a high capacity to delay gratification were more successful, both socially and aca
demically, in high school and college, suggesting that self-regulation is a central
and durable feature of personality ( Mischel,
Shoda, &
Peake, 1988; Shoda,
Mis chel
, &
Peake, 1990
). Wegner and
Pennebaker ( 1993
) confirmed the importance
of self-regulation for aiding a broad variety of beneficial and adaptive patterns. The nature of the capacity for self-regulation has resisted elucidation. The
contribution of cognitive and attentional factors is well documented ( Carver &
Scheier, 1981, 1982; Higgins, 1996
). Mischel ( 1996) has proposed that the con
cept of willpower should be revived because self-regulation requires something
akin to energy or strength. Thus, we were concerned with testing whether the
capacity for self-regulation can be improved by exercise across time. Results of our previous studies ( Baumeister,
Bratslavsky,
Muraven, &
Tice,
1998; Muraven,
Tice, &
Baumeister, 1998) and those of Mischel ( 1996) sug
gested that some concept of strength or energy is necessary in any final model of
self-regulation. A review of the literature on self-regulation failures revealed that
many such failures occurred because people have limited resources for self-
regulation and these become depleted in a manner akin to a muscle's becoming
fatigued ( Baumeister &
Heatherton, 1996; Baumeister,
Heatherton, &
Tice,
1994
). An examination of evidence pertaining specifically to patterns of fatigue
and depletion in self-regulation found that people showed a variety of decre
ments consistent with a self-regulatory strength model (Muraven & Baumeister,
in press). These patterns include the facts that (a) coping with stress has after
effects that encompass a variety of self-regulatory breakdowns (e.g., in eating
patterns, substance abuse, or emotional control); (b) coping with emotional dis
tress shows similar patterns; and (c) continued exertions of self-control, as in
many successive trials on a vigilance task, show consistent patterns of gradual
deterioration. Moreover, these effects appear to be limited to self-regulatory exer
tions, as opposed to pertaining to all sorts of performances. We conducted a series of studies involving consecutive but seemingly unre
lated acts of self-gulation to provide direct evidence that self-regulation oper
ates like a strength. If self-regulation operated like a schema or knowledge struc
ture, performing one act of self-regulation would improve subsequent
performance on self-regulation by priming the schema. If self-regulation were a
skill, there would be no change, insofar as skill remains constant on consecutive
trials. Contrary to the skill and schema models but consistent with a strength
model, self-regulation on a second task was consistently impaired by prior exer
tions of self-regulation ( Muraven et al., 1998
). Thus, trying to control emotions
led to decrements in physical stamina and endurance on a subsequent test, and
trying to suppress forbidden thoughts led people to give up more quickly on a
subsequent anagram task. Thought suppression also resulted in people's being
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