Self-regulating the effortful "social dos"

• Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology Vol. 106; no. 3; p. 380
• Main Authors: Cortes, Kassandra, Kammrath, Lara K, Scholer, Abigail A, Peetz, Johanna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.03.2014
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Ego; Executive Function - physiology; Female; Helping Behavior; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Personality - physiology; Social Behavior; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1939-1315
• DOI: 10.1037/a0035188

In the current research, we explored differences in the self-regulation of the personal dos (i.e., engaging in active and effortful behaviors that benefit the self) and in the self-regulation of the social dos (engaging in those same effortful behaviors to benefit someone else). In 6 studies, we examined whether the same trait self-control abilities that predict task persistence on personal dos would also predict task persistence on social dos. That is, would the same behavior, such as persisting through a tedious and attentionally demanding task, show different associations with trait self-control when it is framed as benefitting the self versus someone else? In Studies 1-3, we directly compared the personal and social dos and found that trait self-control predicted self-reported and behavioral personal dos but not social dos, even when the behaviors were identical and when the incentives were matched. Instead, trait agreeableness--a trait linked to successful self-regulation within the social domain--predicted the social dos. Trait self-control did not predict the social dos even when task difficulty increased (Study 4), but it did predict the social don'ts, consistent with past research (Studies 5-6). The current studies provide support for the importance of distinguishing different domains of self-regulated behaviors and suggest that social dos can be successfully performed through routes other than traditional self-control abilities.