Publication bias and the limited strength model of self-control: has the evidence for ego depletion been overestimated?

ABSTRACT: Few models of self-control have generated as much scientific interest as has the limited strength model. One of the entailments of this model, the depletion effect, is the expectation that acts of self-control will be less effective when they follow prior acts of self-control. Results from a previous meta-analysis concluded that the depletion effect is robust and medium in magnitude (d = 0.62). However, when we applied methods for estimating and correcting for small-study effects (such as publication bias) to the data from this previous meta-analysis effort, we found very strong signals of publication bias, along with an indication that the depletion effect is actually no different from zero. We conclude that until greater certainty about the size of the depletion effect can be established

SUBMITTER: Carter EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4115664 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature