The consequence of self-regulation failure within a new perspective: an exploratory study on the generalizability of the snowball effect of self-regulation failure to the domain of physical exercise

Abstract

2 Abstract The present study was designed to test the generalizability of recent findings on the snowball effect of self-regulation failure to the domain of physical exercise. An initial instance of failure of exercise goal related behavior, opposed to initial instance of success, was hypothesized to increase the likelihood of subsequent self-regulation failure. This effect was expected to be moderated by the formation of maladaptive attributions about initial failure, especially at the absence of a justification for the failure. A vignette study was executed, where initial failure versus initial success was manipulated, and a justification was added versus left out to manipulate formation of attributions. Female participants indicated the likelihood of subsequent failure for two self-regulation dilemmas. An initial instance of failure was indeed demonstrated to snowball into subsequent failure, but only for participants who read the vignettes about another person. This snowball effect of self-regulation failure was not moderated by adding or leaving out a justification for the initial failure. A first indication of high habit strength as a protective mechanism against the detrimental snowball effect was found. The present research provided the first suggestion that the findings on the snowball effect of self-regulation failure are generalizable to the domain of physical exercise, underlining the relevance of the effect across domains. To gain more insight into the snowball effect of self-regulation failure in behavior of people themselves, research is recommended to further investigate the effect in actual behavior.