulation and resource depletion. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 5(2), 248–269.  https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12009.Google Scholar
  36. Meevissen, Y. M. C., Peters, M. L., & Alberts, H. J. E. M. (2014). Dispositional optimism, optimism priming, and prevention of ego depletion. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(6), 515–520.  https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2055.Google Scholar
  37. Nealis, L. J., Van Allen, Z. M., & Zelenski, J. M. (2016). Positive affect and cognitive restoration: Investigating the role of valence and arousal. PLoS ONE, 11(1), 1–18.  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147275.Google Scholar
  38. Osgood, J. M. (2015). Acute cardiovascular exercise counteracts the effect of ego-depletion on attention: How ego-depletion increases boredom and compromises directed attention. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 7(3), 85–96.  https://doi.org/10.5539/ijps.v7n3p85.Google Scholar
  39. Osgood, J. M., & Muraven, M. (2015). Self-control depletion does not diminish attitudes about being prosocial but does diminish prosocial behaviors. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 37(1), 68–80.  https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2014.996225.Google Scholar
  40. Park, C. L., Edmondson, D., & Lee, J. (2012). Development of self-regulation abilities as predictors of psychological adjustment across the first year of college. Journal of Adult Development, 19(1), 40–49.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-011-9133-z.Google Scholar
  41. Reinhard, M. A., Scharmach, M., & Stahlberg, D. (2013). Too exhausted to see the truth: Ego depletion and the ability to detect deception. British Journal of Social Psychology, 52(4), 618–630.  https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8309.2012.02113.x.Google Scholar
  42. Schwartz, S. J., Hardy, S. A., Zamboanga, B. L., Meca, A., Waterman, A. S., Picariello, S., Forthun, L. F. (2015). Identity in young adulthood: Links with mental health and risky behavior. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 36, 39–52.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2014.10.001.Google Scholar
  43. Shelton, J. T., Cahill, M. J., Mullet, H. G., Scullin, M. K., Einstein, G. O., & McDaniel, M. A. (2013). Resource depletion does not influence prospective memory in college students. Consciousness and Cognition, 22(4), 1223–1230.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2013.08.008.Google Scholar
  44. Stapley, J. C. (2014). Music and emotion regulation among emerging adults in college. In F. R. Spielhagen & P. D. Schwartz (Eds.), Adolescence in the 21st century: Constants and challenges (pp. 225–238). Charlotte, NC: IAP Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar
  45. Tempel, T., Schwarzkopp, T., & Mecklenbräuker, S. (2016). The undepleted ego: Self-regulatory adaptation in multiple task sequences. Current Psychology, 35(3), 316–324.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-014-9296-4.Google Scholar
  46. Thompson, K. R., Sanchez, D. J., Wesley, A. H., & Reber, P. J. (2014). Ego depletion impairs implicit learning. PLoS ONE.  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0109370.Google Scholar
  47. Voce, A. C., & Moston, S. (2015). Does monitoring performance eliminate the ego-depletion phenomenon and influence perception of time? Self and Identity, 15(1), 32–46.  https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2015.1074101.Google Scholar
  48. Vonasch, A. J., Vohs, K. D., Ghosh, P. A., & Baumeister, R. F. (2017). Ego depletion induces mental passivity: Behavioral effects beyond impulse control. Motivation Science.  https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000058.Google Scholar
  49. Wolff, W., Baumgarten, F., & Brand, R. (2013). Reduced self-control leads to disregard of an unfamiliar behavioral option: An experimental approach to the study of neuroenhancement. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 8(1), 41.  https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-8-41.PubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  50. Xu, X., Demos, K. E., Leahey, T. M., Hart, C. N., Trautvetter, J., Coward, P., Wing, R. R. (2014). Failure to replicate depletion of self-control. PLoS ONE, 9(10), 1–5.  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0109950.Google Scholar
  51. Zou, Z., Liu, Y., Xie, J., & Huang, X. (2016). Aerobic exercise as a potential way to improve self-control after ego-depletion in healthy female college students. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1–9.  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00501.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Applied Psychology, School of PsychologyUniversity of MinhoBragaPortugal

Personalised recommendations