Sachin Banker, Sarah E. Ainsworth, Roy F. Baumeister, Dan Ariely, and
Kathleen D. Voh, “The Sticky Anchor Hypothesis: Ego Depletion Increases Susceptibility to Situational Cues.” Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 30(5): 1027-1040, December 2017 [pdf here].
• “Ego Depletion”: Exerting self-control undermines self-control in slightly later situations.
• Is ego depletion a thing? Maybe, maybe not (pdf here); like many behavioral concepts (for example, grit [pdf here]), ego depletion has its detractors.
• In a dictator game-type setting, does less altruistic behavior (from ego depletion) come about because self-controls over selfishness are undermined, or because people are more inclined to follow salient situational cues? This latter possibility is the sticky anchor hypothesis: depleted people are more suggestible or manipulable.
• Some dictator game experiments show that depleted people do indeed keep more of the monetary stake for themselves.
• Are the dictator game findings due to unleashed selfishness or to sticking with the default? To test between the two mechanisms, the authors switch the default: they conduct reverse dictator games. The other (anonymous) party is endowed with the full stake, but you, as the dictator, can choose to take some or all of it. The default, now, is the unselfish setting, so if depleted people have a hard time overcoming defaults, they will leave more of the cash with the other player (relative to the amount left by undepleted folks). Alternatively, if depletion makes you selfish, depleted folks will take more of the endowment from the other player.
• The depletion manipulation (in Experiment 1, with overall N=54) involves writing some text without using the letters A or N. (Those in the “undepleted” camp write without using the letters X and Z. Incidentally, this reminds me of the singular novel Ella Minnow Pea.) That is, it is attention control that is the source of ego depletion within this experiment.
• On average, those in the depleted condition take less money for themselves ($2.62) than do those in the undepleted condition ($3.69). So, ego depletion does not seem to increase selfishness; rather, it makes it harder to overcome the influence of environmental cues: defaults become more sticky. Notice that neither group is particularly generous.
• But maybe the attention control manipulation means that the depleted also feel like failures, because they perform poorly at writing without A’s or N’s: they don’t deserve the money in the reverse dictator game. Vicarious depletion [pdf here] to the rescue! A waiter is really hungry…(alternatively, not so hungry…)
• Once again, the depleted folks (that is, the now vicariously depleted folks, who feel no shame) stick more closely to the anchor: it doesn’t seem to be a lack of desert that causes them to take less money (or fewer lottery tickets) for themselves.
• But maybe it isn’t general environmental cues at work, maybe it is just our old friend, the status quo effect. So now (Experiment 3) the authors offer either a high or a low anchor before subjects decide how much money to take. Note that the default (the anonymous other gets all the cash) is unchanged, but there is a new situational cue, the anchor. (Subjects are first asked whether they want to take more or less than the anchor; only then are they asked for the precise amount they want to take.) Will depleted people respond to the anchor (more than non-depleted people do), or just to the default?
• Both depleted and non-depleted subjects respond to the anchor. But the depleted respond more, particularly in the low-anchor treatment. The influence of environmental cues, and not the status quo per se, is what leads to different behavior by depleted folk relative to the undepleted.
• “Ego Depletion”: Exerting self-control undermines self-control in slightly later situations.
• Is ego depletion a thing? Maybe, maybe not (pdf here); like many behavioral concepts (for example, grit [pdf here]), ego depletion has its detractors.
• In a dictator game-type setting, does less altruistic behavior (from ego depletion) come about because self-controls over selfishness are undermined, or because people are more inclined to follow salient situational cues? This latter possibility is the sticky anchor hypothesis: depleted people are more suggestible or manipulable.
• Some dictator game experiments show that depleted people do indeed keep more of the monetary stake for themselves.
• Are the dictator game findings due to unleashed selfishness or to sticking with the default? To test between the two mechanisms, the authors switch the default: they conduct reverse dictator games. The other (anonymous) party is endowed with the full stake, but you, as the dictator, can choose to take some or all of it. The default, now, is the unselfish setting, so if depleted people have a hard time overcoming defaults, they will leave more of the cash with the other player (relative to the amount left by undepleted folks). Alternatively, if depletion makes you selfish, depleted folks will take more of the endowment from the other player.
• The depletion manipulation (in Experiment 1, with overall N=54) involves writing some text without using the letters A or N. (Those in the “undepleted” camp write without using the letters X and Z. Incidentally, this reminds me of the singular novel Ella Minnow Pea.) That is, it is attention control that is the source of ego depletion within this experiment.
• On average, those in the depleted condition take less money for themselves ($2.62) than do those in the undepleted condition ($3.69). So, ego depletion does not seem to increase selfishness; rather, it makes it harder to overcome the influence of environmental cues: defaults become more sticky. Notice that neither group is particularly generous.
• But maybe the attention control manipulation means that the depleted also feel like failures, because they perform poorly at writing without A’s or N’s: they don’t deserve the money in the reverse dictator game. Vicarious depletion [pdf here] to the rescue! A waiter is really hungry…(alternatively, not so hungry…)
• Once again, the depleted folks (that is, the now vicariously depleted folks, who feel no shame) stick more closely to the anchor: it doesn’t seem to be a lack of desert that causes them to take less money (or fewer lottery tickets) for themselves.
• But maybe it isn’t general environmental cues at work, maybe it is just our old friend, the status quo effect. So now (Experiment 3) the authors offer either a high or a low anchor before subjects decide how much money to take. Note that the default (the anonymous other gets all the cash) is unchanged, but there is a new situational cue, the anchor. (Subjects are first asked whether they want to take more or less than the anchor; only then are they asked for the precise amount they want to take.) Will depleted people respond to the anchor (more than non-depleted people do), or just to the default?
• Both depleted and non-depleted subjects respond to the anchor. But the depleted respond more, particularly in the low-anchor treatment. The influence of environmental cues, and not the status quo per se, is what leads to different behavior by depleted folk relative to the undepleted.
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