Multiple experimental methods successfully induce ego depletion in psychological studies
The claim that multiple experimental methods successfully induce ego depletion is contested, as large-scale preregistered replications and recent meta-analyses have frequently failed to reliably reproduce the original effects, leading to widespread debate in the psychological literature.
The prompt asks whether multiple experimental methods successfully induce ego depletion. The provided papers show a deep division in the literature: while foundational work and some researchers maintain the phenomenon exists (e.g., Papers 0 and 3), numerous recent multi-lab replication crises, failed studies, and methodological criticisms have challenged the reliability and validity of these experimental inductions (e.g., Papers 1 and 2). This places the status of the effect firmly in CONTESTED territory.
Roy Baumeister. Self-Control, Ego Depletion, and Social Psychology’s Replication Crisis. 2019. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/uf3cn
Paper 0 provides Baumeister's historical and contemporary defense of ego depletion methods and evidence.
Nicholas Carruth, Jairo Ramos, Akira Miyake. Does Willpower Mindset Really Moderate the Ego-Depletion Effect? A Preregistered Replication of Job, Dweck, and Walton (2010). 2018. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8cqpk
Paper 1 reports a failed preregistered replication of an influential ego depletion study, casting doubt on the robustness of the effect.
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Patrick Joseph Hurley. Making Sense of Ego Depletion: The Replication Crisis, a Path Forward, and Lessons for Accounting Researchers. 2022. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/hcq9e
Paper 3 suggests that depletion is a real phenomenon even if its effect sizes and underlying strength models are heavily debated.
D.A. Leontiev. Difficulties with Replication and Vulnerability of Refutation: the Case of “Ego Depletion Effect”. 2020. https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2020130414
Paper 2 highlights the ongoing controversy, numerous failed independent replications, and incoherent meta-analytic results surrounding ego depletion.
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