Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The present research hypothesized that monitoring the social environment for relational value cues consumes self-regulatory resources, potentially impairing people’s ability to engage in subsequent regulatory activity. Thus, it was predicted that when regulatory resources were depleted because of recent acts of self-regulation people’s capacity to monitor for relational cues would be negatively impacted. In accord with the hypothesis, the data showed that insofar as the self’s resources were depleted by recent acts of self-regulation, people were less effective at monitoring for relational value cues. These findings provide evidence that suggests an integrative relationship between the self’s regulatory resources and people’s capacity to accurately monitor the social environment for cues that indicate their relational value to others.