Running Head: THE EFFECTS OF SLACK ON SELF-CONTROL PERFORMANCE The Emergency Reserve: The Effects of Slack on Self-control Performance

Prior research has shown that flexibility within mental budgets allows consumers to make exceptions to budget rules in order to justify indulgent choices. However, other research has suggested that too stringent of mental budgets can lead to self-control failure through self-control depletion and the “what-the-hell” effect. We propose that including slack, defined as a region of constrained flexibility with rigid boundaries beyond an initial limitation, in mental budgets will help improve self-control performance by providing a compromise between these two extremes. In a hypothetical point-based weight loss program, we found that participants with slack and standard mental budgets chose significantly healthier options and thus used fewer total points compared to those who did not have slack. However, participants with slack and deprived mental budgets used directionally more points than those without slack. These effects were found to be specific to slack compared to other types of flexibility. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are also discussed.