- Titel
- The Willpower Paradox
- Untertitel
- Possible and Impossible Conceptions of Self-Control
- Zitierfähige Url:
- https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-892879
- Quellenangabe
- Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science
Erscheinungsjahr: 2023
Jahrgang: 18
Heft: 6
Seiten: 1339-1367
E-ISSN: 1745-6924 - Erstveröffentlichung
- 2023
- Abstract (EN)
- Self-control denotes the ability to override current desires to render behavior consistent with long-term goals. A key assumption is that self-control is required when short-term desires are transiently stronger (more preferred) than long-term goals and people would yield to temptation without exerting self-control. We argue that this widely shared conception of self-control raises a fundamental yet rarely discussed conceptual paradox: How is it possible that a person most strongly desires to perform a behavior (e.g., eat chocolate) and at the same time desires to recruit self-control to prevent themselves from doing it? A detailed analysis reveals that three common assumptions about self-control cannot be true simultaneously. To avoid the paradox, any coherent theory of self-control must abandon either the assumption (a) that recruitment of self-control is an intentional process, or (b) that humans are unitary agents, or (c) that self-control consists in overriding the currently strongest desire. We propose a taxonomy of different kinds of self-control processes that helps organize current theories according to which of these assumptions they abandon. We conclude by outlining unresolved questions and future research perspectives raised by different conceptions of self-control and discuss implications for the question of whether self-control can be considered rational.
- Andere Ausgabe
- Link zum Artikel der zuerst in der Zeitschrift „Perspectives on psychological science” bei Sage Journals erschienen ist.
DOI: 10.1177/17456916221146158 - Freie Schlagwörter (DE)
- Selbstkontrolle, kognitive Kontrolle, intertemporale Entscheidungen, duale Systeme, Impulsivität, Kontrolldilemmata, Metakontrolle
- Freie Schlagwörter (EN)
- self-control, cognitive control, intertemporal choice, dual systems, impulsivity, control dilemmas, metacontrol
- Klassifikation (DDC)
- 150
- Verlag
- Sage, London
- Förder- / Projektangaben
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
SFB 940: Volition und kognitive Kontrolle: Mechanismen, Modulatoren, Dysfunktionen ID: SFB 940/3-2021 - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
SFB 940: Volition und kognitive Kontrolle: Mechanismen, Modulatoren, Dysfunktionen
ID: 940/3-2022 - Version / Begutachtungsstatus
- publizierte Version / Verlagsversion
- URN Qucosa
- urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-892879
- Veröffentlichungsdatum Qucosa
- 19.03.2024
- Dokumenttyp
- Artikel
- Sprache des Dokumentes
- Englisch
- Lizenz / Rechtehinweis
CC BY-NC 4.0