Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Nov 9:7:1699.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01699. eCollection 2016.

The Effect of Implicit Preferences on Food Consumption: Moderating Role of Ego Depletion and Impulsivity

Yan Wang  1 , Jinglei Zhu  1 , Yi Hu  1 , Yuan Fang  1 , Guosen Wang  1 , Xianghua Cui  2 , Lei Wang  3
Affiliations

The Effect of Implicit Preferences on Food Consumption: Moderating Role of Ego Depletion and Impulsivity

Yan Wang et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Ego depletion has been found to moderate the effect of implicit preferences on food consumption, such that implicit preferences predict consumption only under a depleted state. The present study tested how trait impulsivity impacts the effect of implicit preferences on food consumption in a depleted condition. Trait impulsivity was measured by means of self-report and a stop signal task. Results showed that both self-reported impulsivity and behavioral impulsivity moderated the 'depletion and then eating according to implicit preferences' effect, albeit in different ways. Participants high in self-reported impulsivity and low in behavioral impulsivity were more vulnerable to the effect of depletion on eating. The implications of these results for extant theories are discussed. Future research is needed to verify whether or not trait impulsivity is associated with vulnerability to depletion across different self-control domains.

Keywords: ego depletion; food consumption; implicit preferences; stop signal task; trait impulsivity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Slopes for implicit preferences-chocolate consumption relationship across levels of ego depletion.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Slopes for implicit preferences-chocolate consumption relationship across levels of ego depletion and self-reported impulsivity.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Slopes for implicit preferences-chocolate consumption relationship across levels of ego depletion and behavioral impulsivity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Aiken L. S., West S. G. (1991). Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
    1. Baumeister R. F. (2014). Self-regulation, ego depletion, and inhibition. Neuropsychologia 65 313–319. 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.08.012 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baumeister R. F., Bratslavsky E., Muraven M., Tice D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: is the active self a limited resource? J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 74 1252–1265. 10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1252 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baumeister R. F., DeWall C. N., Ciarocco N. J., Twenge J. M. (2005). Social exclusion impairs self-regulation. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 88 589–604. 10.1037/0022-3514.88.4.589 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baumeister R. F., Gailliot M. T., DeWall C. N., Oaten M. (2006). Self-regulation and personality: how interventions increase regulatory success, and how depletion moderates the effects of traits on behavior. J. Pers. 74 1773–1801. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00428.x - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources