How Self-Control Shapes the Meaning of Choice

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2237488
AutoresAner Sela (0000-0002-2272-2077, University of Florida, 267 Stuzin Hall, Gainesville, autor correspondente), Jonah Berger (0000-0002-2669-8211, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 700 Jon M. Huntsman Hall, 3730 Walnut Street, Philadelphia), Joshua Kim (0000-0002-4576-419X, University of Florida, 267 Stuzin Hall, Gainesville)
EditoresGita Johar, Leonard Lee (0000-0002-8677-6488)
Ano2017
Volume44
Fascículo4
Páginas724-737
Data de publicação2017-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Consumer Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0093-5301 • E-ISSN: 1537-5277
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jcr/ucx069
OpenAlexW2611616293
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas11
Referências citadas54

Self-control is an important driver of choice, but might it also change choice's meaning, making it seem less indicative of preference? Decades of research suggest that preference and choice are often intertwined. Choice often originates from one's preferences. As a result, choice is often seen as a reflection of preference, leading people to infer their preferences by observing their own choices. We suggest that self-control attenuates this process. Because self-control often overrides personal desires in favor of external constraints, norms, and long-term considerations, we propose that self-control is associated with a sense of attenuated correspondence between choice and individual preference. Five experiments suggest that when the notion of self-control is salient, people are less likely to see their choices as reflecting their preferences or to infer preference from previous choices. As a result, evoking the notion of self-control attenuates the tendency to view choice as indicative of preference, even in contexts unrelated to where self-control was originally evoked. Thus, self-control shapes not only choice itself, but also the perceived meaning of choice

Cognitive psychology · Consumer choice · Control (management) · Economics · Meaning (existential) · Microeconomics · Preference · Self-control · Artificial Intelligence · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Computer Science · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology