Enacting effortful self-control depletes a finite resource, leaving less self-control available for subsequent effortful tasks. Positive social interaction can restore self-control, but hurtful or effortful social interaction depletes self-control. Given this conflict, people might seek an alternative to social interaction to restore self-control. The current research examines social surrogate restoration—the possibility that people seek a social surrogate when depleted, and that seeking social surrogacy restores self-control. One experiment (Study 1) and one daily diary (Study 2) demonstrate that people seek familiar fictional worlds (e.g., a favorite television program) after exerting effortful self-control. Moreover, immersion in this familiar fictional world restores self-control. Supplementary analyses suggest that it is the social nature of this familiar fictional world that contributes to restoration.

References

Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., Tice, D. M. ( 1998 ). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1252 – 1265 . doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1252

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Baumeister, R. F., DeWall, C. N., Ciarocco, N. J., Twenge, J. M. ( 2005 ). Social exclusion impairs self-regulation . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 589 – 604 . doi:10.1037/0022-3514.88.4.589

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Buhrmester, M., Kwang, T., Gosling, S. D. ( 2011 ). Amazon's Mechanical Turk . Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 3 – 5 . doi:10.1177/1745691610393980

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Cohen, J. ( 2004 ). Parasocial break-up from favorite television characters: The role of attachment styles and relationship intensity . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21, 187 – 202 . doi:10.1177/0265407504041374

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Dalton, A. N., Chartrand, T. L., Finkel, E. J. ( 2010 ). The schema-driven chameleon: How mimicry affects executive and self-regulatory resources . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 605 – 617 . doi:10.1037/a0017629

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Derrick, J. L., Gabriel, S., Hugenberg, K. ( 2009 ). Social surrogacy: How favored television programs provide the experience of belonging . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 352 – 362 . doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.12.003

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Derrick, J. L., Gabriel, S., Tippin, B. ( 2008 ). Parasocial relationships and self-discrepancies: Faux relationships have benefits for low self-esteem individuals . Personal Relationships, 15, 261 – 280 . doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2008.00197.x

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Dewall, C. N., Baumeister, R. F., Stillman, T. F., Gailliot, M. T. ( 2007 ). Violence restrained: Effects of self-regulation and its depletion on aggression . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 62 – 76 . doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2005.12.005

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Finkel, E. J., Campbell, W. K. ( 2001 ). Self-control and accommodation in close relationships: An interdependence analysis . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 263 – 277 . doi:10.1037//0022-3514.81.2.263

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Finkel, E. J., Dalton, A. N., Campbell, W. K., Brunell, A. B., Scarbeck, S. J., Chartrand, T. L. ( 2006 ). High-maintenance interaction: Inefficient social coordination impairs self-regulation . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 456 – 475 . doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.3.456

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Finkel, E. J., DeWall, C. N., Slotter, E. B., Oaten, M., Foshee, V. A. ( 2009 ). Self-regulatory failure and intimate partner violence perpetration . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 483 – 499 . doi:10.1037/a0015433

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Fitzsimons, G. M., Finkel, E. J. ( 2011 ). Outsourcing self-regulation . Psychological Science, 22, 369 – 375 . doi:10.1177/0956797610397955

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Fitzsimons, G. M., Fishbach, A. ( 2010 ). Shifting closeness: Interpersonal effects of personal goal progress . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 535 – 549 . doi:10.1037/a0018581

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Gabriel, S., Young, A. F. ( 2011 ). Becoming a vampire without being bitten: The narrative collective-assimilation hypothesis . Psychological Science, 22, 990 – 994 . doi:10.1177/0956797611415541

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Gardner, W. L., Knowles, M. L. ( 2008 ). Love makes you real: Favorite television characters are perceived as ‘real’ in a social facilitation paradigm . Social Cognition, 26, 156 – 168 . doi:10.1521/soco.2008.26.2.156

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Gardner, W. L., Pickett, C. L., Knowles, M. ( 2005 ). Social snacking and shielding: Using social symbols, selves, and surrogates in the service of belongingness needs . In Williams, K. D., Forgas, J. P., von Hippel, W. (Eds.), The social outcast: Ostracism, social exclusion, rejection, and bullying (pp. 227 – 241 ). Hove, England : Psychology Press .

Google Scholar

Green, M. C. ( 2005 ). Transportation Into narrative worlds: Implications for the self . In Tesser, A., Wood, J. V., Stapel, D. A. (Eds.), On building, defending and regulating the self: A psychological perspective. (pp. 53 – 75 ). New York, NY : US Psychology Press .

Google Scholar

Hagger, M. S., Wood, C., Stiff, C., Chatzisarantis, N. L. D. ( 2010 ). Ego depletion and the strength model of self-control: A meta-analysis . Psychological Bulletin, 136, 495 – 525 . doi:10.1037/a0019486

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Knowles, M. L., Gardner, W. L. ( 2011 ). “I'll be there for you” Favorite television characters as social surrogates. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Google Scholar

Lakey, B., Cooper, C., Cronin, A., Whitaker, T. ( 2012 ). Symbolic providers help people regulate affect relationally: Implications for Social Support Theory. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Google Scholar

Luke, M. A., Sedikides, C., Carnelley, K. ( 2012 ). Your love lifts me higher! The energizing quality of secure relationships . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 721 – 733 . doi:10.1177/0146167211436117

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Lupien, S. P., Seery, M. D., Almonte, J. L. ( 2012 ). Unstable high self-esteem and the eliciting conditions of self-doubt . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 762-765. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2012.01.009

Google Scholar Crossref

Mar, R. A., Oatley, K. ( 2008 ). The function of fiction is the abstraction and simulation of social experience . Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 173 – 192 . doi:10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00073.x

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

McFarlin, D. B., Blascovich, J. ( 1984 ). On the Remote Associates Test (RAT) as an alternative to illusory performance feedback: A methodological note . Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 5, 223 – 229 . doi:10.1207/s15324834basp0503_5

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Moskalenko, S., Heine, S. J. ( 2003 ). Watching your troubles away: Television viewing as a stimulus for subjective self-awareness . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 76 – 85 . doi:10.1177/0146167202238373

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Muller, D., Yzerbyt, V. Y., Judd, C. M. ( 2008 ). Adjusting for a mediator in models with two crossed treatment variables . Organizational Research Methods, 11, 224 – 240 . doi:10.1177/1094428106296636

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Muraven, M. ( 2005 ). Self-focused attention and the self-regulation of attention: Implications for personality and pathology . Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 382 – 400 . doi:10.1521/jscp.24.3.382.65615

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Muraven, M. ( 2008 ). Prejudice as self-control failure . Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 314 – 333 . doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00307.x

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Muraven, M., Baumeister, R. F. ( 2000 ). Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does self-control resemble a muscle? Psychological Bulletin, 126, 247 – 259 . doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.2.247

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Muraven, M., Collins, R. L., Shiffman, S., Paty, J. A. ( 2005 ). Daily fluctuations in self-control demands and alcohol intake . Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 19, 140 – 147 . doi:10.1037/0893-164x.19.2.140

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Muraven, M., Shmueli, D., Burkley, E. ( 2006 ). Conserving self-control strength . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 524 – 537 . doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.3.524

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Muraven, M., Slessareva, E. ( 2003 ). Mechanisms of self-control failure: Motivation and limited resources . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 894 – 906 . doi:10.1177/0146167203253209

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Muraven, M., Tice, D. M., Baumeister, R. F. ( 1998 ). Self-control as limited resource: Regulatory depletion patterns . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 774 – 789 . doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.3.774

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Oaten, M., Williams, K. D., Jones, A., Zadro, L. ( 2008 ). The effects of ostracism on self-regulation in the socially anxious . Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27, 471 – 504 . doi:10.1521/jscp.2008.27.5.471

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Pennebaker, J. W., Booth, R. J., Francis, M. E. ( 2007 ). Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count: LIWC. Austin, TX : LIWC.net .

Google Scholar

Preacher, K. J., Hayes, A. F. ( 2008 ). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models . Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879 – 891 . doi:10.3758/BRM.40.3.879

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Schmeichel, B. J., Harmon-Jones, C., Harmon-Jones, E. ( 2010 ). Exercising self-control increases approach motivation . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 162 – 173 . doi:10.1037/a0019797

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Schmeichel, B. J., Vohs, K. D. ( 2009 ). Self-affirmation and self-control: Affirming core values counteracts ego depletion . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 770 – 782 . doi:10.1037/a0014635

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Stillman, T. F., Tice, D. M., Fincham, F. D., Lambert, N. M. ( 2009 ). The psychological presence of family improves self-control . Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 28, 498 – 529 . doi:10.1521/jscp.2009.28.4.498

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Thayer, R. E., Peters, D. P., Takahashi, P. J., Birkheadflight, A. M. ( 1993 ). Mood and behavior (smoking and sugar snacking) following moderate exercise: A partial test of self-regulation theory . Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 97 – 104 . doi:10.1016/0191-8869(93)90178-6

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Thoman, D. B., Smith, J. L., Silvia, P. J. ( 2011 ). The resource replenishment function of interest . Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 592 – 599 . doi:10.1177/1948550611402521

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Tice, D. M., Baumeister, R. F., Shmueli, D., Muraven, M. ( 2007 ). Restoring the self: Positive affect helps improve self-regulation following ego depletion . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 379 – 384 . doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.007

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Troisi, J. D., Gabriel, S. ( 2011 ). Chicken soup really is good for the soul: "Comfort food" fulfills the need to belong . Psychological Science, 22, 747 – 753 . doi:10.1177/0956797611407931

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Twenge, J. M., Zhang, L., Catanese, K. R., Dolan-Pascoe, B., Lyche, L. F., Baumeister, R. F. ( 2007 ). Replenishing connectedness: Reminders of social activity reduce aggression after social exclusion . British Journal of Social Psychology, 46, 205 – 224 . doi:10.1348/014466605x90793

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Vohs, K. D., Baumeister, R. F., Ciarocco, N. J. ( 2005 ). Self-regulation and self-presentation: Regulatory resource depletion impairs impression management and effortful self-presentation depletes regulatory resources . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 632 – 657 . doi:10.1037/0022-3514.88.4.632

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Young, A. F., Gabriel, S., Derrick, J. L. ( 2012 ). Desperately seeking celebrities: A daily diary study of exposure to favorite celebrities and body satisfaction. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Google Scholar