Regulatory accessibility and social influences on state self-control

The current work examined how social factors influence self-control. current conceptions of state self-control treat it largely as a function of regulatory capacity. the authors propose that state self-control might also be influenced by social factors because of regulatory accessibility. studies 1 through 4 provide evidence that individuals' state self-control is influenced by the trait and state self-control of salient others such that thinking of others with good trait or state self-control leads to increases in state self-control and thinking of others with bad trait or state self-control leads to decreases in state self-control. study 5 provides evidence that the salience of significant others influences both regulatory accessibility and state self-control. combined,these studies suggest that the effects of social influences on state self-control occur through multiple mechanisms. © 2010 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.