Research paper
Baumeister RF, Heatherton TF. Self-regulation failure: an overview. Psychol Inq. 1996;7(1):1-15. doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0701_1
Why we cite it
A review of the major patterns of self-regulation failure. It distinguishes underregulation, which occurs through deficient standards, inadequate monitoring or inadequate strength, from misregulation, which occurs through false assumptions or misdirected efforts, especially an unwarranted emphasis on emotion. The authors read the evidence as supporting a strength, or limited-resource, model of self-regulation, and name loss of control of attention, failure of transcendence and lapse-activated causes as contributors to regulatory failure. That limited-resource model later became the ego-depletion account, whose findings have since been contested.
About the author
Roy F. Baumeister — AB Princeton 1974, PhD Princeton 1978. At time of paper: Professor of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University.
Todd F. Heatherton — BA Psychology (University of Calgary, 1984). MA Experimental Psychology (University of Toronto, 1986). PhD Experimental Psychology (University of Toronto, ~1990). Postdoctoral fellow at Case Western Reserve University (under Baumeister). Harvard University Assistant Professor (1990-1994). Dartmouth College: Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences (1994-2018); Lincoln Filene Professor in Human Relations; Director, Center for Social Brain Sciences. Research: social neuroscience, self-regulation, neural bases of social cognition, eating behavior. Co-developed State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES, 1991) with Janet Polivy. Carol and Ed Diener Award (2011). President, SPSP (2011). Retired from Dartmouth 2018.