Inducing High Self-Efficacy Improves Cognitive Control after Self Depletion

Wang Guanhua; Lu Jiachen; Li Hong; Lei Yi

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230601

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (6) : 1282-1289. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230601

General Psychology，Experimental Psychology & Ergonomics

Inducing High Self-Efficacy Improves Cognitive Control after Self Depletion

Wang Guanhua^1,2, Lu Jiachen³, Li Hong¹, Lei Yi¹

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Abstract

The depletion of cognitive resources will make individual perform worse in subsequent tasks. The results of many empirical studies have showed that once individual is in self-depletion condition, one’s social adaptability will be damaged. Therefore, it is interested in understanding strategies that contribute to one’s recovery from self-depletion to regain the ability to effectively control cognition. This study was designed to explore the influence of self-efficacy on cognitive control after the depletion of cognitive resources, and proposed a new model paradigm for how to improve cognitive control.

We designed two experiments to examine the effect of self-efficacy on cognitive control after cognitive resource depletion. Our hypothesis was that individuals with high self-efficacy exhibit better function than those with low self-efficacy after experiencing attrition tasks. In experiment 1, cognitive resource depletion was achieved by non-hand writing tasks, and then participants were asked to recall an experience that resulted in a sense of accomplishment (or frustration) to mobilize subjects’ self-efficacy. The differences in response time between Stroop task consistent and inconsistent tests were used as indicators of cognitive control to explore the cognitive control ability of different states of self-efficacy on the effect of cognitive depletion. Experiment 2 further explored whether self-efficacy performance at a higher or lower than normal level on cognitive control performance level on cognitive control performance was improved or decreased , and added a control condition to the induction task in which a group of subjects was asked to recall neutral experiences (such as daily chores). In addition we added objective self-efficiency evaluation of all recall content. The results of Experiment 1 showed that individuals who induced high self-efficacy performed significantly better in following Stroop tasks than the subjects who induced low self-efficacy.

The results from Experiment 2 also showed that individuals who induced high self-efficacy performed significantly better in following Stroop tasks. The performance of this group was significantly better than control group and low self-efficacy group, while there was no significant difference in performance of the low self-efficacy group and the control group for the Stroop tasks. Inducing self-efficacy effectively improved cognitive control ability after cognitive depletion, as shown by improved self-control ability after the induction of high self-efficacy, with little effect of induced low self-efficacy on subsequent cognitive control. In general, the results of the two studies showed that the cognitive control ability after self depletion can be effectively regulated by inducing high self-efficacy.

This study induces individual self-efficacy, so that it can regulate cognitive control at any time in real life. It contributes to our understanding on how to make up for the loss of cognitive resources, and provides a new model paradigm in how to improve cognitive control, so that individuals can complete subsequent tasks more efficiently. In practice, college students could be helped by induction of a sense of self-efficacy to counter the effects of cognitive resource depletion for better cognitive control.

The innovations of this article include following aspects. First, although the influence of glucose intake on subsequent cognitive control tasks has been mentioned in prior studies, excessive glucose intake can lead to obesity and other diseases. Thus, this article uses the method to induce the participants'sense of self-efficacy, which has higher validity. Secondly, the predecessors explored the correlation between self-efficacy, self-depletion and self-control, but did not directly manipulate the individual’s self-efficacy. This article asks the participants to recall a sense of accomplishment (or frustration) experience to induce participants'high (or low) self-efficacy and makes up for its shortcomings. Finally, this article distinguishes between high and low self-efficacy that have an impact on the cognitive control of subsequent tasks.

Key words

cognitive resource depletion / self-efficacy / cognitive control

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Wang Guanhua, Lu Jiachen, Li Hong, Lei Yi. Inducing High Self-Efficacy Improves Cognitive Control after Self Depletion[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2023, 46(6): 1282-1289 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230601

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