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Psychology

The disciplined don't resist

Why self-control happens before the moment · 14 min

A young scientist's experiment failed, and one of psychology's best-known ideas about willpower began to crumble. Then researchers caught temptation as it happened and found that the people with the most self-control weren't winning more fights. They were having fewer. What they do instead, and one small change to try.

Takeaways

  • The idea that willpower is a battery that drains with every act of resistance did not hold up in two large, pre-planned tests across dozens of labs. Tiredness is real; the fixed tank is not.
  • In a German study of two hundred and five adults, people high in self-control reported resisting their desires less often; in a Canadian study of first-year students, how many temptations they met, not how hard they resisted, predicted reaching their goals.
  • Something to try: pick the moment your willpower usually runs out, and change one thing about the situation before it arrives.

Chapters

  1. The student who couldn't make it work0:17
  2. The battery that wasn't2:03
  3. Fewer fights4:22
  4. Two crowded evenings6:59
  5. Hear it done9:01
  6. Build yours10:15
  7. The answer11:57

References

  1. Engber, D. — Everything is crumbling (Slate)(2016)
  2. Carter, E. C., & McCullough, M. E. — Publication bias and the limited strength model of self-control: Has the evidence for ego depletion been overestimated?(2014)
  3. Carter, E. C., Kofler, L. M., Forster, D. E., & McCullough, M. E. — A series of meta-analytic tests of the depletion effect: Self-control does not seem to rely on a limited resource(2015)
  4. Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. — Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource?(1998)
  5. Hagger, M. S., Chatzisarantis, N. L. D., et al. — A multilab preregistered replication of the ego-depletion effect(2016)
  6. Vohs, K. D., Schmeichel, B. J., et al. — A multisite preregistered paradigmatic test of the ego-depletion effect(2021)
  7. Savani, K., & Job, V. — Reverse ego-depletion: Acts of self-control can improve subsequent performance in Indian cultural contexts(2017)
  8. Hofmann, W., Baumeister, R. F., Förster, G., & Vohs, K. D. — Everyday temptations: An experience sampling study of desire, conflict, and self-control(2012)
  9. Baumeister, R. F., Wright, B. R. E., & Carreon, D. — Self-control "in the wild": Experience sampling study of trait and state self-regulation(2019)
  10. Chicago Booth Review — Desire dilemmas
  11. Milyavskaya, M., & Inzlicht, M. — What's so great about self-control? Examining the importance of effortful self-control and temptation in predicting real-life depletion and goal attainment(2017)
  12. Galla, B. M., & Duckworth, A. L. — More than resisting temptation: Beneficial habits mediate the relationship between self-control and positive life outcomes(2015)
  13. Duckworth, A. L., White, R. E., Matteucci, A. J., Shearer, A., & Gross, J. J. — A stitch in time: Strategic self-control in high school and college students(2016)
  14. Homer — The Odyssey, Book 12