Is “willpower” a scientific concept? Suppressing temptation contra resolution in the face of adversity

The distinction that Ainslie draws among the triple-phenomena “suppression,” “resolve,” and “habit” is a great advance in decision making theory. But the conceptual machinery “willpower,” and its underpinning distinction between small/soon (SS) rewards as opposed to large/later (LL) rewards, provide...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Behavioral and brain sciences 2021-04, Vol.44, p.e43-e43, Article e43
Main Author: Khalil, Elias L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Decision making
Humans
Motivation
Open Peer Commentary
Reward
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Summary:The distinction that Ainslie draws among the triple-phenomena “suppression,” “resolve,” and “habit” is a great advance in decision making theory. But the conceptual machinery “willpower,” and its underpinning distinction between small/soon (SS) rewards as opposed to large/later (LL) rewards, provides a faulty framework to understand the triple-phenomena.
ISSN:0140-525X
1469-1825
DOI:10.1017/S0140525X20000941