Research paper
Vohs KD, Baumeister RF, Schmeichel BJ, Twenge JM, Nelson NM, Tice DM. "Making choices impairs subsequent self-control: a limited-resource account of decision making, self-regulation, and active initiative." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2008;94(5):883-898. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.94.5.883. PMID: 18444745.
Why we cite it
Extends the ego depletion model from self-control to decision-making, providing experimental evidence that making choices — not just resisting temptation — depletes the same limited psychological resource used for self-regulation. This is the foundational "decision fatigue" paper: it demonstrates that accumulated decisions degrade subsequent self-control across multiple domains (physical endurance, persistence, procrastination, cognitive performance), with a field study confirming the effect in real-world shopping.
DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.94.5.883 · PubMed 18444745 · Publisher