New Insights on the Significance of Willpower to Self-Control
hubie writes:
In Greek mythology, the story of Odysseus and the Sirens illustrates a paradigmatic example of self-control.
When the hero of Homer's epic prepared to travel past the Sirens, mythical creatures who lure sailors with their enchanted singing, Odysseus instructs his crew to plug their ears with wax and tie him to the ship's mast. That way, Odysseus can listen to the Sirens as he sails by, and the crew can keep their wits. No matter how much he begs to be released, no one will hear his pleas.
Was Odysseus exercising willpower with his plan, or was he merely removing his ability to cave to temptation?
Researchers have long wondered what tools people successfully use to resist temptations [...]
Bridges said one method is called diachronic regulation, which involves selecting and modifying one's situation and cultivating habits over time to avoid temptation - essentially removing willpower from the equation. A second approach, synchronic regulation, relies on deliberate, effortful willpower in the moment to resist temptation.
Psychologists and economists have increasingly argued that because willpower is difficult to exercise, diachronic regulation is more effective than synchronic regulation. This conclusion is based in part on the failure of willpower-driven campaigns (such as Nancy Regan's "Just Say No" campaign, which had no measurable effects on youth tobacco, alcohol or drug use).
But Bridges and her colleagues hypothesized that such assessments of synchronic regulation rested on a faulty interpretation of the data, that supposed examples of effective purely diachronic strategies involved the use of willpower to implement, and that the popular, or "folk," view of willpower is just as important.
"We theorized that it takes willpower to implement temptation-avoidance strategies," said Bridges.
[...] She added: "People often infer that it's the diachronic strategy doing the self-control work, when really, moments of synchronic regulation are being amplified with diachronic strategy. Understanding the role of willpower in self-control has implications for the way we talk about helping people break habits."
It takes willpower to develop willpower.
Journal Reference:
Zachary C. Irving, Jordan Bridges, Aaron Glasser, et al., Will-powered: Synchronic regulation is the difference maker for self-control, Cognition, 225, 2022. 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105154
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