ISSEP-2024-02
GRANT ID#: ISSEP-2024-02
GRANT TITLE: Meaning Depletion: Testing an Existential Model of Self-Control Exertion
GRANTEE: University of Southampton
PRIMARY INVESTIGATOR: Nicholas Kelley
CO-PRIMARY INVESTIGATOR: Constantine Sedikides
GRANT AMOUNT: USD $3,000
DURATION OF GRANT PROJECT: April 15, 2024 – April 15, 2025
Description of the Project
Executive summary:
Resource depletion accounts of self-control have had difficulty identifying a resource that mechanistically drives self-control. Given that many theoretical traditions suggest the search for meaning is central to psychological experience, we propose that one possible resource is meaning. Accordingly, we formulate an existential model of self-control consisting of three hypotheses. First, exercising self-control is aversive, triggering a drop in meaning which instigates a search for meaning. Second, preemptively boosting meaning reduces depleted participants’ need to search for meaning. Third, exercising self-control (vs. not) on an initial task leads participants to perform better on subsequent effortful tasks when those tasks provide meaning. Our conceptual and theoretical innovation offers generative hypotheses to inspire the next generation of self-control researchers and breathe new life into an influential theory. Ultimately, this proposal can harness the power of existential psychology to help resolve one of the most contentious debates in psychological science.
Itemized budget:
The projected expenses are detailed below:
The budget will be used for Prolific participant payments. Across the two experiments, we will test approximately 1,750 participants in 10-minute experimental sessions. We will pay each participant £1.00 (£6/hour rate). The cost of testing these participants will be £1,750.00 as well as a Service fee to Prolific (£583.33) and VAT (£116.67). The total cost will be £2,450.00 ($2,962.01). Due to fluctuations in exchange rates, we request $3,000 rather than $2962.01.
The total amount approved is USD $3,000.