Research paper
Gailliot MT, Baumeister RF. The physiology of willpower: linking blood glucose to self-control. Personality and Social Psychology Review. 2007;11(4):303-327. doi:10.1177/1088868307303030. PMID: 18453466.
Why we cite it
The review that linked ego depletion theory to measurable physiology, proposing that self-control consumes blood glucose and that low glucose predicts self-control failure. The glucose account is the disputed part of the model, not the surviving part. This library holds the chronology that disputes it: `cwp10` (2015) re-analysed the evidence and found very little support, `cwp08` (2016) ran a 23-laboratory preregistered replication whose pooled estimate was indistinguishable from zero, `cwp09` (2021) ran a larger 36-laboratory paradigmatic test that favoured the null, and `cwp11` (2019) argues the whole question remains inconclusive. The project’s use of this paper is to explain why willpower-based dietary strategies fail and to motivate stable eating patterns, adequate sleep, and environment design over reliance on self-control — a rationale that does not depend on the glucose mechanism being correct.