Wanting More Self Control Could Hinder Efforts to Exert Self Control

Summary: According to researchers, our desire to take more control over our actions may actually be hindering our ability for self-control.

Source: Bar Ilan University.

Turning down that delicious piece of chocolate cake. Resisting the temptation to buy clothes that we don’t need. If we want to watch our weight and save our pennies, these enticements demand that we exercise some degree of self-control. .

Over the years, research has shown that self-control is a valuable attribute that allows us to achieve our goals in life, and many intervention programs have been designed to improve our lives by helping us develop more of it. More broadly, parents, educating, governing, and religious institutions — and even the popular media — explicitly push both children and adults to desire and develop more self-control.

But how does wanting self-control impact on our ability to achieve it? A new Bar-Ilan University study, in cooperation with Florida State University and University of Queensland, Australia, has shown that, ironically, wanting to have more self-control could actually be an obstacle to achieving it (regardless of one’s actual level of self-control). The study, entitled “The self-control irony: Desire for self-control limits exertion of self-control in demanding settings” was recently published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

To determine the effect of wanting self-control on self-control-related behavior, the researchers conducted a series of four experiments which tested the impact of wanting self-control on performance. Across the four experiments, over six hundred participants were asked to perform tasks that required either much or little self-control. Their desire to have more self-control was either measured (using a new “desire for self-control” scale developed by the researchers) or manipulated (by making people evaluate the benefits of having more self-control. The manipulation served to establish the causal effect of the desire).

Image shows a man eating a cookie.
The researchers discovered that no matter whether desire is measured or manipulated, those people with a stronger desire for self-control found it more difficult to exert self-control when the task was difficult (that is, it demanded much self-control). NeuroscienceNews.com image is for illustrative purposes only.

The researchers discovered that no matter whether desire is measured or manipulated, those people with a stronger desire for self-control found it more difficult to exert self-control when the task was difficult (that is, it demanded much self-control). The reason for this, they determined, is that when faced with a difficult task, the desire translates into a sense that one doesn’t have enough self-control, which causes low self-efficacy (that is, reduced belief in one’s abilities) and, subsequently, disengagement from the task at hand. Of importance, participants’ level of trait self-control (their basic predisposition to show self-control) did not affect the findings. That is, a strong desire for self-control had a negative impact on individuals high and low in trait self-control.

“One of the main messages of this paper is that although it’s good for society that both children and adults have a high level of self-control, the mere desire for self-control could be an obstacle to achieving it. Thus, while intended to help people gain more self-control, the common practice of driving people to desire more self-control runs the risk of actually undermining their confidence and increasing their doubts that they have the resources to exhibit self-control,” says Dr. Liad Uziel, of the Department of Psychology at Bar-Ilan University. Uziel carried out the research with Prof. Roy F. Baumeister, of Florida State University and University of Queensland, who is considered a leading researcher on self-control in the world, and is one of the most cited of all time in social psychology.

About this neuroscience research article

Other co-authors were Clément N. David and W. June Brickey of UNC.

Funding: The National Multiple Sclerosis Society and National Institutes of Health funded this work.

Source: Bar Ilan University
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Abstract for “The Self-Control Irony: Desire for Self-Control Limits Exertion of Self-Control in Demanding Settings” by Liad Uziel and Roy F. Baumeister in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Published online March 16 2017 doi:10.1177/0146167217695555

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Bar Ilan University “Wanting More Self Control Could Hinder Efforts to Exert Self Control.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 27 April 2017.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/self-control-psychology-6530/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Bar Ilan University (2017, April 27). Wanting More Self Control Could Hinder Efforts to Exert Self Control. NeuroscienceNew. Retrieved April 27, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/self-control-psychology-6530/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Bar Ilan University “Wanting More Self Control Could Hinder Efforts to Exert Self Control.” https://neurosciencenews.com/self-control-psychology-6530/ (accessed April 27, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

The Self-Control Irony: Desire for Self-Control Limits Exertion of Self-Control in Demanding Settings

Self-control is a highly adaptive human capacity. Accordingly, development of self-control is widely encouraged. Whereas the benefits of having self-control are well documented, little is known about the impact of wanting self-control. The present investigation fills this void by exploring the effect of desire for self-control on the ability to exert self-control. It was expected that in the context of demanding self-control challenges, a desire for self-control will highlight a discrepancy between one’s goals and perceived performance potential, leading to reduced efficacy beliefs and task disengagement. Four studies (N = 635) supported the prediction. Study 1 showed that a strong desire impaired performance on a demanding task but not on a simple task. Study 2 conceptually replicated the decrement in performance and established causality by experimentally manipulating desire for self-control. Studies 3 and 4 showed that reduction in efficacy beliefs mediate the effect. Implications of the findings are discussed.

“The Self-Control Irony: Desire for Self-Control Limits Exertion of Self-Control in Demanding Settings” by Liad Uziel and Roy F. Baumeister in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Published online March 16 2017 doi:10.1177/0146167217695555

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