A Multisite Preregistered Paradigmatic Test of the Ego-Depletion Effect

We conducted a preregistered multilaboratory project (k = 36; N = 3,531) to assess the size and robustness of ego-depletion effects using a novel replication method, termed the paradigmatic replication approach. Each laboratory implemented one of two procedures that was intended to manipulate self-control and tested performance on a subsequent measure of self-control. Confirmatory tests found a nonsignificant result (d = 0.06). Confirmatory Bayesian meta-analyses using an informed-prior hypothesis (δ = 0.30, SD = 0.15) found that the data were 4 times more likely under the null than the alternative hypothesis. Hence, preregistered analyses did not find evidence for a depletion effect. Exploratory analyses on the full sample (i.e., ignoring exclusion criteria) found a statistically significant effect (d = 0.08); Bayesian analyses showed that the data were about equally likely under the null and informed-prior hypotheses. Exploratory moderator tests suggested that the depletion effect was larger for participants who reported more fatigue but was not moderated by trait self-control, willpower beliefs, or action orientation.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  Psychology Science

• Publication date

  2021-09-14

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1177/0956797621989733PMID 34520296PMCID PMC12422598
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• A Multilab Replication of the Ego Depletion Effect

  2020cited by this paper
• Is Ego Depletion Real? An Analysis of Arguments

  2019cited by this paper
• Evaluating Effect Size in Psychological Research: Sense and Nonsense

  2019cited by this paper
• What Is a Replication?

  2019cited by this paper
• Flexible yet fair: blinding analyses in experimental psychology

  2019cited by this paper
• Ego Depletion Reduces Attention Control: Evidence From Two High-Powered Preregistered Experiments

  2018cited by this paper
• Estimates of Between-Study Heterogeneity for 705 Meta-Analyses Reported in Psychological Bulletin From 1990-2013

  2017influential reference
• A Bayesian model-averaged meta-analysis of the power pose effect with informed and default priors: the case of felt power

  2017influential reference
• Fixed or Random? A Resolution Through Model Averaging: Reply to Carlsson, Schimmack, Williams, and Bürkner (2017)

  2017cited by this paper
• Strength Model of Self-Regulation as Limited Resource: Assessment, Controversies, Update

  2016cited by this paper
• Misguided Effort With Elusive Implications

  2016cited by this paper
• Commentary: Misguided Effort with Elusive Implications, and Sifting Signal from Noise with Replication Science

  2016cited by this paper
• Commentary: A Multilab Preregistered Replication of the Ego-Depletion Effect

  2016cited by this paper
• A Multilab Preregistered Replication of the Ego-Depletion Effect

  2016cited by this paper
• The Nature of Self-Regulatory Fatigue and “Ego Depletion”

  2016cited by this paper
• Bias-Correction Techniques Alone Cannot Determine Whether Ego Depletion is Different from Zero: Commentary on Carter, Kofler, Forster, & McCullough, 2015

  2015cited by this paper
• A series of meta-analytic tests of the depletion effect: Self-control does not seem to rely on a limited resource.

  2015cited by this paper
• R: A language and environment for statistical computing.

  2014influential reference
• Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4

  2014influential reference
• Methylphenidate Blocks Effort-Induced Depletion of Regulatory Control in Healthy Volunteers

  2014cited by this paper
• What Is Ego Depletion? Toward a Mechanistic Revision of the Resource Model of Self-Control

  2012cited by this paper
• Conducting Meta-Analyses in R with the metafor Package

  2010influential reference
• When perception is more than reality: the effects of perceived versus actual resource depletion on self-regulatory behavior.

  2010cited by this paper
• Ego Depletion—Is It All in Your Head?

  2010influential reference
• Ego depletion and the strength model of self-control: a meta-analysis.

  2010cited by this paper
• Cumulative and Career-Stage Citation Impact of Social-Personality Psychology Programs and Their Members

  2010cited by this paper
• Too Tired to Tell the Truth: Self-Control Resource Depletion and Dishonesty.

  2009cited by this paper
• Acts of Benevolence: A Limited-Resource Account of Compliance with Charitable Requests

  2009cited by this paper
• Moderation of Resource Depletion in the Self-Control Strength Model: Differing Effects of Two Modes of Self-Control

  2009cited by this paper
• PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Making Choices Impairs Subsequent Self-Control : A Limited-Resource Account of Decision Making , Self-Regulation , and Active Initiative

  2008cited by this paper
• On the regulation of cognitive control: action orientation moderates the impact of high demands in Stroop interference tasks.

  2007cited by this paper
• Violence restrained: Effects of self-regulation and its depletion on aggression

  2007cited by this paper
• Attention control, memory updating, and emotion regulation temporarily reduce the capacity for executive control.

  2007cited by this paper
• The Biber Cognitive Estimation Test.

  2004cited by this paper
• High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success.

  2004influential reference
• Intellectual performance and ego depletion: role of the self in logical reasoning and other information processing.

  2003cited by this paper
• Ego depletion: is the active self a limited resource?

  1998cited by this paper
• Self-control as limited resource: regulatory depletion patterns.

  1998cited by this paper
• Theory of Probability

  year unknowncited by this paper

• When do we experience effort?

  2026cites this paper
• Reconceptualizing self-regulation in health behaviors: A dynamic perspective on the PAAM model

  2026influential citation
• When effort fuels risk: Cognitive exertion increases risk-taking for gains but reduces it for losses.

  2026cites this paper
• An integrative review on unveiling the causes and effects of decision fatigue to develop a multi-domain conceptual framework

  2026cites this paper
• Demand and experimenter bias and the ego-depletion effect

  2026cites this paper
• Intuitive or deliberative dishonesty: The effect of abstract versus concrete victim

  2026cites this paper
• Day-to-day fluctuations in cognitive precision predict the domain-general intention-behavior gap

  2026cites this paper
• The temporal dynamics of self-control.

  2025cites this paper
• Associations between Parent and Adolescent General and Domain-Specific Self Control.

  2025cites this paper
• Cognitive fatigue did not significantly influence youth’s total energy intake or snack food consumption during a randomized trial

  2025cites this paper
• Ego Does Not Deplete Over Time.

  2025cites this paper
• Specifying the Temporal Bounds of the Situational Peer Effect

  2025cites this paper
• Self- Control - A critical discussion of a key concept in sport and exercise psychology.

  2025cites this paper
• Fear of goal failure and unethical behavior – the mediating role of ego depletion and moderating role of moral attentiveness

  2025cites this paper
• Concerns About Theorizing, Relevance, Generalizability, and Methodology Across Two Crises in Social Psychology

  2025cites this paper
• Assessing prefrontal cortex activity in Graves’ disease: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

  2025cites this paper
• Elegant theories and the problems of social psychology

  2025cites this paper
• Water tasting: A Bayesian multiverse analysis

  2025influential citation
• Origins and consequences of cognitive fatigue.

  2025cites this paper
• Investigating the morning morality effect and its mediating and moderating factors

  2025cites this paper
• Be Daring and Cause Trouble

  2025cites this paper
• Exercising self-control increases responsivity to hedonic and eudaimonic rewards

  2025cites this paper
• The effect of ego depletion on intertemporal decision making: explanation from attribute-based models

  2025cites this paper
• Beyond Extremes, Intermediate Cognitive Inhibition Facilitates Creative Thinking: Behavioral and Neural Evidence in Young Adults

  2025cites this paper
• Effects of achievement goals on self-control and ego depletion

  2025cites this paper
• Self-deprivation and cognition in Ramadan: could fasting practice improve inhibitory control?

  2025cites this paper
• Revisiting Ego Depletion: Evidence from Multi-Lab Collaborations

  2025influential citation
• Neurological and Behavioural Correlates of Construal in Economic Decision-Making Under Cognitive Load.

  2025cites this paper
• Training self-regulation to promote healthy eating: Evidence from a longitudinal intervention study.

  2025cites this paper
• Mental Fatigue Negatively Impacts Cognitive and Physical Performance Outcomes: A Large-Scale Randomized Crossover Trial

  2025cites this paper
• The influence mechanism of upward social comparison on work withdrawal behavior of rural-origin civil servants: based on the mediating effect of ego depletion and the moderating effect of social mobility belief

  2025cites this paper
• On the process and value of direct close replications: A rejoinder to Shafir and Cheek’s (2024) commentary on Chandrashekar et al. (2021)

  2025cites this paper
• A Tale of Open Science: Emergence of a New Normal

  2025cites this paper
• Depletion or activation? Challenging linear models of ego depletion.

  2025cites this paper
• Perseverative Negative Thinking, Self-Control, and Executive Functioning in Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis of Competing Models

  2025cites this paper
• Daily self-control demands and loss of control over drinking: The moderating role of trait impulsivity and peer exposure.

  2025cites this paper
• Effortful leisure is a source of meaning in everyday life

  2025cites this paper
• Cardiovascular responses to mental fatigue in a sequential task paradigm.

  2025cites this paper
• Integrative self-regulation model for sport and exercise: Theory and implications for comprehensive training

  2025cites this paper
• How rethinking difficulties can shape important life outcomes.

  2025cites this paper
• Concerns About Replicability Across Two Crises in Social Psychology

  2025cites this paper
• Good and bad days at work: A descriptive review of day‐level and experience‐sampling studies

  2024cites this paper
• Imagining the future improves saving in preschoolers.

  2024cites this paper
• Fatigued or Bored? Investigating the Effect of Different Types of Mental Fatigue on 3km Running Performance.

  2024cites this paper
• Ego depletion does not negatively impact novice sprinters' start performance during a timed 20m all-out sprint.

  2024cites this paper
• Avoiding Decision Fatigue with AI-Assisted Decision-Making

  2024cites this paper
• The influence of performance incentives on the subjective experience of mental effort

  2024cites this paper
• The benefits of preregistration and Registered Reports

  2024cites this paper
• Metacognitive knowledge about self-control.

  2024cites this paper
• False Positives in A/B Tests

  2024cites this paper
• The Effect of Social Support on Aggression Among Male Juvenile Delinquents in China: The Multiple Mediated Role of Trait Mindfulness and Self-Control/impulsivity

  2024cites this paper
• What do highly motivated people know? Balancing goals, prioritizing actions.

  2024cites this paper
• Self-control and limited willpower: Current status of ego depletion theory and research.

  2024cites this paper
• Believe in your self-control: Lay theories of self-control and their downstream effects.

  2024cites this paper
• The negative effects of ego-depletion in junior high school students on displaced aggressive behavior and the counteraction of the natural environment.

  2024cites this paper
• Phubbing Makes the Heart Grow Callous: Effects of Phubbing on Pro-social Behavioral Intentions, Empathy and Self-Control.

  2024cites this paper
• Self-control failures, as judged by themselves

  2024cites this paper
• A worldwide test of the predictive validity of ideal partner preference matching.

  2024cites this paper
• Perceived meaningfulness or ego depletion? A two-path model of servant leadership behaviors influence on intention to leave

  2024cites this paper
• Bullshitting and Bullibility – Conditions and Consequences

  2024cites this paper
• Supportive but Exhausting: A Dual-path Model of Team Interdependence and Member Negative Emotional States

  2024cites this paper
• Month of Birth and Cognitive Effort: A Laboratory Study of the Relative Age Effect among Fifth Graders

  2024cites this paper
• Changes in pupil size track self-control failure

  2024influential citation
• Effects of a concurrent maximum performance aerobic exercise test and cognitive task on physical and cognitive performance and effort

  2024cites this paper
• Noise Versus Signal: What Can One Conclude When a Classic Finding Fails to Replicate?

  2024cites this paper
• Taking the Full Measure: Integrating Replication into Research Practice to Assess Generalizability

  2024cites this paper
• Cognitive Reserve? Cognitive Capacity!

  2024cites this paper
• Effects of resistance exercises on inhibitory control and plasma epinephrine levels: A registered report of a crossover randomized controlled trial.

  2023cites this paper
• Unconscious integration: Current evidence for integrative processing under subliminal conditions.

  2023cites this paper
• Direct Replication in Psychological Assessment Research

  2023cites this paper
• Interindividual Variability in Mental Fatigue-Related Impairments in Endurance Performance: A Systematic Review and Multiple Meta-regression

  2023cites this paper
• On the Reproducibility of Power Analyses in Motor Behavior Research

  2023cites this paper
• Using theoretical frameworks in behavioral research

  2023cites this paper
• Multi-Site Replications in Social Psychology: Reflections, Implications, and Future Directions

  2023cites this paper
• The role of lay beliefs about willpower and daily demands in day-to-day pro-environmental behavior

  2023cites this paper
• Unpacking the Relationship between Fear Motives and Self-Control Strategies among Managers: The Mediating Role of Intrusive Thoughts

  2023cites this paper
• Suppression-induced forgetting: a pre-registered replication of the think/no-think paradigm

  2023cites this paper
• Effects of Stroop task duration on subsequent cognitive and physical performance.

  2023cites this paper
• On the robustness and replicability of the moderating influence of willpower mindset on the ego-depletion effect: existing evidence is weak at best

  2023cites this paper
• Editorial: Effort-based decision-making and cognitive fatigue

  2023cites this paper
• Does willpower mindset really moderate the ego-depletion effect? A preregistered replication of Job, Dweck, and Walton (2010)

  2023cites this paper
• The Impact of Compulsory Citizenship Behavior on Job Performance of New-Generation Knowledge Workers: The Roles of Ego Depletion and Relational Energy

  2023cites this paper
• La fatigue du contrôle de soi : reconceptualisation de l’épuisement de l’ego et implications dans les activités physiques et sportives

  2023cites this paper
• Working hard but not tired? The influence of task valuation on mental fatigue, effort investment, and task performance

  2023cites this paper
• Cognitive fatigue weakens the effects of distraction on pain.

  2023cites this paper
• To Thine Own (Good and Bad) Self Be True? Trait-State Voluntary Work Behavior (Mis)Fit Influences Future Voluntary Work Behavior

  2023cites this paper
• Does time of day affect dishonest behavior? Evidence from correlational analyses, experiments, and meta-analysis

  2023cites this paper
• EEG Microstates in Social and Affective Neuroscience

  2023cites this paper
• Trait self-control, emotions, and openness to alternative viewpoints

  2023cites this paper
• The Interaction Between Measurement and Individual Difference in Ego Depletion: Task Type, Trait Self-Control and Action Orientation

  2023cites this paper
• Improving Statistical Analysis in Team Science: The Case of a Bayesian Multiverse of Many Labs 4

  2023cites this paper
• A Replication of the Ego-Depletion Effect: Control of Effort Engagement during the Depleting Task with Electroencephalography and Heart-Rate Variability

  2023cites this paper
• Assessing the reliability of an infrared thermography protocol to assess cold-induced Brown Adipose Tissue activation in french psychology students

  2023cites this paper
• Virtues of willpower

  2023cites this paper
• Metanauka poznawcza: nowe podejście do badania teorii

  2023cites this paper
• Cognitive Metascience: A New Approach to the Study of Theories

  2023cites this paper
• Mind the (Construct-Measurement) Gap

  2023influential citation
• Constructs in Psychology: Lessons from the Philosophy of Science

  2023cites this paper
• The Tinkering Mind

  2022cites this paper
• Self-regulation and Emotional Resilience in the Workplace. A Systematic Review

  2022cites this paper