Just Do It: Engaging in Self-Control on a Daily Basis Improves the Capacity for Self-Control

Self-control is considered a crucial capacity that helps people to achieve important objectives in the face of temptation. However, it is unknown to what extent self-control is a stable disposition that is unaffected by how often people engage in self-control, or more like a skill that develops and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Motivation science 2020-12, Vol.6 (4), p.309-320
Main Authors: de Ridder, Denise, van der Weiden, Anouk, Gillebaart, Marleen, Benjamins, Jeroen, Ybema, Jan Fekke
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Communities
Diary Measure
Female
Human
Male
Practice
Self-Control
Self-Efficacy
Temptation
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Summary:Self-control is considered a crucial capacity that helps people to achieve important objectives in the face of temptation. However, it is unknown to what extent self-control is a stable disposition that is unaffected by how often people engage in self-control, or more like a skill that develops and grows over time. In the present study, we employed an electronic diary to examine how regular engagement in self-control practice affects self-control capacity. A diverse community sample was followed for 4 months while they engaged in daily practice of a self-chosen self-control behavior. Consistent with our hypothesis, regular practice led to an improvement of medium effect size in self-control capacity. Critically, the level of improvement was dependent on the actual times of practice during a specific interval, and largely independent from beliefs about self-control or self-efficacy. We conclude that "just doing" self-control is the underlying mechanism of increased capacity for self-control.
ISSN:2333-8113
2333-8121
DOI:10.1037/mot0000158