Mental energy

Does mental energy have clearly definable limits?

by Susan Griffith

Too many times to the well may cause it to run dry. A CWRU psychologist has found evidence in early studies that same is true for people, in terms of limits on one's mental energy.

A team of researchers plans to continue studies on how the self makes choices, exerts control over the world and over itself, and directs action. It uses this limited supply of energy to accomplish these tasks, such as making decisions and resisting temptations.

The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded Roy Baumeister, professor of psychology, and co-investigator Dianne Tice, associate professor of psychology, a $1 million grant to conduct as many as 25 experiments through 2002 to test the hypothesis of the existence of this mental energy.

If the same energy is used for all acts of volitions, decision-making, and self-control, "then it is one of the most important parts of the self," says Baumeister.

People must be careful to conserve it if they are to be successful in life, he adds.

The research team will explore whether the loss of self-control after exerting self-control in another matter results from the loss of motivation or capability. They also will look at what happens when the mental energy supply is low and self-esteem is threatened.

"Suppose a person engages in some act of self-regulation and then immediately encounters another situation calling for self-regulation. How would that person fare the second time?" asks Baumeister.

Not very well, according to findings from preliminary research in the pilot study by graduate students Ellen Bratslavsky and Mark Muraven, who are working with Baumeister and Tice on the research team.

For example, students who had to eat a radish and resist chocolate chip cookies later gave up faster on a difficult puzzle, as compared to students who had permission to eat the cookies.

"Resisting the cookies used up some inner resource, leaving them less able to keep trying the puzzle," says Baumeister.

Muraven piloted a study on controlling emotions to find that exercising mental strength made controlling it stronger.

These studies, along with Tice's research on procrastination, suggest that willpower comes from a well of strength that may have a limited supply.

"For example, at the end of the semester, students have all these deadline pressures. Their self-control tends to break down in other areas. They may smoke, eat, drink or even become crabby, because they are using their self-control behaviors to meet the deadlines," says Baumeister.

The challenge will be to find ways to manage this limited resource over a long period of time, he adds.

It is one area they will test. Others include burnout, how support systems allow people to recover from a trauma, and prejudices.

The answer may be good control habits.

"Doing the same thing becomes a habit. It takes a lot of energy to jump-start a physical exercise routine, but after a few days it becomes a habit. Self-control is like that muscle strength -- over time it gets stronger," explains Baumeister.

Baumeister, Tice, and Todd Heatherton of Harvard University compiled information on self-control for their 1994 book, Losing Control: How and Why People Fail at Self-Regulation. Baumeister says the research hinted at the existence of this energy.

The social implications are many. "Most problems that plague modern Americans contain some element of self-control failure, irresponsibility, or ineffective decision-making," he says.