After Depletion: The Replenishment of the Self's Regulatory Resources

Abstract

Two experiments investigated how people replenish the self's limited regulatory resource after it is depleted by self-control exertion. Specifically, in Experiment 1, when depleted participants received a 10-minute period between regulatory tasks, their subsequent performance equaled non-depleted participants. In Experiment 2, inducing participants to relax between self-regulation tasks reduced the typical depletion effects. Thus, these findings suggest that replenishment of the self's depleted resources occurs given the occurrence of favorable conditions.