Exerting self-control induces a narrow mindset.

Self-control theories have focused on various aspects of the processes involved in exerting self-control. In the present paper, we intend to add to this literature by demonstrating that exerting self-control leads one to narrow one's attention and cognition, inducing a narrow mindset. We demonstrate this in three studies. Participants who exerted self-control applied a narrower view (Study 1), applied a narrower categorization (Study 2), and used more concrete language (Study 3) than participants who did not exert self-control. Results are discussed in light of the possibility that a narrow mindset enhances performance on the self-control task at hand at the cost of poorer performance on other tasks.Self-control; Theory; Processes; Cognition; Performance; Consumer behavior;

Gerotranscendence: components and spiritual roots in the second half of life.

According to gerotranscendence theory (Tornstam, 1989), aging persons gradually develop 'a shift in meta-perspective, from a materialistic and rational vision to a more cosmic and transcendent one'. The present study examined the structure of the construct of gerotranscendence, age differences in gerotranscendence, and relations between gerotranscendence and culturally determined meaning in life and death factors, such as levels of spirituality, religious beliefs, moral judgment, and death attitudes. Participants were 467 adults between 17 and 91 years old. Factor analysis of the Gerotranscendence Scale yielded three subscales, Transcendent Connection, Anxiety and Uncertainty, and Active Involvement. Transcendent Connection - the core component of gerotranscendence - was only weakly related to age. However, Transcendent Connection was positively related to spiritual views and practices, relativistic orientation to religious beliefs, moral consistency, higher stages of moral thinking, and negatively related to avoidance of death. Patterns of correlations with the scores on the other two scales were also explored. Together, the findings suggested that individuals' development with regard to issues of spirituality, religiosity, morality, and death attitudes is more fundamental for their development toward 'gero'-transcendence than the natural process of aging.

Self-control depletion: Mechanisms and its effects on consumer behavior..

Het doel van dit doctoraat was inzicht te verwerven in de processen die deel uitmaken van zelfcontrole en uitputting van zelfcontrole (d.i. een moeilijkheid om zelfcontrole uit te oefenen na eerdere uitoefening van z elfcontrole). We wilden ook de toepasbaarheid van beide concepten nagaan in een consumentencontext. We vonden in Manuscript I dat één van de meest voorkomende activite iten tijdens het winkelen (kiezen) consumenten vatbaarder maakt voor aff ectieve productkenmerken. We observeerden in drie studies dat wanneer me nsen een reeks van actieve productkeuzes maakten, het meer waarschijnlij k werd dat ze een aantrekkelijk maar relatief duur product kochten (Stud ie 1), en meer heel aantrekkelijke snoepjes kochten (Studies 2 en 3) dan wanneer ze een vooraf vastgelegde aankoopstrategie volgden waarbij ze n iet zelf moesten kiezen. Onze belangrijkste theoretische bijdrage bestaa t erin om evidentie aan te reiken dat zowel actief keuzes maken als weer staan aan de verleiding van affectieve productkenmerken in een winkelcon text zelfcontrole vereisen. We vonden in Manuscript II dat weinig zonlicht de bereidheid van mensen om op de lotto te spelen, verhoogt. We toonden aan dat pogingen tot acti eve stemmingsregulatie die gepaard gaan met slecht weer en die zelfcontr ole vereisen, leiden tot een verminderd weerstaan aan de verleiding van lotto. We vonden in een longitudinale studie met echte lotto verkoopsdat a (Studie 1) dat een verminderde blootstelling aan zonneschijn in de dag en voorafgaand aan de lottotrekking leidde tot hogere lotto verkoopscijf ers, zelfs nadat we controleerden voor andere factoren die gerelateerd z ijn aan spelen op de lotto. In drie vervolgstudies observeerden we dat o p de lotto spelen gerelateerd is aan een negatieve stemming als mensen d e mogelijkheid geboden wordt om deze negatieve stemming actief te regule ren (Studie 2), en dat uitputting van zelfcontrole wegens pogingen tot a ctieve stemmingsregulatie het verklarende proces is voor het verband tus sen een negatieve stemming bij slecht weer en spelen op de lotto (Studie s 3 en 4). Deze bevindingen wijzen dus uit dat zowel actieve stemmingsre gulatie als weerstaan aan de verleiding van lotto zelfcontrole vereisen. We vonden in Manuscript III dat zelfcontrole uitoefenen een smalle minds et induceert. Deelnemers die zelfcontrole uitoefenden hadden een smaller gezichtsveld (Studie 1), gebruikten een smallere categorisatie (Studie 2), en hadden een meer concreet taalgebruik (Studie 3) dan deelnemers di e geen zelfcontrole uitoefenden. Deze resultaten worden besproken in het licht van de mogelijkheid dat een smalle mindset de prestatie op een ge geven zelfcontroletaak verbetert, ten koste van de prestatie op andere t aken. Smalle mindsets zouden dus verband kunnen houden met uitputting va n zelfcontrole. Interessante pistes voor vervolgonderzoek worden besprok en.

Free will, temptation, and self-control: We must believe in free will, we have no choice (Isaac B. Singer).

Baumeister, Sparks, Stillman, and Vohs (2007) sketch a theory of free will as the humanability to exert self-control. Self-control can produce goal-directed behavior, which free will conceptualized as random behavior cannot. We question whether consumer psychology can shed light on the ontological question of whether free will exists. We suggest that it is more fruitful for consumer psychology to examine consumers' belief in freewill. Specifically, we propose that this belief arises from consumers' phenomenological experience of exercising self-control in the face of moral or intertemporal conflicts of will. Based on extant literature in philosophy, psychology, and economics, we offer both a narrower conceptualization of the nature of self-control problems and a more general conceptualization of self-control strategies, involving not only will power but also precommitment. We conclude with a discussion of the consequences of consumers' belief in free will.

Self-control performance enhances self-control performance at similar tasks.

In this paper we claim that the well-established reduction in self-control performance following prior exertion of self-control (the so-called ego depletion effect) is a consequence of people's adaptation to situational demands. Consistent with this claim that follows from cognitive control theory, we show that (1) self-control performance improves during tasks that are typically used as resource depletion tasks and that (2) typical depletion effects occur only when the nature of the response conflicts in the two subsequent tasks is different. When the nature of the response conflicts in the two subsequent tasks is similar, we found that exerting self-control improves subsequent self-control performance. Implications for the self-control strength model are drawn and avenues for future research are sketched.Claim; Cognitive; Control; Control theory; Demand; Effects; Ego depletion; Implications; Model; Performance; Research; Self-control; Theory;

Free will, temptation, and self-control: We must believe in free will. We have no choice (Isaac B. Singer).

Baumeister, Sparks, Stillman, and Vohs (2007), sketch a theory of free will as the human ability to exert self-control. Self-control can produce goal-directed behavior, which free will conceptualized as random behavior cannot. We question whether consumer psychology can shed light on the ontological question of whether free will exists. We suggest that it is more fruitful for consumer psychology to examine consumer's belief in free will. Specifically, we propose that this belief arises from customers' phenomenological experience of exercising self-control in the face of moral or intertemporal conflicts of will. Based on extant literature in philosophy, psychology, and economics, we offer both a narrower conceptualization of the nature of self-control problems and a more general conceptualization of self-control strategies, involving not only willpower but also precommitment. We conclude with a discussion of the consequences of consumer's belief in free will.Research; Theory; Self-control; Behavior; IT; Experience; philosophy; Economics; Problems; Strategy;

Modeling collective rationality : an nonparametric test on experimental data.

We provide a .first nonparametric (revealed preference) test of the collective consumption model on the basis of experimental data. By using nonparametric testing tools and experimental data, we avoid the usual problems associated with parametric tests (e.g. non-verifiable parametric structure) and the use of ‘real life’ data sets (e.g. preference heterogeneity). In addition, our collective rationality test complements the existing nonparametric-experimental evidence on individual rationality. Focusing on dyads, we find that all observed consumption choices are consistent with the nonparametric collective rationality conditions. In fact, the consistency results for the parsimonious ‘egoistic’ collective consumption model (as a tool for describing dyads’ choice behavior) are closely similar to those for the individual rationality model (as a tool for describing individuals’.choice behavior). This suggest that for simple consumption decision settings, such as that considered in our experiment, the egoistic model may be useful for practical analysis. Still, our results also suggest that the more general collective consumption model, which accounts for consumption externalities and public consumption, can be useful even for modeling such simple decision settings. In fact, we can interpret that the appropriate model specification also depends on the specific dyad type (e.g. friends or partners; gender composition) and choice setting (e.g. public consumption or not) at hand.Collective consumption decisions; Generalized Axiom of Revealed Preference; Nonparametric analysis; Experimental data;

Why consumers buy lottery tickets when the sun goes down on them. The depleting nature of weather-induced bad moods.

We propose that weather conditions can influence consumers' engagement in lottery play. A longitudinal study on the extent of lottery play in Belgium shows that lottery expenditures are indeed higher after reduced exposure to sunshine, even after controlling for people's inertia, time-varying characteristics of the game, and deterministic seasonal components. The results of a first laboratory study are consistent with these findings, and establish a link between lottery play and negative mood. Subsequent experiments provide evidence that depletion due to active mood regulation attempts, rather than mood repair, is the underlying process for the link between bad weather and lottery play.Belgium; Characteristics; Laboratories; Processes; Regulation; Research; Studies;

Sweet instigator. Choosing increases the susceptibility to affective product features.

The present research demonstrates that repeated active choice-making increases the susceptibility of consumers to salient affective product features. We show that affective features influence product choice more after a series of active product choices than after a series of compliances with purchase instructions. The combined results of three experiments suggest that repeated choice gradually depletes the mental capacity required for critical evaluation of choice alternatives, while ruling out alternative explanations. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for theory and management of impulse purchasing.Affective product features; Choice; Cognitive product features; Consumer decision making; Evaluation; Implications;

A Dual-Process Model of Economic Rationality: The Symmetric Effect of Hot and Cold Evaluations on Economic Decision Making

Understanding the influence of a dual-processing system on economic rationality of consumers is critical in helping them maximize the utility of their decisions. In two studies we explore economic rationality of choices based on “hot” and “cold” evaluations, as well as the overall rationality across both types of evaluations. We find that rationality levels of “hot” and “cold” evaluations are high and comparable, but the overall rationality level across both types of evaluations is significantly lower. We conclude that the discrepancy between the “hot” and “cold” evaluations is responsible for significant loss of utility in consumers’ economic decisions, rather than a specific type of evaluation (“hot” versus “cold”) in itself. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings