The development of abstract and long-term goals can be understood through a complex adaptive system lens. In this approach, goals are modelled as independent agents that interact with each other, the internal and external environment and themselves. Thus, people’s behavior can be understood as a multitude of dynamically changing and interacting agents, all influencing each other and reacting to changes in the system and in the environment. Stability and change within the goal system then emerge from the interactions over time of all the goals. Moreover, the bottom-up resolution of the conflict between goals creates new goals that combine features of existing goals. These new goals are more abstract and long-term than the underlying goals. Overall, a dynamic approach to goals helps to explain the emergence of stable goal-driven behavior that is adaptable to changing situations and develops over time. It may also help to explain the emergence of individual differences in goal structure as well.

We conducted a preregistered multilaboratory project (k = 36; N = 3,531) to assess the size and robustness of ego-depletion effects using a novel replication method, termed the paradigmatic replication approach. Each laboratory implemented one of two procedures that was intended to manipulate self-control and tested performance on a subsequent measure of self-control. Confirmatory tests found a nonsignificant result (d = 0.06). Confirmatory Bayesian meta-analyses using an informed-prior hypothesis (δ = 0.30, SD = 0.15) found that the data were 4 times more likely under the null than the alternative hypothesis. Hence, preregistered analyses did not find evidence for a depletion effect. Exploratory analyses on the full sample (i.e., ignoring exclusion criteria) found a statistically significant effect (d = 0.08); Bayesian analyses showed that the data were about equally likely under the null and informed-prior hypotheses. Exploratory moderator tests suggested that the depletion effect was larger for participants who reported more fatigue but was not moderated by trait self-control, willpower beliefs, or action orientation.

Background: Understanding the role that medical use of prescription drugs plays in nonmedical use of prescription drugs can inform prevention efforts. In order to understand fully the potential risk that medical use of prescription drugs conveys for nonmedical use of prescription drugs, the current study explored (a) the simultaneous associations between the medical use of several classes of prescription drugs with current nonmedical use of the same and other prescription drug classes, and (b) whether the associations depended upon past or current medical use. Methods: Data came from a cross-sectional survey of 1686 college students, which assessed past and current medical use and current nonmedical use of stimulants, sedatives/anxiolytics, and opioid analgesics. Results: Logistic regression analyses revealed that both past and current medical use of sedatives/anxiolytics and opioid analgesics predicted the current nonmedical use of the same drug class, whereas past medical use of stimulants predicted the current nonmedical use of stimulants. In addition, current medical use of stimulants predicted current nonmedical use of sedatives/anxiolytics and past medical use of sedatives/anxiolytics predicted current nonmedical use of opioid analgesics. Conclusions: This study provides a broader examination than past research of simultaneous same-drug class and cross-drug class associations between medical and nonmedical prescription drug use, as well as the role of past and current medical use in these associations. Overall, the results suggest that efforts to prevent nonmedical use of a prescription drug class should move beyond targeting only those who have or who are using the same drug class medically.

The effects of social exclusion on prosocial and antisocial behaviors are unclear. Although some studies suggest that exclusion increases prosocial behavior, others indicate exclusion decreases prosocial behavior and may even lead to antisocial aggression. Based on these mixed findings, we propose that when exclusion leads to feeling disliked, sadness and prosocial behavior may result; yet when people believe the excluders do not respect them, anger and aggression may be the outcome. Indeed, this study provides evidence for this pattern. Our results further support the idea that social exclusion decreases prosocial behavior, but when excluded people felt disliked, they became sadder, which resulted in more prosocial behavior. These findings suggest that a more nuanced approach is needed to explain the disparate findings in social exclusion research and offer a possible avenue worthy of further exploration: the perception of the exclusion experience.

Intimate relationship functioning depends upon the ability to accommodate one's partner and to inhibit retaliatory and aggressive impulses when disagreements arise. However, accommodation and inhibition may be difficult when self-control strength is weak or depleted by prior exertion of self-control. The present study considered whether state self-control depletion prospectively predicts male and female self-reports of anger with partner and arguing with partner. Consistent with the I3 Model (Finkel, 2014, Adv Exp Soc Psychol, 49, 1-104), we also considered whether the association between elevated anger and arguing (i.e., instigation) and partner aggression was stronger when state self-control (i.e., inhibition) was depleted or among people high in negative urgency. In this ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study, heavy drinking married and cohabiting heterosexual couples (N = 191) responded to three randomly signaled reports each day for 30 days. Depletion predicted anger and arguing with partners both cross-sectionally and prospectively for men and women. However, after controlling for prior levels of anger and arguing, these effects were diminished, and supplemental analyses revealed that anger and arguing with partner predicted subsequent depletion. Anger and arguing were strongly associated with concurrent reports of partner aggression perpetration and victimization (verbal and/or physical). However, neither state self-control depletion nor negative urgency moderated these effects. Overall, results suggest a modest impact of depletion on daily couple functioning as well as a potential cyclical effect of arguing on depletion.

Self-control all too often fails. Despite people’s best intentions and considerable negative outcomes, people often find themselves at the losing end of resisting temptation, combating urges, and changing their behavior. One reason for these failures may be that exerting self-control depletes a limited resource (ego depletion) that is necessary for the success of self-control. Hence, after exerting self-control, individuals are less able resist temptations, fight urges, or stop a behavior that results in a loss of self-control. This chapter reviews the evidence for this theory in a wide variety of domains and examines what behaviors appear to deplete ego strength and how depletion affects behavior. A comprehensive theory that examines how depletion operates is put forth and used to examine some factors that might moderate the depletion effect.

Because social modeling relates to exercise behavior, the Social Modeling of Exercise Inventory (SMExI) was developed to assess this form of social influence. In Study 1a, participants (n = 294) were asked how others help them to exercise regularly. Based on these responses, Study 1b (n = 246) and Study 1c (n = 146) examined the created scale's factor structure. Study 2a (n = 265) established reliability and validity and examined predictive power toward theoretically relevant variables. Study 2b (n = 123) validated a 7-day response format. The SMExI demonstrated high reliability and good measurement validity. It was related to other exercise-specific social influences, predicted the amount to which individuals engaged in regular exercise, and provided incremental validity beyond existing measures of social influence. The SMExI provides a specific instrument that can be used to examine the extent to which social modeling relates to exercise behavior. Limitations and future directions for research and application are discussed.

The brain’s reliance on glucose as a primary fuel source is well established, but psychological models of cognitive processing that take energy supply into account remain uncommon. One exception is research on self-control depletion, where debate continues over a limited-resource model. This model argues that a transient reduction in self-control after the exertion of prior self-control is caused by the depletion of brain glucose, and that self-control processes are special, perhaps unique, in this regard. This model has been argued to be physiologically implausible in several recent reviews. This paper attempts to correct some inaccuracies that have occurred during debate over the physiological plausibility of this model. We contend that not only is such limitation of cognition by constraints on glucose supply plausible, it is well established in the neuroscience literature across several cognitive domains. Conversely, we argue that there is no evidence that self-control is special in regard to its metabolic cost. Mental processes require physical energy, and the body is limited in its ability to supply the brain with sufficient energy to fuel mental processes. This article reviews current findings in brain metabolism and seeks to resolve the current conflict in the field regarding the physiological plausibility of the self-control glucose-depletion hypothesis.

The present study of college students investigated (a) the prevalence of nonmedical use of three classes of prescription drugs (stimulants, anxiolytics/sedatives, analgesics), (b) the prevalence of negative sexual events (NSE) associated with any nonmedical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD), and (c) a set of correlates of NSE. The specific NSE were sexual aggression victimization and perpetration, and regretted sex. The correlates of the NSE were sex, race/ethnicity, year in school, psychological symptoms, alcohol use, illegal drug use, and NMUPD. Participants were 509 (254 females, 255 males) randomly-selected college students who reported any NMUPD. The majority (76.2%) of the sample reported ever using stimulants, 38.9% reported ever using anxiolytics/sedatives, and 40.9% reported using analgesics. During NMUPD, 14.3% of the students reported regretted sex, 7.1% of female students reported sexual victimization, and 6.3% of male students reported perpetrating sexual aggression. Multiple logistic regression analyses indicated that anxiolytic/sedative use (Adj. OR=1.99; 95% CI=1.51-2.62) was positively associated with regretted sex, whereas anxiolytic/sedative use (Adj. OR=1.79; 95% CI=1.01-3.16) and psychological symptoms (Adj. OR=1.06; 95% CI=1.02-1.10) were positively associated with sexual victimization. Illegal drug use was positively associated with perpetrating sexual aggression (Adj. OR=4.10; 95% CI=1.21-13.86). These findings suggest that among these college students, NMUPD-associated NSE were not uncommon, and primarily associated with anxiolytic/sedative use. Given the academic, physical, and psychological implications associated with NSE, research needs to further explore the causal nature of these relations.

Religious people differ in how punishing or forgiving they see their Gods. Such different beliefs may have distinct consequences in encouraging people to act in normative ways. Though a number of priming studies have shown a positive causal relationship between religion and normative behavior, few have primed different aspects of religion, and none has examined the punishing/forgiving dimension. In 3 experiments, Christians instructed to read and write about a forgiving God stole more money (Experiments 1 and 2) and cheated more on a math assignment (Experiment 3) than those who read and wrote about a punishing God, a forgiving human, a punishing human, or those in a control condition. These studies present a more complex and nuanced picture of the important relationship between religion and normative behavior.

There is a growing focus on how to design safe artificial intelligent (AI) agents. As systems become more complex, poorly specified goals or control mechanisms may cause AI agents to engage in unwanted and harmful outcomes. Thus it is necessary to design AI agents that follow initial programming intentions as the program grows in complexity. How to specify these initial intentions has also been an obstacle to designing safe AI agents. Finally, there is a need for the AI agent to have redundant safety mechanisms to ensure that any programming errors do not cascade into major problems. Humans are autonomous intelligent agents that have avoided these problems and the present manuscript argues that by understanding human self-regulation and goal setting, we may be better able to design safe AI agents. Some general principles of human self-regulation are outlined and specific guidance for AI design is given.

Research on human self-regulation has shown that people hold many goals simultaneously and have complex self-regulation mechanisms to deal with this goal conflict. Artificial autonomous systems may also need to find ways to cope with conflicting goals. Indeed, the intricate interplay among different goals may be critical to the design as well as long-term safety and stability of artificial autonomous systems. I discuss some of the critical features of the human self-regulation system and how it might be applied to an artificial system. Furthermore, the implications of goal conflict for the reliability and stability of artificial autonomous systems and ensuring their alignment with human goals and ethics is examined.

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to increase qualitative understanding of student motives for and consequences associated with nonmedical use of prescription drugs. Participants: Sixty-one students participated in eight focus groups between April and November 2013. Methods: Students described prescription drugs commonly used for nonmedical reasons, as well as the motives for and consequences associated with their use. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results: Students reported stimulants as the most commonly used prescription drug for nonmedical reasons, least expensive, and easiest to obtain on campus, followed by benzodiazepines. Opioids were less commonly used, more expensive, and difficult to acquire. Motives and consequences varied by prescription drug class. Conclusions: Our qualitative findings extend previous research by suggesting differences in students' perceived motives for using and consequences associated with the different classes of prescription drugs. These findings provide implications for the development of preventive interventions.

A new theory is proposed to explain why exerting self-control leads to subsequent decline in self-control performance. This model of hedonic sampling builds on previous motivational accounts of depletion. In particular, it was hypothesized that exerting self-control requires individuals to imagine alternative futures where they did not exert self-control. Comparing these alternative outcomes can lead to implicit negative affect, which can influence subsequent motivation to exert self-control. The process of resisting a temptation leaves a residual imprint on the individual's mood, and this negative affective valence is then also factored in to subsequent attempts to resist temptations. This model can help explain a diverse number of effects that heretofore have been difficult to explain or integrate into existing models of self-control depletion. Finally, some practical and theory implications of the model are discussed, especially the need to consider affect in the motivation to exert self-control.

In this investigation, we experimentally test the interaction of ego-depletion (low state self-control), consequences, and decision-making time on aggressive responses to an insult from a confederate. The results indicate that ego-depleted participants respond more quickly and aggressively to an insult from a confederate. However, when a 30- second decision-making delay is imposed, ego-depleted participants reduce their aggression, but only if there are external consequences to being aggressive. In the absence of such consequences, ego-depleted participants become more aggressive following a delay. Additionally, if a distracting cognitive load disrupts the 30- second delay, aggression levels do not change significantly, even if there are consequences. These results suggest people respond to aggressive triggers more impulsively when ego-depleted.

Logically, responding aggressively to rejection is maladaptive because one is unlikely to seek a relationship with an aggressor. We predict that when concealed, the illogical aggressive response to rejection is more likely, whereas when the rejected individuals' aggressive responses are perceived as public, the aggressive acts may be reduced. Participants were rejected by others (Experiment 1) or were either accepted or rejected during an online ball-tossing game (Experiment 2) and were then given an opportunity to aggress publicly or privately. Across experiments, when the opportunity to aggress was made public, rejected participants exhibited less aggressive behavior. When concerned about the perception of their public aggressive responses by others, rejected individuals' aggressive responses diminished compared with those whose actions were private. Crucially, this extended to aggression visible only to neutral others, suggesting that effects cannot solely be due to fear of retribution.