PLoS ONE (Jan 2012)

Theories of willpower affect sustained learning.

  • Eric M Miller,
  • Gregory M Walton,
  • Carol S Dweck,
  • Veronika Job,
  • Kali H Trzesniewski,
  • Samuel M McClure

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038680
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 6
p. e38680

Abstract

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Building cognitive abilities often requires sustained engagement with effortful tasks. We demonstrate that beliefs about willpower-whether willpower is viewed as a limited or non-limited resource-impact sustained learning on a strenuous mental task. As predicted, beliefs about willpower did not affect accuracy or improvement during the initial phases of learning; however, participants who were led to view willpower as non-limited showed greater sustained learning over the full duration of the task. These findings highlight the interactive nature of motivational and cognitive processes: motivational factors can substantially affect people's ability to recruit their cognitive resources to sustain learning over time.