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International audience; The replication crisis in psychology has led to question popular phenomena such as ego depletion, which has been criticized after studies failed to replicate. Here, we describe limitations in the literature that contributed to these failures and suggest how they may be addressed. At the theoretical level, the literature focuses on two out of at least eight identified auxiliary hypotheses. Thus, the majority of the hypotheses related to the three core assumptions of the ego-depletion theory have been overlooked, thereby preventing the rejection of the theory as a whole. At the experimental level, we argue that the low replicability of ego-depletion studies could be explained by the absence of a comprehensive, integrative, and falsifiable definition of self-control, which is central to the concept of ego depletion; by an unclear or absent distinction between ego depletion and mental fatigue, two phenomena that rely on different processes; and by the low validity of the tasks used to induce ego depletion. Finally, we make conceptual and methodological suggestions for a more rigorous investigation of ego depletion, discuss the necessity to take into account its dynamic and multicomponent nature, and suggest using the term self-control fatigue instead.

OBJECTIVE: Habits, defined as well-learned associations between cues and behaviours, are essential for health-related behaviours, including physical activity (PA). Despite the sensitivity of habits to context changes, little remains known about the influence of a context change on the interplay between PA habits and behaviours. We investigated the evolution of PA habits amidst the spring COVID-19 lockdown, a major context change. Moreover, we examined the association of PA behaviours and autonomous motivation with this evolution.DESIGN: Three-wave observational longitudinal design.METHODS: PA habits, behaviours, and autonomous motivation were collected through online surveys in 283 French and Swiss participants. Variables were self-reported with reference to three time-points: before-, mid-, and end-lockdown.RESULTS: Mixed effect modelling revealed a decrease in PA habits from before- to mid-lockdown, especially among individuals with strong before-lockdown habits. Path analysis showed that before-lockdown PA habits were not associated with mid-lockdown PA behaviours (β = -.02, p = .837), while mid-lockdown PA habits were positively related to end-lockdown PA behaviours (β = .23, p = .021). Autonomous motivation was directly associated with PA habits (ps < .001) and withto before- and mid-lockdown PA behaviours (ps < .001) (but not with end-lockdown PA behaviours) and did not moderate the relations between PA behaviours and habits (ps > .072).CONCLUSION: PA habits were altered, and their influence on PA behaviours was impeded during the COVID-19 lockdown. Engagement in PA behaviours and autonomous motivation helped in counteracting PA habits disruption.

Multiple health behaviour change (MHBC) represents one of the best ways to prevent reoccurrence of cardiovascular events. However, few individuals with cardiovascular diseases engage in this process. The present study examined the role of compensatory health beliefs (CHB; i.e., belief that a healthy behaviour compensates an unhealthy one)as a drag to engagement in this process. Some studies have shown that CHBs predict intention to engage in healthy behaviours, but no study has investigated CHBs in individuals who actually need to change multiple health behaviours. The goal was to better understand the role of CHBs in intentions formation process among individuals with cardiac diseases in an MHBC context. One hundred and four patients completed a questionnaire at the beginning of their cardiac rehabilitation program. Results showed that: (1) CHBs negatively predicted intentions (2) but only for participants with high self-efficacy or low risk perception; (3) CHBs predictions differed depending on the nature of the compensating behaviour, and were more predictive when medication intake was the compensating one. Findings only partially confirmed previous research conducted on healthy individuals who were not in an MHBC process, and emphasized the importance of considering CHBs for individuals in this process., Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe, 558

Recent evidence suggests humans have an automatic attraction to effort minimization. Yet, how this attraction is associated with response inhibition is still unclear. Here, we used go/no-go tasks to capture inhibitory control in response to stimuli depicting physical activity versus physical inactivity in 59 healthy young individuals. Higher commission errors (i.e., failure to refrain a response to a “no-go” stimulus) were used as a measure for inhibitory control. Based on the energetic cost minimization theory, we hypothesized that participants would exhibit higher commission errors when responding to stimuli depicting physical inactivity stimuli rather than physical activity stimuli. As expected, mixed effects models showed that, compared to physical activity stimuli, participants exhibited higher commission errors when responding to stimuli depicting physical inactivity (odds ratio = 1.59, 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI] = 1.18 to 2.16, p = .003). These results suggest that physical inactivity stimuli might require high response inhibition. This study lends support for the hypothesis that an attraction to effort minimization might affect inhibitory processes in the presence of stimuli related to this minimization. The study pre-registration form can be found at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/RKYHB

Objectives This article examines whether sports practice can influence the stereotype content associated with people with physical disability from the viewpoint of people without disability. Design Both implicit and explicit stereotypes were assessed for people with disability compared with people without disability (Study 1), people with disability who engage in sport compared with people without disability (Study 2), and people with disability who engage in sport compared with people with disability (Study 3). Method Participants (NStudy1 = 57, NStudy 2 = 61, NStudy 3 = 63) performed a warmth-Implicit Association Test and a competence-Implicit Association Test and were asked to rate how strongly they associated a series of warmth and competence traits with one or the other group of people. Results In Study 1, people with disability were implicitly associated with less positivity and explicitly associated with higher warmth but lower competence than people without disability. The same results were found in Study 2. In Study 3, people with disability who engage in sport were explicitly associated with higher warmth and competence than people with disability but this result failed to emerge at an implicit level. Conclusions The influence of practicing sport on the stereotype content associated with people with physical disability seems less consistent than has been assumed thus far. The results suggest the need for further study of the implicit stereotype content concerning people with disability and the types of information that might weaken the link between disability and negativity.