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SELF-CONTROL

An Overview

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DEFINITIONS OF SELF-CONTROL

  • Capacity for foregoing immediate gratification in order to secure long term gains (Metcalfe & Mischel, 1999)
  • Overriding one action tendency in order to attain another goal (Carver & Scheier, 1982)
  • One’s ability to influence, modify, or alter his or her own behavior (Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996)

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SIGMUND FREUD

  • Structural Model of the Psyche
    • Id – contains human’s basic, instinctual, animalistic drives. Focuses on survival and reproduction
    • Super-ego – Internalization of societal rules, internal standards, “ought to”

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    • Ego – Balance between satisfying the Id and operating within the Super-ego

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EARLY RESEARCH

  • Carver and Scheier’s Control Theory (1982)
    • Self-control operates as a negative, or discrepancy-reducing, feedback loop
    • Requires:
      • Sensing present condition
      • Evaluation of discrepancy between present and referent standard
      • Change behavior to meet standard, if merited

Carver & Scheier, 2002

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EARLY RESEARCH

  • Mischel, Shoda, and Peak’s Marshmallow Test (1988)
    • Delay of gratification task
    • Small immediate reward vs. larger delayed reward
    • Children who performed better at delaying gratification had better outcomes:
      • Higher pursuit of long-term goals
      • Less risky drug use
      • Higher education levels
      • Lower body mass index

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RESOURCE (EGO) DEPLETION MODEL

  • Three ingredients to self-control (Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996)
    • Standards
    • Monitoring
    • Operational strength
  • Resource (ego) depletion (Baumeister et al., 1998)
    • Ability of a person to exert self-control dependent on pool of SC resources.
    • Once exerted, fewer resources available for SC lead to failure
    • Participants resisting chocolate gave up faster than those resisting radishes

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RESOURCE (EGO) DEPLETION MODEL

  • Self-control can be improved over time (Muraven, et al., 1999)
    • Regularly practicing self-control builds upon resources like a muscle
    • Participants using left-hand, not swearing for two weeks showed less depletion susceptibility
  • Spheres of control (Baumeister et al., 1994)
    • Self-control extends to myriad aspects of one’s life
    • Behavior, attention, emotion, executive functioning
    • Exertion in one area will deplete resources available for another

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INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL

  • Internal Motivation
    • “I won’t punch that person because hitting them would be wrong”
  • External Motivation
    • “I won’t punch that person because they’ll probably tell and I’ll end up in jail”