Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T01:38:38.427Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Willpower is a form of, but not synonymous with, self-control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2021

Ariella Kristal Open the ORCID record for Ariella Kristal [Opens in a new window]  and
Julian Zlatev Open the ORCID record for Julian Zlatev [Opens in a new window]
Ariella Kristal
Affiliation:
Harvard Business School, Boston, MA02163. [email protected], [email protected]://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=962367, https://www.julianzlatev.com/
Julian Zlatev
Affiliation:
Harvard Business School, Boston, MA02163. [email protected], [email protected]://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=962367, https://www.julianzlatev.com/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We build on Ainslie's discussion of willpower by highlighting another common misconception in the literature: the conflation of self-control and willpower. In our commentary, we identify this issue and discuss the importance of recognizing willpower not as synonymous with self-control, but rather as a subset of self-control. We describe a set of upstream strategies as more effective alternatives to willpower.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 44 , 2021 , e44
Check for updates
Creative Commons
The target article and response article are works of the U.S. Government and are not subject to copyright protection in the United States.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adriaanse, M. A., Kroese, F. M., Gillebaart, M., & De Ridder, D. T. (2014). Effortless inhibition: Habit mediates the relation between self-control and unhealthy snack consumption. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ariely, D., & Wertenbroch, K. (2002). Procrastination, deadlines, and performance: Self-control by precommitment. Psychological Science, 13(3), 219–224.Google ScholarPubMed
Ashraf, N., Karlan, D., & Yin, W. (2006). Tying Odysseus to the mast: Evidence from a commitment savings product in the Philippines. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121(2), 635–672.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blount, S., & Larrick, R. P. (2000). Framing the game: Examining frame choice in bargaining. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 81(1), 43–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daniels, D. P., & Zlatev, J. J. (2019). Choice architects reveal a bias toward positivity and certainty. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 151, 132–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duckworth, A. L., & Kern, M. L. (2011). A meta-analysis of the convergent validity of self-control measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 45(3), 259–268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duckworth, A. L., Gendler, T. S., & Gross, J. J. (2016). Situational strategies for self-control. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(1), 35–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615623247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duckworth, A. L., Milkman, K. L., & Laibson, D. (2018). Beyond willpower: Strategies for reducing failures of self-control. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(3), 102–129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ent, M. R., Baumeister, R. F., & Tice, D. M. (2015). Trait self-control and the avoidance of temptation. Personality and Individual Differences, 74, 12–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fujita, K., Orvell, A., & Kross, E. (2020). Smarter, not harder: A toolbox approach to enhancing self-control. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7(2), 149–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galla, B. M., & Duckworth, A. L. (2015). More than resisting temptation: Beneficial habits mediate the relationship between self-control and positive life outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(3), 508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giné, X., Karlan, D., & Zinman, J. (2010). Put your money where your butt is: A commitment contract for smoking cessation. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2(4), 213–235.Google Scholar
Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofmann, W., Baumeister, R. F., Förster, G., & Vohs, K. D. (2012). Everyday temptations: An experience sampling study of desire, conflict, and self-control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(6), 1318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Inzlicht, M., Schmeichel, B. J., & Macrae, C. N. (2014). Why self-control seems (but may not be) limited. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(3), 127–133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lian, H., Yam, K. C., Ferris, D. L., & Brown, D. (2017). Self-control at work. Academy of Management Annals, 11(2), 703–732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madrian, B. C., & Shea, D. F. (2001). The power of suggestion: Inertia in 401 (k) participation and savings behavior. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116(4), 1149–1187.Google Scholar
Marotta, V., & Acquisti, A. (2017). Online distractions, website blockers, and economic productivity: A randomized field experiment. Preliminary Draft.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, J., & Mischel, W. (1999). A hot/cool-system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower. Psychological Review, 106(1), 3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moser, C., Schoenebeck, S. Y., & Resnick, P. (2019). Impulse Buying: Design Practices and Consumer Needs. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Regan, Á, Kent, M. P., Raats, M. M., McConnon, Á, Wall, P., & Dubois, L. (2017). Applying a consumer behavior lens to salt reduction initiatives. Nutrients, 9(8), 901.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Royer, H., Stehr, M., & Sydnor, J. (2015). Incentives, commitments, and habit formation in exercise: Evidence from a field experiment with workers at a fortune-500 company. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7(3), 51–84.Google Scholar
Zlatev, J. J., Daniels, D. P., Kim, H., & Neale, M. A. (2017). Default neglect in attempts at social influence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(52), 13643–13648.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed