Press release: “Morning Resolutions, Evening Disillusions: Theories of Willpower Affect How Health Behaviours Change Across the Day"
An article by Zoë Francis, Jutta Mata, Lavinia Flückiger, and Veronika Job entitled, “Morning Resolutions, Evening Disillusions: Theories of Willpower Affect How Health Behaviours Change Across the Day", has just been published in the European Journal of Personality. In two studies, Dr. Francis and colleagues investigated how individuals’ physical activity levels and snacking behaviour changed throughout the day, and if these changes were affected by their beliefs about whether their ability to exert willpower was depletable or not (i.e., limited or non-limited). The results from both studies suggest that individuals become more active and eat more snacks as the day goes on, but that increases in exercise, and possibly, increases in snacking are dependent on individuals’ beliefs about willpower. The study was published in the 2021 May-June issue of the European Journal of Personality.
In their studies, Dr. Francis and colleagues examined data from experience sampling studies of adult German women from the general population and undergraduate student samples in which respondents reported on exercise and snacking behaviour. In addition, respondents were asked about whether they believed their willpower runs out with use (i.e., limited willpower) or whether exerting willpower might give them more energy to do things that require willpower in the future (non-limited willpower). For instance, some individuals may feel that pushing themselves to exercise will deplete their ability to push themselves to do other activities that require willpower (e.g., more exercise, eat responsibly, do household chores), whereas others may feel that successfully pushing themselves to do this one thing may energize them to do more things. Findings from both studies showed that across the day, respondents reported being more active and also eating more snacks. However, the increase in physical activity was moderated by the beliefs they had about willpower. Specifically, individuals who believed their willpower to be limited showed smaller increases in exercise across the day. Moreover, in one of the studies, the increase in snacks was also moderated by willpower beliefs, with individuals with limited willpower beliefs having a greater increase in the eating of snacks than individuals with non-limited willpower beliefs.
Concerning the differences in the results of the two studies, Francis said in an interview with the European Journal of Personality:
“It should be mentioned that the second dataset was based on quite a different sample. The first sample was a community sample, almost entirely women, of people who had responded to advertisements saying that they were unhappy with either their exercise or eating behaviours. So basically, they had some health-related goals. The sample in which we were trying to replicate our findings was a student sample of undergraduates, most of whom didn’t necessarily have any health goals. For them, snacking might not have […] been a bad thing that they were trying to avoid.”
The combined results suggest that beliefs about willpower may play a role in individuals’ health behaviours. In addition, they suggest that willpower theories may be especially important later in the day in influencing individuals’ behaviour.
Correspondence about the article can be addressed to the lead author, Dr. Zoë Francis, Department of Psychology, University of the Fraser Valley (Abbotsford Campus), Canada. Dr. Francis can be contacted via email at zoe.francis@ufv.ca.