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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 12, 2026

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats
06:11

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats

Published on: February 20, 2019

Exercising self-control increases approach motivation.

Brandon J Schmeichel1, Cindy Harmon-Jones, Eddie Harmon-Jones

  • 1Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4235, USA. schmeichel@tamu.edu

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|June 23, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Exercising self-control boosts approach motivation, leading to increased reward-seeking behaviors like gambling. This finding offers new insights into self-control failures and ego depletion.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Self-control is crucial for goal achievement.
  • Ego depletion theory suggests prior self-control exertion impairs subsequent self-regulation.
  • The link between self-control exertion and approach motivation remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the hypothesis that exercising self-control increases approach motivation.
  • To investigate behavioral and perceptual indicators of approach motivation following self-control exertion.

Main Methods:

  • Study 1: Measured self-reported approach motivation after self-control tasks.
  • Study 2: Assessed betting behavior (a proxy for approach motivation) after self-control exertion.
  • Study 3: Examined perception of reward-relevant vs. irrelevant symbols after self-control tasks.

Main Results:

  • Exercising self-control significantly increased self-reported approach motivation.
  • Self-control exertion temporarily enhanced betting behavior on low-stakes gambles.
  • Participants who exercised self-control showed facilitated perception of a dollar sign, but not a percent sign.

Conclusions:

  • Findings support the hypothesis that self-control exertion temporarily increases approach motivation.
  • Increased approach motivation may partially explain ego depletion effects.
  • This research provides a novel perspective on the interplay between self-control and motivation.