The Influence Of Ego-depletion On Dishonesty

Self-control is a mental ability that aids individuals in resisting temptations and exerting self-regulation.Previous studies have found that ego-depletion individuals(low self-control)are more dishonest than no-depletion individuals.Some researchers proposed the Limited Resource Model,it considers self-control as a limited resource,and engaging self-control in prior tasks can consume mental resources.However,this mental resource is difficult to obtain replenishment in a short time and the lack of mental resource will impair their performances on subsequent self-control tasks.However,with the in-depth research on the effect of ego-depletion in recent years,someone have proposed the Process Model of ego depletion which is a more specific and precise model about the effect.This model believes that individuals will change their mental processes in motivation and attention after exerting self-control in the first task.And it believes that individuals will shift their motivational orientation from exerting self-control to gratifying their impulses and pay more attention to cues related to gratification rather than cues related to exerting self-control.And the two changes will influence their performances on subsequent self-control tasks.Although previous studies have explored the influence of ego-depletion on dishonesty.However,dishonesty is not only associated with financial rewards,but also with time and effort savings in these researches.This study suggests that there may be two possible explanations :(1)ego-depletion reduces the ability of self-control and prevents effective self-control;(2)ego-depletion increases individuals’ motivation for self-gratification,and they will pay more attention to the rewards related to money information,then they unwilling to exert self-control rather than unable to exert selfcontrol.To this end,this study designs five series of studies from the two dimensions of motivation and attention to explore the influence of ego depletion on dishonesty.Study 1,study 2 and study 3 explored from the dimension of motivation.Study 1 and 2 used two different experimental conditions:(1)dishonesty will receive more monetary rewards but require more cognitive efforts;(2)dishonesty does not bring any additional money reward,but this task is more simple,does not need to consume too much energy.A 2(task: guess vs.calculation)x2(ego depletion: depletion vs.nodepletion)between-subject design was used in study 1,which includes 123 college students.We used a between-subjects design with ego-depletion(depletion vs.nodepletion)and incentive(money vs.convenience)as independent variables in study 2,which includes 136 college students.The results showed that compared with the nodepletion individuals,the depletion individuals showed more dishonesty,and egodepletion increases dishonesty only in the material-based situation,while under the condition of no monetary reward,the depletion individuals and the no-depletion individuals showed no significant difference in performances.There are two different experimental scenarios in study 3:(1)the participants were initially paid 20 yuan,but 1 yuan was deducted for each wrong task;(2)the participants were paid 1 yuan for each correct task.We used a between-subjects design with ego-depletion(depletion vs.nodepletion)and task(money gain group vs.money loss group)as independent variables in study 3,which includes 136 college students.The results showed that the money loss group showed more dishonesty than the money gain group.Study 4 and 5 explored from the dimension of attention.In study 3,we took 220 college students to measure their state of ego-depletion and the acceptance of different lies.The results showed that state ego-depletion could not predict people would accept different lies.A 2(ego depletion: depletion vs.no-depletion)× 2(condition: 500 ms and 1500ms)×(location of dot: on the self-control word side and on the ego satisfaction word side)mixed experimental design was used in study 4,which used a dot-pot paradigm.Results show that whether the time of the stimulus pair was 500 ms or 1500 ms,we did not find participants in the ego-depletion condition produce attention bias to the self-gratification words,participants in the non-depletion condition produce attention bias to the self-control words.The above results show that(1)Compared with the no-depletion individuals,the depletion individuals showed more dishonesty;(2)The effect of ego depletion on dishonesty was realized by shifting their motivational orientation from self-control to self-satisfaction;(3)People are more likely to be dishonest when they avoid losing money;(4)Ego-depletion doesn’t change individuals’ attention.