Article Version of Record

On finding the source of human energy: The influence of famous quotations on willpower

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Alcoba, Jesús
López, Laura

Abstract / Description

Positive psychology focuses on aspects that human beings can improve, thereby enhancing their growth and happiness. One of these aspects is willpower, a quality that has been demonstrated to have various benefits on people, as widely shown in the literature. As a result, a growing body of research is attempting to establish the conditions under which an individual’s willpower can be increased. This work attempts to confirm whether the famous quotations that people often use to inspire or motivate themselves can have a real effect on willpower. Two experiments were conducted assigning randomly subjects to a group and priming them with famous quotations, and afterwards comparing their performance in a willpower task with a control group. The second experiment added a willpower depletion task before priming. As a result, primed subjects endured the willpower task significantly more time than control group, demonstrating that famous quotations related to willpower help to increase this capacity and to counteract the effect of willpower depletion.

Keyword(s)

positive psychology self-control willpower famous quotations

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2017-11-30

Journal title

Europe's Journal of Psychology

Volume

13

Issue

4

Page numbers

708–716

Publisher

PsychOpen GOLD

Publication status

publishedVersion

Review status

peerReviewed

Is version of

Citation

Alcoba, J., & López, L. (2017). On finding the source of human energy: The influence of famous quotations on willpower. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 13(4), 708–716. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v13i4.1372
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Alcoba, Jesús
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    López, Laura
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2018-11-21T10:00:08Z
  • Made available on
    2018-11-21T10:00:08Z
  • Date of first publication
    2017-11-30
  • Abstract / Description
    Positive psychology focuses on aspects that human beings can improve, thereby enhancing their growth and happiness. One of these aspects is willpower, a quality that has been demonstrated to have various benefits on people, as widely shown in the literature. As a result, a growing body of research is attempting to establish the conditions under which an individual’s willpower can be increased. This work attempts to confirm whether the famous quotations that people often use to inspire or motivate themselves can have a real effect on willpower. Two experiments were conducted assigning randomly subjects to a group and priming them with famous quotations, and afterwards comparing their performance in a willpower task with a control group. The second experiment added a willpower depletion task before priming. As a result, primed subjects endured the willpower task significantly more time than control group, demonstrating that famous quotations related to willpower help to increase this capacity and to counteract the effect of willpower depletion.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    publishedVersion
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    Alcoba, J., & López, L. (2017). On finding the source of human energy: The influence of famous quotations on willpower. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 13(4), 708–716. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v13i4.1372
  • ISSN
    1841-0413
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1073
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1265
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v13i4.1372
  • Keyword(s)
    positive psychology
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    self-control
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    willpower
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    famous quotations
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    On finding the source of human energy: The influence of famous quotations on willpower
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
  • Issue
    4
  • Journal title
    Europe's Journal of Psychology
  • Page numbers
    708–716
  • Volume
    13
  • Visible tag(s)
    Version of Record