A Multilab Replication of the Ego Depletion Effect
Dang and colleagues ran a second multi-laboratory replication of ego depletion, using a different pair of tasks from the first one, following a pre-registered experiment that had reported a medium-sized effect. Twelve laboratories and nearly eighteen hundred participants produced a small but statistically significant effect, and a slightly larger one after excluding participants who appeared to be responding at random. Small is the operative word: the effect is a fraction of the size the original literature reported, and far too small to support the claims built on it about willpower running out over the course of a day. The value of this paper is that it does not fit either side's preferred story, which is why this vault records it alongside the replication that found nothing. The honest summary of the field is that the effect, if it exists, is small and dependent on the specific tasks used.
Dang and colleagues ran a second multi-laboratory replication of ego depletion, using a different pair of tasks from the first one, following a pre-registered experiment that had reported a medium-sized effect. Twelve laboratories and nearly eighteen hundred participants produced a small but statistically significant effect, and a slightly larger one after excluding participants who appeared to be responding at random. Small is the operative word: the effect is a fraction of the size the original literature reported, and far too small to support the claims built on it about willpower running out over the course of a day. The value of this paper is that it does not fit either side's preferred story, which is why this vault records it alongside the replication that found nothing. The honest summary of the field is that the effect, if it exists, is small and dependent on the specific tasks used.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
Dang, J., Barker, P., Baumert, A., et al. (2021). “A multilab replication of the ego depletion effect.” Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12(1), 14-24. 12 labs, N = 1,775, d = 0.10 (0.16 after exclusions).
Where we use it
- Willpower Is Not a Fuel Tank, Why We Act
Reliability of this reference
The link below was matched against the publisher's record on title, first author and year, and all three agree.
The source
https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619887702
DOI: 10.1177/1948550619887702