A study examining the relationship between willpower beliefs and helpseeking behaviour, and the moderating role of friendliness

Abstract

Previous studies show that whether one’s self-control is depleted, depends on their implicit beliefs about willpower as either a limited or an unlimited resource. Literature suggests that unlimited willpower beliefs not only have beneficial effects, since it could lead to less helpseeking. Therefore, the current study examined the effect of willpower beliefs on help-seeking behaviour. Additionally, the moderating role of friendliness of the potential help-giver was examined, to investigate whether social proximity compensates for a lack of self-control. Participants performed a taxing task and were led to believe that they were depleted or not (by manipulating their willpower beliefs). Subsequently, they worked on a puzzle for which they could ask for a hint from the experimenter, who was either friendly or unfriendly. No effects of willpower beliefs and friendliness on help-seeking were found, which may be due to a failed willpower belief manipulation. To gain a better understanding of the effect of willpower beliefs on help-seeking and its underlying mechanism, concrete suggestions for future research are given.