Trait self-control and the avoidance of temptation

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Highlights

  • High trait self-control (TSC) was positively correlated with avoiding temptation.

  • People high (vs. low) in TSC were more likely to avoid distraction.

  • People high in TSC avoid, rather than merely resist, goal-inhibiting impulses.

Abstract

High trait self-control has been traditionally described as a keen ability to resist temptation. The present research suggests that high trait self-control is linked to avoiding, rather than merely resisting, temptation. People high in trait self-control reported engaging in behaviors thought to minimize (or avoid) temptation to a greater extent than people low in trait self-control (Study 1). People high in trait self-control were more likely than those low in trait self-control to choose to work in a distraction-free environment rather than in a distracting, yet appealing, one (Studies 2 and 3).

Introduction

The benefits of effective self-control are numerous and important to people. Good self-control has been linked to academic, occupational, and social success, to good mental and physical health, to reductions in crime, and to longer life (de Ridder et al., 2012, Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990, Mischel et al., 1988, Moffitt et al., 2011, Shoda et al., 1990, Tangney et al., 2004). Effective self-control certainly involves resisting impulses and desires that could create problems, such desires to smoke, drink, take drugs, aggress, steal, and have risky sex. The present research highlights the avoidance of circumstances in which one would face such impulses as strategy for effective self-control.

Some people score higher than others on trait self-control. They would presumably enjoy the advantage of being able to resist problematic impulses frequently and effectively. Yet an experience sampling study by Hofmann, Baumeister, Förster, and Vohs (2012) found the seemingly opposite result: People with high self-control reported resisting impulses less frequently than others. The authors of that paper speculated that people with good self-control employ it to avoid temptations and problems, rather than relying on it to resist and solve them. The present investigation was intended as a test of that hypothesis.

Section snippets

Vulnerability of self-control

Attempting to resist impulses as they arise (rather than avoiding such impulses) may be a relatively ineffective self-regulatory strategy. The capacity to resist impulses depends on self-regulatory capacity generally. Recent work has suggested that each person’s capacity for self-regulation fluctuates across time, presumably because each act expends and depletes a limited resource, so that one’s willpower occasionally becomes depleted (Baumeister et al., 2007, Hagger et al., 2010). Hence, if

Resisting versus avoiding temptation

Avoiding temptation can prevent many instances of self-regulatory failure caused by depleted willpower. After all, the danger of yielding to impulse is greatly reduced if the impulse never arises. To be sure, avoiding temptation is itself an act of self-regulation, indeed one requiring forethought, effective anticipation, and self-knowledge. Although people with weak self-control might benefit most from the strategy of avoiding temptation, they may be least likely to use it.

In a sense, avoiding

Trait self-control

There are stable individual differences in how successful people are at exercising self-control. For example, impulse control in early childhood has been found to predict academic success and ability to cope with frustration during adolescence (Mischel et al., 1988). Tangney et al. (2004) provided a trait measure of self-control and found that high trait self-control was associated with psychological wellbeing, interpersonal success, low levels of binge eating and alcohol abuse, and other

Present investigation

The present investigation tested the hypothesis that people high in self-control would be more likely than others to avoid temptations and distractions. We report one survey and two experiments to test this hypothesis.

General discussion

Effective self-control can help people to lead healthy and productive lives. Some people are better at self-control than others, and they enjoy its benefits more. One simple explanation for how this happens is that they simply resist distractions, temptations, and problematic impulses more effectively than others. The present research indicated a different strategy may be at work: People with good self-control proactively avoid those distractions, temptations, and problematic impulses, so that

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