Moving Beyond Deliberative Control of Impulses

Abstract

Many prominent models propose that self-control requires deliberative control of impulses. We propose that people's subjective mental construals of events can alter temptation impulses without requiring conscious deliberation. Research has indicated that high-level construals (subjective mental representations that capture the core, essential, and abstract features of events) lead to greater self-control than low-level construals (representations that capture secondary, incidental, and concrete features). We demonstrate that higher-level construals make it easier for people to associate temptations with negativity, as measured by the Implicit Association Test, and that, in turn, these construal-dependent changes in evaluative associations promote self-control. These findings indicate that subjective construals can influence self-control without conscious deliberation.

The benefits of simply observing: Mindful attention modulates the link between motivation and behavior.

“…Much previous research shows that subtle manipulations of motivation, such as goal primes or abstract construals, can produce similar effects on such fast or even automatic responses (e.g., Fujita & Han, 2009;Maner et al, 2007;Papies, Stroebe, & Aarts, 2008b). In contrast to these findings, however, the effects of mindful attention do not appear to depend on participants' regulatory goals, suggesting that mindful attention does not work by activating goals.…”

“…First of all, the training procedure makes no mention of participants' short-term or long-term goals, health implications of the critical stimuli, or any other implications, distinguishing it from goal priming and construal-level approaches that direct attention toward long-term consequences of appetitive behavior (e.g., Fujita & Han, 2009;Papies & Hamstra, 2010).…”

Self-regulation of health behavior: Social psychological approaches to goal setting and goal striving.

“…Thus, the concrete construal that "THIS cake looks good" may blind one from the more general understanding that "eating cake contributes to weight gain." Research indicates that adopting more abstract rather than concrete construals promotes preferences for apples over candy bars among populations concerned about their weight (Fujita & Han, 2009). This change in one's preferences as a function of construal, moreover, appears to not require conscious effort.…”

The taming of desire: Unspecific postponement reduces desire for and consumption of postponed temptations.

“…More specifically, to growing streams of research that examine the construction (e.g., Dai & Fishbach, 2013 and modification of desire to facilitate self-control (Fujita, 2011;Fujita & Carnevale, 2012;Fujita & Han, 2009;Hofmann & Van Dillen, 2012;Papies, Pronk, Keesman, & Barsalou, 2014). Indeed, the work reported in this manuscript is an initial answer to the call for self-control research to give a better understanding of how problematic desires can be managed in the heat of the moment (e.g., Hofmann & Van Dillen, 2012).…”