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High-maintenance interaction: inefficient social coordination impairs self-regulation.
Eli J Finkel1, W Keith Campbell, Amy B Brunell
1Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. finkel@northwestern.edu
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|August 30, 2006
Summary
Experiencing difficult social interactions, termed high-maintenance interactions, depletes self-regulation. This reduced self-control impacts performance on subsequent tasks, even when the interaction is nonconscious.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Interpersonal coordination is essential in daily life.
- Social interactions vary in maintenance effort, from low (effortless) to high (effortful).
- Self-regulation is crucial for achieving goals and involves effortful control.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of high-maintenance social interactions on subsequent self-regulatory success.
- To determine if the effects of high-maintenance interactions on self-regulation are mediated by conscious processes.
- To examine if nonconscious manipulations of high-maintenance interactions yield similar effects.
Main Methods:
- Five studies exposed participants to either high- or low-maintenance interactions with a confederate.
- Self-regulation was measured through task performance (anagrams, GRE, physical stamina, fine motor control) and preferences for challenging tasks.
- A nonconscious manipulation of high-maintenance interaction was employed in one study.
Main Results:
- Experiencing high-maintenance interactions significantly impaired self-regulatory success on subsequent, unrelated tasks.
- The negative effects on self-regulation were observed across diverse performance measures.
- These impairments occurred regardless of conscious awareness of the interaction's difficulty.
Conclusions:
- High-maintenance social interactions deplete cognitive resources necessary for self-regulation.
- The impact of social interaction maintenance on self-control is robust and operates even nonconsciously.
- Understanding these effects has implications for task performance and goal achievement in various contexts.
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