Self-Control as Value-Based Choice

Abstract

Self-control is often conceived as a battle between “hot” impulsive processes and “cold” deliberative ones. Heeding the angel on one shoulder leads to success; following the demon on the other leads to failure. Self-control feels like a duality. What if that sensation is misleading, and, despite how they feel, self-control decisions are just like any other choice? We argue that self-control is a form of value-based choice wherein options are assigned a subjective value and a decision is made through a dynamic integration process. We articulate how a value-based choice model of self-control can capture its phenomenology and account for relevant behavioral and neuroscientific data. This conceptualization of self-control links divergent scientific approaches, allows for more robust and precise hypothesis testing, and suggests novel pathways to improve self-control.

Motivation and self‐regulation: The role of want‐to motivation in the processes underlying self‐regulation and self‐control

“…Focusing on the role of motivation in self-regulation also ties in with recent attempts to reconceptualize selfregulation and can therefore inform our approach to studying self-regulation more broadly. For example, the findings that want-to goals feel easier to pursue fits with recent theorizing on self-control as a choice akin to other decisions (Berkman, Hutcherson, Livingston, Kahn, & Inzlicht, 2017). This valuation model proposes that prioritizing a distal goal over a proximal temptation is the result of integrating the subjective values of each choice derived from multiple inputs.…”

The Development of Self and Identity in Adolescence: Neural Evidence and Implications for a Value‐Based Choice Perspective on Motivated Behavior

“…As we describe next, this flexibility is a key feature of the model. The gains and costs (represented throughout the brain) act as inputs to the process, and are integrated in the vmPFC after being weighted and transformed into a common neural value currency (27). From this perspective, what is often considered problematic adolescent behavior is a normative developmental process that increases the subjective value of self-and identity-relevant inputs relative to childhood.…”

Why has evolution not selected for perfect self-control?

“…[6][7][8][9][10]). Some other definitions include strategies that avoid tempting contexts; my definition treats these as outside the bounds of selfcontrolled behaviour [11,12]. Other scholars have considered that choices appearing to reflect poor self-control may have adaptive outcomes [13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…That is, it simply allows for a restatement of the core mystery of self-control. Another important view sees self-control as an economic decision-a comparison between two differently valued options-that is not different in any substantial way from other economic decisions ( [12]; see also [28][29][30]). While selfcontrol decisions clearly are a type of economic decision, they are of a special type.…”