Smarter, Not Harder
A Toolbox Approach to Enhancing Self-Control
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22124685 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kentaro Fujita (0000-0002-6902-9085, The Ohio State University, corresponding author), Ariana Orvell (0000-0003-2574-2951, Bryn Mawr College), Ethan Kross (0000-0002-8664-2711, University of Michigan) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 149-156 |
| Publication date | 2020-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2372-7322 • E-ISSN: 2372-7330 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/2372732220941242 |
| OpenAlex | W3090992444 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 22 |
| References cited | 71 |
According to common sense, successful self-control requires “willpower.” Psychology often models willpower as the effortful inhibition of temptation impulses—a process theorized to require sufficient motivation and resources. This article challenges the centrality of willpower in self-control. Instead, successful self-control relies on a variety of strategies beyond effortful inhibition: diminishing the influence of immediately available rewards and bolstering motivation toward more abstract, distant rewards. Furthermore, self-control is better conceived as a “toolbox” of strategies; success entails finding the tools that work best for a given individual at a given time. In other words, improving self-control is not about becoming stronger, but rather about becoming smarter. This approach has policy implications and suggests priorities for research
Centrality · Self-control · Temptation · Toolbox · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Computer Science · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
Self-regulatory strategy use in exam preparation
Envisioning the future by learning from the past
The impact of relevant versus irrelevant media multitasking on academic performance during online learning
Measuring Self-Control Beliefs
Really situated self-control
Does Timing of Self-Control Strategies Matter? How Focusing on Proactive versus Reactive Strategies Affects Monthly Spending
Self-Regulation Via Visual Fixation
Devaluation of Attractive Alternatives
Developing a General Construal Questionnaire
Beliefs About Using Construal Level to Modulate Regulatory Scope
Breaking self‐focused orientation in people who perceive economic scarcity
Metacognition and polyregulation in daily self‐control conflicts
Autonomous motivation promotes goal attainment through the conscious investment of effort, but mental contrasting with implementation intentions makes goal striving easier
Will-powered
Motivating Empathy and Moral Pluralism in Health Policy
Metamotivational Beliefs in Middle Childhood
When “we” defines “me”
Training self-regulation to promote healthy eating
When more is less
Blind Love, Risky Romance
Some habits are more work than others
Undermining Desire
Emotion regulation choice
Psychology of Habit
Consumption Self-Control by Rationing Purchase Quantities of Virtue and Vice
Beyond Willpower
Impulse and Self-Control From a Dual-Systems Perspective
What People Desire, Feel Conflicted About, and Try to Resist in Everyday Life
Revisiting the Marshmallow Test
A Person-by-Situation Approach to Emotion Regulation
Regulatory Flexibility
Moving Beyond Deliberative Control of Impulses
Cognitive neuroscience of self-regulation failure
Delay of Gratification in Children
Effortless Self‐Control
Transcending Temptation Through Abstraction
Taking Stock of Self-Control
Self-Regulation Failure
Trait self-control and the avoidance of temptation
Situational Strategies for Self-Control
Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance
On Conceptualizing Self-Control as More Than the Effortful Inhibition of Impulses
Why most dieters fail but some succeed
Construal-level theory of psychological distance.
A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety
High Self‐Control Predicts Good Adjustment, Less Pathology, Better Grades, and Interpersonal Success
Teaching emotion regulation in schools
Coping flexibility and psychological adjustment to stressful life changes
Piece of cake. Cognitive reappraisal of food craving
An Economic Theory of Self-Control
Metamotivational knowledge of the role of high-level and low-level construal in goal-relevant task performance
Knowledge of the self-control benefits of high-level versus low-level construal
Plans to resist distraction
Predicting adolescent cognitive and self-regulatory competencies from preschool delay of gratification
The role of strategic attention deployment in development of self-regulation
Strategic attention deployment for delay of gratification in working and waiting situations
And deplete us not into temptation
The influence of abstract and concrete mindsets on anticipating and guiding others' self-regulatory efforts
Implicit theories about willpower predict self-regulation and grades in everyday life
Don't mind if I do
Working memory capacity and self-regulatory behavior
Implicit theories of emotion
Cognitive appraisals and transformations in delay behavior
Cognitive and attentional mechanisms in delay of gratification
Construal levels and self-control
Coping strategies and attentional mechanisms in self-imposed and externally imposed delay situations
Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources
Specious reward
For the Fun of It
Where There Is a Will, Is There a Way? Effects of Lay Theories of Self-Control on Setting and Keeping Resolutions
| Unique citing works | 22 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,5 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 20 |