A Multilab Replication of the Ego Depletion Effect

Abstract

There is an active debate regarding whether the ego depletion effect is real. A recent preregistered experiment with the Stroop task as the depleting task and the antisaccade task as the outcome task found a medium-level effect size. In the current research, we conducted a preregistered multilab replication of that experiment. Data from 12 labs across the globe (<i>N</i> = 1,775) revealed a small and significant ego depletion effect, <i>d</i> = 0.10. After excluding participants who might have responded randomly during the outcome task, the effect size increased to <i>d</i> = 0.16. By adding an informative, unbiased data point to the literature, our findings contribute to clarifying the existence, size, and generality of ego depletion.