Chapter 1 - Universiteit Twente

General Introduction
In Chapter 4, empirical evidence is presented that extends the claims made by the
two-stage model. The demonstration that self-regulation failure may be at the base
of yielding to compliance implies that successfully resisting persuasion will depend for
an important part on the availability of resources to actively control the self. Hence,
whereas a low level of self-control resources increases susceptibility to influence, a high
level of regulatory resources likely increases the chance that one is able to resist an
influence attempt. But does this mean that all is lost for those with low self-control? Does
a temporary lowered level of self-regulatory resources automatically imply a weakened
defense against an influence attempt? The role of motivation is argued to be key here.
The research in Chapter 4 proposes that individuals low in self-control resources can still
be successful at defending themselves against an unwanted persuasive attack, when
prompted to be efficient in allocating their remaining self-regulatory resources. Based
on the notion that a depleted state does not reflect a complete exhaustion of resources
but merely a temporary or relative deficit (Muraven et al., 2006), it is proposed that
initially depleted people can still be successful at resisting persuasion when they are
motivated to temporarily economize on their use of self-control resources. Specifically,
a forewarning of an upcoming influence attempt should prompt these individuals to
conserve their remaining resources (by letting their self-control performance temporarily
suffer) to enable effortful resistance at a later stage. A forewarning is thus expected
to function as a motivational factor that stimulates people with low self-control ability
to save up their remaining self-control energy to be able to avoid future persuasion.
In sum, the outcome of a social influence process will for an important part be
determined by people’s ability to exert self-control over their cognitive and behavioral
responses, but also by their motivation to engage in self-control, and consequently by
their efficiency in allocating their self-control resources. Whereas Chapters 2 and 3 focus
on the role of self-control ability in social influence situations, and point to compliance
as a consequence of this ability being low, Chapter 4 highlights the motivational
aspects of self-control. Chapter 4 stresses resistance as a more likely outcome of a social
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