Executive functions are (EF) top‐down control processes involved in regulating thoughts, ignoring distractions, and inhibiting impulses. It is widely believed that these processes are critical to self‐control and, therefore, that performance on behavioural task measures of EF should be associated with individual differences in everyday life outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to test this assumption, focusing on the core executive function facet of inhibition. A sample of 463 undergraduates completed five laboratory inhibition tasks, along with three self‐report measures of self‐control and 28 self‐report measures of life outcomes. Results showed that although most of the life outcome measures were associated with self‐reported self‐control, only one of the outcomes was associated with inhibition task performance at the latent‐variable level, and this association was in the unexpected direction. Furthermore, few associations were found at the individual task level. These findings challenge the criterion validity of lab‐based inhibition tasks. More generally, when considered alongside the known lack of convergent validity between inhibition tasks and self‐report measures of self‐control, the findings cast doubt on the task's construct validity as measures of self‐control processes. Potential methodological and theoretical reasons for the poor performance of laboratory‐based inhibition tasks are discussed. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

中文翻译：

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抑制任务与大学生的各种行为无关

执行功能是（EF）自上而下的控制过程，涉及调节思想，忽略分心和抑制冲动。人们普遍认为，这些过程对自我控制至关重要，因此，EF行为任务量度的表现应与日常生活结果中的个体差异相关联。本研究的目的是检验这一假设，重点是抑制的核心执行功能方面。抽样的463名大学生完成了五项实验室抑制任务，以及三项自我控制自我报告测度和28种生活成果自我报告测度。结果表明，尽管大多数生命结局指标与自我报告的自我控制有关，在潜变量水平上，只有一项结果与抑制任务的执行相关，而这种关联是在意料之外的方向上。此外，在个别任务级别上发现的关联很少。这些发现挑战了基于实验室的抑制任务的标准有效性。更普遍地讲，当与抑制任务和自我控制的自我报告措施之间缺乏已知的收敛效度一起考虑时，这些发现使人们怀疑任务作为自我控制过程的建构效度。讨论了基于实验室的抑制任务执行不佳的潜在方法和理论原因。©2020欧洲人格心理学协会 在个别任务级别上发现的关联很少。这些发现挑战了基于实验室的抑制任务的标准有效性。更普遍地讲，当与抑制任务和自我控制的自我报告措施之间缺乏已知的收敛效度一起考虑时，这些发现使人们怀疑任务作为自我控制过程的建构效度。讨论了基于实验室的抑制任务执行不佳的潜在方法和理论原因。©2020欧洲人格心理学协会 在个别任务级别上发现的关联很少。这些发现挑战了基于实验室的抑制任务的标准有效性。更普遍地讲，当与抑制任务和自我控制的自我报告措施之间缺乏已知的收敛效度一起考虑时，这些发现使人们怀疑任务作为自我控制过程的建构效度。讨论了基于实验室的抑制任务执行不佳的潜在方法和理论原因。©2020欧洲人格心理学协会 构造有效性作为自我控制过程的量度。讨论了基于实验室的抑制任务执行不佳的潜在方法和理论原因。©2020欧洲人格心理学协会 构造有效性作为自我控制过程的量度。讨论了基于实验室的抑制任务执行不佳的潜在方法和理论原因。©2020欧洲人格心理学协会