The Effect of Public Social Context on Self-Control

The present study explores the role of personality in moderating the effect of public social context on self-control. The authors predicted that in public settings neuroticism would be associated with ego-depletion effects and individual differences in impression management (IM) would be associated with restoration effects. Three experiments supported the hypothesis. In Study 1 neuroticism was associated with impaired self-control and IM was associated with enhanced self-control following an initial phase of working on a simple task in public (vs. in private). Study 2 replicated and extended these results to other domains of self-control. Study 3 explored whether public social context can cancel out early depletion effects. In this study, depleted participants engaged in a task that required self-control either alone or in public. As expected, the public settings were associated with restored self-control resources mostly among high IM individuals. Implications for self-control, neuroticism, and IM are discussed.

[1]  S. Dickerson,et al.  Acute stressors and cortisol responses: a theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. , 2004, Psychological bulletin.

[2]  D. Moskowitz,et al.  On the dynamic covariation between interpersonal behavior and affect: prediction from neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[3]  H. Eysenck,et al.  A revised version of the Psychoticism scale. , 1985 .

[4]  W. Gardner,et al.  The “Selfless” and Self-Regulation: The Role of Chronic Other-Orientation in Averting Self-Regulatory Depletion , 2003 .

[5]  R. Zajonc.  SOCIAL FACILITATION. , 1965, Science.

[6]  C. Carver,et al.  The self-attention-induced feedback loop and social facilitation. , 1981 .

[7]  R. Baumeister,et al.  Depletion Makes the Heart Grow Less Helpful: Helping as a Function of Self-Regulatory Energy and Genetic Relatedness , 2008, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[8]  D. Buss.  Psychological sex differences. Origins through sexual selection. , 1995, The American psychologist.

[9]  M. Muraven,et al.  Mechanisms of Self-Control Failure: Motivation and Limited Resources , 2003, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[10]  Liad Uziel,et al.  Look at Me, I’m Happy and Creative: The Effect of Impression Management on Behavior in Social Presence , 2010, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[11]  R. Baumeister,et al.  Ego depletion: is the active self a limited resource? , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[12]  Justin W. Weeks,et al.  Whether, how, and when social anxiety shapes positive experiences and events: a self-regulatory framework and treatment implications. , 2011, Clinical psychology review.

[13]  P. Shaver,et al.  Attachment in Adulthood: Structure, Dynamics, and Change , 2007 .

[14]  J. S. Wiggins,et al.  Extension of the Interpersonal Adjective Scales to include the Big Five dimensions of personality. , 1990 .

[15]  K. Vohs,et al.  The Strength Model of Self-Control , 2007, Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine.

[16]  B. Schmeichel,et al.  Attention control, memory updating, and emotion regulation temporarily reduce the capacity for executive control. , 2007, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[17]  Seymour Sudman,et al.  Improving Interview Method and Questionnaire Design. , 1982 .

[18]  Terry L. Boles,et al.  The role of personality in task and relationship conflict. , 2002, Journal of personality.

[19]  R. Geen,et al.  Evaluation apprehension and response withholding in solution of anagrams , 1985 .

[20]  K. Vohs,et al.  Self-regulation and self-presentation: regulatory resource depletion impairs impression management and effortful self-presentation depletes regulatory resources. , 2005, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[21]  Simon Cervenka,et al.  Association between striatal and extrastriatal dopamine D2-receptor binding and social desirability , 2010, NeuroImage.

[22]  Franklin G. Miller,et al.  The Drive Theory of Social Facilitation. , 1971 .

[23]  D. Tice,et al.  Salivary cortisol in response to acute social rejection and acceptance by peers , 2007, Biological Psychology.

[24]  Delroy L. Paulhus,et al.  Egoistic and Moralistic Biases in Self-Perception: The Interplay of Self-Deceptive Styles With Basic Traits and Motives , 1998 .

[25]  L. Jacoby,et al.  Stereotypes as dominant responses: on the "social facilitation" of prejudice in anticipated public contexts. , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[26]  D. Paulhus.  Two-component models of socially desirable responding. , 1984 .

[27]  C. Dancu,et al.  Physiological, cognitive and behavioral aspects of social anxiety. , 1985, Behaviour research and therapy.

[28]  R. Geen,et al.  Test anxiety and visual vigilance. , 1985, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[29]  D. Wegner,et al.  On being cool and collected: mood regulation in anticipation of social interaction. , 1996, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[30]  R. Veit,et al.  Lie scores are associated with less cardiovascular reactivity to baroreceptor stimulation and to mental arithmetic stress , 1997 .

[31]  J. S. Wiggins,et al.  A psychological taxonomy of trait-descriptive terms: The interpersonal domain. , 1979 .

[32]  R. Baumeister,et al.  Self-control as limited resource: regulatory depletion patterns. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[33]  P. Costa,et al.  The structure of interpersonal traits: Wiggins's circumplex and the five-factor model. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[34]  Robert S. Baron,et al.  Distraction-Conflict Theory: Progress and Problems , 1986, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology.

[35]  Mark Muraven.  Autonomous Self-Control is Less Depleting. , 2008, Journal of research in personality.

[36]  Liad Uziel,et al.  Individual differences in the social facilitation effect: A review and meta-analysis , 2007 .

[37]  J. Ruiz,et al.  Neuroticism and cardiovascular response in women: evidence of effects on blood pressure recovery. , 2011, Journal of personality.

[38]  W. Mischel,et al.  The nature of adolescent competencies predicted by preschool delay of gratification. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[39]  Gregory M. Walton,et al.  Ego Depletion—Is It All in Your Head? , 2010, Psychological science.

[40]  R. Mccaffrey,et al.  Effects of a third party observer and anxiety on tests of executive function. , 2008, Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists.

[41]  R. Baumeister,et al.  High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. , 2004, Journal of personality.