{"id":{"repo_id":"lancaster","oai_identifier":"oai:eprints.lancs.ac.uk:124195"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/lancaster/oai:eprints.lancs.ac.uk:124195","repository":{"repo_id":"lancaster","name":"Lancaster University","base_url":"https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"An examination of sequential self-control task performance and why a temporary deterioration occurs over time : do motivation and glucose play a role?","abstract":"The research within this thesis focused on examining the concept of self-control; the ability of regulating and/or controlling responses, e.g. choosing a fruit salad rather than a more tempting chocolate cake. Self-control was of interest as evidence has repeatedly observed that the ability to apply self-control continually over time poses difficulty. Namely, when faced with completing two sequential tasks that both require self-control, typically prior research reported that the first task is completed successfully but there is a temporary impairment in self-control performance in the second. The work in this thesis attempted to address why a temporary deterioration in self-control performance occurs. Specifically, we drew on the strength model, which posits that self-control is directly fuelled by a limited resource that gets depleted when initially applied, leaving limited resources available for the second task. Glucose was proposed – though with recent debate - as the physiological resource and consequently we assessed the role of glucose in sequential self-control task performance. In addition evidence suggested that rather than self-control deterioration stemming from resource depletion, it is connected to a reluctance to allocate resources based on a lowering in intrinsic motivation. The seven studies that were conducted attempted to further examine and add to the debate about the factors that play a role in self-control depletion following prior exertion, with a specific focus on the effects of glucose and intrinsic motivation. Overall the findings from the studies somewhat challenge the direct role of glucose: no relationship between glucose and sequential self-control performance was observed. Intrinsic motivation was however predicted to be a stronger predictor of self-control ability over time, suggesting that perhaps the temporary deterioration in self-control performance is one of resource allocation rather than depletion. More research is needed to corroborate these findings but the accumulation of evidence within this thesis - added to the current research - supports more of the recent literature i.e. motivation plays an important role in successful self-control exertion.","abstract_html":"The research within this thesis focused on examining the concept of self-control; the ability of regulating and/or controlling responses, e.g. choosing a fruit salad rather than a more tempting chocolate cake. Self-control was of interest as evidence has repeatedly observed that the ability to apply self-control continually over time poses difficulty. Namely, when faced with completing two sequential tasks that both require self-control, typically prior research reported that the first task is completed successfully but there is a temporary impairment in self-control performance in the second. The work in this thesis attempted to address why a temporary deterioration in self-control performance occurs. Specifically, we drew on the strength model, which posits that self-control is directly fuelled by a limited resource that gets depleted when initially applied, leaving limited resources available for the second task. Glucose was proposed – though with recent debate - as the physiological resource and consequently we assessed the role of glucose in sequential self-control task performance. In addition evidence suggested that rather than self-control deterioration stemming from resource depletion, it is connected to a reluctance to allocate resources based on a lowering in intrinsic motivation. The seven studies that were conducted attempted to further examine and add to the debate about the factors that play a role in self-control depletion following prior exertion, with a specific focus on the effects of glucose and intrinsic motivation. Overall the findings from the studies somewhat challenge the direct role of glucose: no relationship between glucose and sequential self-control performance was observed. Intrinsic motivation was however predicted to be a stronger predictor of self-control ability over time, suggesting that perhaps the temporary deterioration in self-control performance is one of resource allocation rather than depletion. More research is needed to corroborate these findings but the accumulation of evidence within this thesis - added to the current research - supports more of the recent literature i.e. motivation plays an important role in successful self-control exertion.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kelly, Claire Louisa","Sunram-Lea, Sandra","Crawford, Trevor"],"institution":"Lancaster University","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018","date_published":"2018","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:48:43Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kelly, Claire Louisa","Sunram-Lea, Sandra","Crawford, Trevor"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2018"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2018"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.commercial","label":"Dc Publisher Commercial","values":["Lancaster University"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["Lancaster University"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/124195/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Ph.D."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/124195/1/2018KellyPhD.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The research within this thesis focused on examining the concept of self-control; the ability of regulating and/or controlling responses, e.g. choosing a fruit salad rather than a more tempting chocolate cake. Self-control was of interest as evidence has repeatedly observed that the ability to apply self-control continually over time poses difficulty. Namely, when faced with completing two sequential tasks that both require self-control, typically prior research reported that the first task is completed successfully but there is a temporary impairment in self-control performance in the second. The work in this thesis attempted to address why a temporary deterioration in self-control performance occurs. Specifically, we drew on the strength model, which posits that self-control is directly fuelled by a limited resource that gets depleted when initially applied, leaving limited resources available for the second task. Glucose was proposed – though with recent debate - as the physiological resource and consequently we assessed the role of glucose in sequential self-control task performance. In addition evidence suggested that rather than self-control deterioration stemming from resource depletion, it is connected to a reluctance to allocate resources based on a lowering in intrinsic motivation. The seven studies that were conducted attempted to further examine and add to the debate about the factors that play a role in self-control depletion following prior exertion, with a specific focus on the effects of glucose and intrinsic motivation. Overall the findings from the studies somewhat challenge the direct role of glucose: no relationship between glucose and sequential self-control performance was observed. Intrinsic motivation was however predicted to be a stronger predictor of self-control ability over time, suggesting that perhaps the temporary deterioration in self-control performance is one of resource allocation rather than depletion. More research is needed to corroborate these findings but the accumulation of evidence within this thesis - added to the current research - supports more of the recent literature i.e. motivation plays an important role in successful self-control exertion."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["An examination of sequential self-control task performance and why a temporary deterioration occurs over time : do motivation and glucose play a role?"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Kelly, Claire Louisa","Sunram-Lea, Sandra","Crawford, Trevor"],"dc:date":["2018"],"dc:date.issued":["2018"],"dc:description.abstract":["The research within this thesis focused on examining the concept of self-control; the ability of regulating and/or controlling responses, e.g. choosing a fruit salad rather than a more tempting chocolate cake. Self-control was of interest as evidence has repeatedly observed that the ability to apply self-control continually over time poses difficulty. Namely, when faced with completing two sequential tasks that both require self-control, typically prior research reported that the first task is completed successfully but there is a temporary impairment in self-control performance in the second. The work in this thesis attempted to address why a temporary deterioration in self-control performance occurs. Specifically, we drew on the strength model, which posits that self-control is directly fuelled by a limited resource that gets depleted when initially applied, leaving limited resources available for the second task. Glucose was proposed – though with recent debate - as the physiological resource and consequently we assessed the role of glucose in sequential self-control task performance. In addition evidence suggested that rather than self-control deterioration stemming from resource depletion, it is connected to a reluctance to allocate resources based on a lowering in intrinsic motivation. The seven studies that were conducted attempted to further examine and add to the debate about the factors that play a role in self-control depletion following prior exertion, with a specific focus on the effects of glucose and intrinsic motivation. Overall the findings from the studies somewhat challenge the direct role of glucose: no relationship between glucose and sequential self-control performance was observed. Intrinsic motivation was however predicted to be a stronger predictor of self-control ability over time, suggesting that perhaps the temporary deterioration in self-control performance is one of resource allocation rather than depletion. More research is needed to corroborate these findings but the accumulation of evidence within this thesis - added to the current research - supports more of the recent literature i.e. motivation plays an important role in successful self-control exertion."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/124195/1/2018KellyPhD.pdf"],"dc:publisher.commercial":["Lancaster University"],"dc:publisher.department":["Psychology"],"dc:publisher.institution":["Lancaster University"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/124195/"],"dc:title":["An examination of sequential self-control task performance and why a temporary deterioration occurs over time : do motivation and glucose play a role?"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:48:43Z"}