Question 1

I work in addiction. I absolutely hate when my patients say “I just need more willpower or the right mindset” in reference to kicking their addiction. Is there any research to back up their statement? What other tools apart from motivational interviewing can enhance their intrinsic motivation?

Michael Inzlicht · Accepted Answer

Willpower is over-rated (see here: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/1/15/16863374/willpower-overrated-self-control-psychology). Although clients and scholars tout willpower or self-control as a solution to many of life's problems (commonly defined as resisting a temptation or just powering through), new research suggests that willpower is fragile, often fails, and even when used might not actually help people reach their goals. The people who are most self-regulated, it turns out, engage in remarkably little self-control; instead they structure their lives so that they need to control themselves remarkably seldom. Instead, research suggests that goal setting, planning, motivation, and avoiding temptations altogether are much better options.

Question 2

Does intelligence predict capacity for self-control?

Michael Inzlicht · Accepted Answer

It turns out that both intelligence (sometimes called cognitive factors) and self-control (sometimes called non-cognitive factors) are both important determinants of success. Although some studies find a positive association between intelligence and self-control, the consensus is that these two factors are likely unrelated. That being said, sometimes scholars have assumed they are showing some important effect of self-control, when upon closer inspection, the effect they documented was due to intelligence. The most famous example of this is with the famous marshmallow studies that showed that the longer young children could wait to delay their own gratification, the better their various life outcomes as adults. Upon closer inspection, however, it turns out that delaying gratification on the marshmallow task says more about intelligence (and wealth) than about self-control (see: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/6/6/17413000/marshmallow-test-replication-mischel-psychology

Question 3

What is the effort paradox?

Michael Inzlicht · Accepted Answer

The effort paradox refers to the finding that people avoid effort when they can, but value the things they gained if it required effort (see: https://www.outsideonline.com/2292476/heres-why-we-seek-out-difficult-tasks). For example, if given a choice between buying an already built piece of IKEA furniture for $20 versus one that people have to effortfully build themselves also for $20, people generally prefer the one that requires no effort and no reading of IKEA pictographs. However, if you ask someone how much they like their piece of IKEA furniture, they actually prefer the ones they built themselves over the ones they acquired without effort (even if their creations are objectively inferior). More than that, people demand more money to sell their effortfully constructed IKEA pieces than the pieces they did not need to sweat over. We avoid effort, but also prize the things we toiled on.

Question 4

Is there any way to strengthen trait conscientiousness?

Michael Inzlicht · Accepted Answer

Perhaps, but only modestly. Recent research suggests that interventions based on cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) could be promising. Such an intervention might work by reminding people when they are acting in ways that is counter to their goals, by reinforcing in people that personality change is possible, by having people monitor their thoughts and feelings about their goals, and then by having people make plans (or set implementation intentions) for how to change. Conscientiousness tends to increase over the course of people's lives, but with a targeted intervention it can be improved even more (https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/finding-new-home/201902/three-potential-ways-become-more-conscientious).

Question 5

Why is it that some people seem unable to or to not care about their future self and the consequences of today's behavior? Is this about impulsivity or not having self-compassion or empathy for yourself in the future? How do you help people care about their future self?

Michael Inzlicht · Accepted Answer

As with nearly all individual difference, valuing one's future self is a product of both genes and environment. And disregard for one's future self is indeed related to impulsivity, a tendency to act on present-moment urges and desires. There is also preliminary work linking self-control with empathy for one's future self, though this is a new idea that needs further validation (https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/12/self-control-is-just-empathy-with-a-future-you/509726/). One way to help people care about their future selves is to have them actively think, not just about the present, but about the future. Bringing one's future self top of mind, perhaps by picturing yourself physically older, can help people make better decisions in the present.

Question 6

Is self-control like a muscle that can be strengthened through exercise or is it a limited resource?

Michael Inzlicht · Accepted Answer

How about neither! This is an area of active debate, and I fall on the side of the debate suggesting that self-control is NOT based on some limited resource. Instead I suggest that self-control is far more about motivation and priorities. Yes one's motivation can change over time, with people becoming increasingly less willing to exert effort on things they don't find personally meaningful, but this doesn't mean that self-control runs on a resource that runs out (see here: https://www.fastcompany.com/3025702/can-you-boost-your-self-control). In terms of exercising self-control, despite prominent claims to the contrary, there is little good evidence that exercising self-control increases one's general ability to control oneself.

Question 7

Do we really weigh up the effort equation when deciding to pursue something. Isn't it more about what we value?

Michael Inzlicht · Accepted Answer

No one is sitting there with a calculator to determine the ratios of benefits to costs! But we do seem to act as if we are in fact making such calculations, no doubt the product of some implicit evaluative process going in our brains. But, yes, these calculations examine both what we value and also the effort costs of attaining such value. Value alone is insufficient for these calculations of the expected benefits of engaging in one action or another.

Question 8

Why do I lack self-control?

Michael Inzlicht · Accepted Answer

Like any psychological trait, dispositional self-control is a product of genes and environment. So blame your biology and upbringing! JK

Question 9

Does self-control fluctuate?

Michael Inzlicht · Accepted Answer

Yes! Self-control can fluctuate from moment to moment based on where we are, time of day, our physiological states, the quality of our day, or even based on sleep quality. These fluctuations while real are modest. People also differ from one another in how much self-control they generally have at any one point.

Question 10

How can I train myself to enjoy healthy eating and exercise so that it doesn't feel like hard work?

Michael Inzlicht · Accepted Answer

This is the question I ask myself all the time! It is the Holy Grail of research on self-control--how to truly enjoy the goals we set for ourselves when they involve effort and resistance? The short answer is that we don't really know. But there are some things you can do, for example reminding yourself of why the goal (e.g., eating healthy) is important to you. You can also try to add more pleasure to your otherwise challenging goals--maybe you want to exercise but dislike going to the gym, well how about you give yourself a treat that you otherwise wouldn't indulge in (e.g., only listen to a trashy podcast at the gym; only read your pulp romance novel at the gym, etc.). This is a technique that Katherine Milkman calls Temptation Bundling (https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/too-lazy-to-work-out-try-temptation-bundling/). The real goal here, though, is to find a way to identify with your goal so that it feels like a core part of you. People who pursue goals because they WANT to pursue them typically persist at their goals for a lot longer than people who pursue their goals because they feel like they HAVE to pursue them. So find a way to turn your HAVE-TO goals to WANT-TO goals. But, yeah, easier said than done.

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