We’ve recently been discussing how Ego Depletion has failed a big replication study. Carol Dweck previously (around 2011) expressed skepticism of Ego Depletion and gave an alternate story, about willpower’s depletability being a self-fulfilling prophesy. Ie, that willpower is depletable only if you think it is. That story fit my own biases but Slate Star Codex convinced me, in a series of eye-opening posts, to look at all Dweck’s results more critically:
Actually the best I’ve got right now is the title of the first Slate Star Codex post: “No clarity around growth mindset… yet” Thinking out loud: maybe there’s some similarity to the “willpower is a muscle” research. Namely, at some intuitive level it’s pretty reasonable (“don’t let your identity get wrapped up in being ‘the smart kid’” and “exerting willpower can be mentally exhausting”) but it can quickly go off the rails (“all so-called talent is mere self-fulfilling prophecy!” and “eat cookies all day if you have a lot of studying to do!”).