Feasibility and Efficacy of Willpower Strengthening Exercises with University Students: A Randomised Control Pilot Study

Aileen M Pidgeon,Sophie L Monteath

doi:10.4236/jss.2013.16002

Abstract

This study examined the feasibility and efficacy of implementing intense brief willpower strengthening exercises with university students. Thirty-nine university students were randomly allocated into one of three groups: willpower strengthening exercise intervention groups, 4-7-8 Hands or postural adjustments, or a control group. Participants assigned to the active intervention groups were required to practice the relevant willpower strengthening exercise every hour, for six hours per day, over three days. The high participation and compliance rates of participants in the two active intervention groups, along with positive feedback, supported the feasibility of the willpower strengthening exercises with university students. Additionally, the 4-7-8 Hands and posture groups reported directional improvements in willpower compared to the control group. Future research is recommended to evaluate the efficacy of willpower strengthening exercises over a longer time period to allow for more practice and effect time.

Highlights

Willpower gives us the strength to persevere (Baumeister & Tierney, 2011)
Due to the important role that willpower has in preventing negative consequences, as well as the high demand for willpower strength, this present study investigated the feasibility of implementing intense brief willpower strengthening exercises with university students, and evaluating the efficacy of these exercises on improving university students’ willpower
The high compliance and adherence rates support the hypothesis that the willpower strengthening exercises were feasible for university students

Summary

Introduction

Perseverance can be difficult to maintain when the desired goal is challenging to achieve, as the harder it becomes for an individual to continue to exercise selfcontrol, the higher the risk the individual’s willpower becomes depleted (Baumeister, Heatherton, & Tice, 1994). Selfcontrol refers to overriding and altering dominant responses achieved by controlling thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, which involves higher-order cognitive processes overriding lower-order cognitive processes (Baumeister et al, 1994). The higherorder cognitive process is the goal to quit smoking and the lower-order cognitive process is the desire to smoke. When an individual’s lower-order cognitive process dominates their higher-order cognitive process, such as engaging in smoking behaviour, it is referred to as self-control failure (Baumeister et al, 1994). Research suggests that self-control failure can lead to negative consequences such as morbid obesity, criminal behaviour, and drug and alcohol abuse (Oaten & Cheng, 2006b)

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