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Job V, Mlynski C, Nikitin J. Challenging the law of least effort. Curr Opin Psychol 2024; 60:101881. [PMID: 39278167 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2024] [Revised: 08/28/2024] [Accepted: 08/30/2024] [Indexed: 09/17/2024]
Abstract
Popular conceptions hold that effort is costly and aversive, causing people to generally avoid effort unless justified. We critically discuss evolutionary, phenomenological, and behavioral arguments supporting this "law of least effort", proposing that people may approach effort without direct extrinsic benefits. First, a "need for effort" is functional for health and learning. Second, experiencing contingency of effort and reward in the context of broader goals may lead to effort-seeking behavior. Moreover, beliefs with implications for the meaning of effort (e.g., as signaling difficulty or lack of talent) predict effort preferences. Thus, evolutionary, developmental, and social-cognitive factors may drive the pursuit of challenging goals that lie beyond life necessities but are essential for improvement and long-term development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronika Job
- Department of Occupational, Economic and Social Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria.
| | - Christopher Mlynski
- Department of Occupational, Economic and Social Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
| | - Jana Nikitin
- Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
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Yanaoka K, Foster R, Michaelson LE, Saito S, Munakata Y. The power of cultural habits: The role of effortless control in delaying gratification. Curr Opin Psychol 2024; 60:101903. [PMID: 39348728 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2024] [Revised: 09/08/2024] [Accepted: 09/11/2024] [Indexed: 10/02/2024]
Abstract
What factors lead children to delay gratification, holding out for larger rewards later instead of taking smaller rewards now? Traditionally, delay of gratification has been associated with effortful control and willpower. However, we propose that delay of gratification may be partially supported by effortless control employed through habits shaped within sociocultural contexts. Specifically, in sociocultural contexts where waiting is rewarding and socially valued, children are more likely to wait for larger, delayed rewards and to form associations between these contexts and waiting for rewards. These acquired habits enable waiting for rewards without requiring substantial cognitive effort. Based on this novel framework, we reconsider why childhood delay of gratification predicts life outcomes, and the role of cognitive, social, and cultural factors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rachel Foster
- Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | | | - Satoru Saito
- Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yuko Munakata
- Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
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Loewenstein G, Carbone E. Self-control ≠ temporal discounting. Curr Opin Psychol 2024; 60:101924. [PMID: 39447340 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2024] [Revised: 09/30/2024] [Accepted: 10/03/2024] [Indexed: 10/26/2024]
Abstract
This paper explores self-control beyond the framework of time discounting, as is conventional in economics and decision research. Contrary to the notion that self-control failures stem from hyperbolic time discounting or present bias, we argue that self-control problems represent conflicts between the motivational thrusts of affects - i.e., emotions, physiological states, and cognitive motivational feeling states - and deliberations about the best course of behavior. Drawing upon theoretical foundations and empirical evidence, we highlight how affective states can both undermine and necessitate self-control. We critique the temporal discounting model for its inability to account for diverse self-control scenarios and propose that effective self-regulation often involves strategies to avoid or manage affective triggers, thus providing a more comprehensive understanding of self-control mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Loewenstein
- Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
| | - Erin Carbone
- Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
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Jin C, Li Y, Yin Y, Ma T, Hong W, Liu Y, Li N, Zhang X, Gao JH, Zhang X, Zha R. The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex promotes self-control by inhibiting the egocentric perspective. Neuroimage 2024; 301:120879. [PMID: 39369803 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2024] [Revised: 09/06/2024] [Accepted: 09/30/2024] [Indexed: 10/08/2024] Open
Abstract
The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) plays a crucial role in social cognitive functions, including perspective-taking. Although perspective-taking has been linked to self-control, the mechanism by which the dmPFC might facilitate self-control remains unclear. Using the multimodal neuroimaging dataset from the Human Connectome Project (Study 1, N =978 adults), we established a reliable association between the dmPFC and self-control, as measured by discounting rate-the tendency to prefer smaller, immediate rewards over larger, delayed ones. Experiments (Study 2, N = 36 adults) involving high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation showed that anodal stimulation of the dmPFC reduces the discounting of delayed rewards and decreases the congruency effect in egocentric but not allocentric perspective in the visual perspective-taking tasks. These findings suggest that the dmPFC promotes self-control by inhibiting the egocentric perspective, offering new insights into the neural underpinnings of self-control and perspective-taking, and opening new avenues for interventions targeting disorders characterized by impaired self-regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Jin
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine and Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China; Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
| | - Ying Li
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine and Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China
| | - Yin Yin
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine and Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China
| | - Tenda Ma
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine and Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China
| | - Wei Hong
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine and Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China
| | - Yan Liu
- Application Technology Center of Physical Therapy to Brain Disorders, Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China
| | - Nan Li
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine and Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China
| | - Xinyue Zhang
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine and Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China
| | - Jia-Hong Gao
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Xiaochu Zhang
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine and Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China; Application Technology Center of Physical Therapy to Brain Disorders, Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China; Institute of Health and Medicine, Hefei Comprehensive Science Center, Hefei, 230071, China; Business School, Guizhou Education University, Guiyang 550018, China.
| | - Rujing Zha
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine and Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China; Key Laboratory of Philosophy and Social Science of Anhui Province on Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intelligence Intervention, Hefei Normal University, Hefei, China; Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Intelligence for Information Behavior - Ministry of Education, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China.
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Kräplin A, Joshanloo M, Wolff M, Fröhner JH, Baeuchl C, Krönke KM, Bühringer G, Smolka MN, Goschke T. No evidence for a reciprocal relationship between daily self-control failures and addictive behavior in a longitudinal study. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1382483. [PMID: 38751764 PMCID: PMC11095395 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1382483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction We all experience occasional self-control failures (SCFs) in our daily lives, where we enact behaviors that stand in conflict with our superordinate or long-term goals. Based on the assumption that SCFs share common underlying mechanisms with addictive disorders, we tested the hypothesis that a generally higher susceptibility to daily SCFs predicts more addictive behavior, or vice versa. Methods At baseline, 338 individuals (19-27 years, 59% female) from a community sample participated in multi-component assessments. These included among others (1) a clinical interview on addictive behaviors (quantity of use, frequency of use, DSM-5 criteria; n = 338) and (2) ecological momentary assessment of SCFs (n = 329, 97%). At the 3-year and 6 year follow-up, participation rates for both assessment parts were 71% (n = 240) and 50% (n = 170), respectively. Results Controlling for age, gender, IQ, and baseline addiction level, random-intercept cross-lagged panel models revealed that participants who reported more SCFs also showed pronounced addictive behavior at the between-person level, but we found no evidence of a predictive relationship at the within-person level over time. Discussion A higher rate of SCFs is associated with more addictive behavior, while there is no evidence of an intraindividual predictive relationship. Novel hypotheses suggested by additional exploratory results are that (1) only addiction-related SCFs in daily life are early markers of an escalation of use and thus for addictive disorders and that (2) an explicit monitoring of SCFs increases self-reflection and thereby promotes the mobilization of cognitive control in response to goal-desire conflicts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anja Kräplin
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Mohsen Joshanloo
- Department of Psychology, Keimyung University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
| | - Max Wolff
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Mind Foundation, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Juliane Hilde Fröhner
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Christian Baeuchl
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | | | - Gerhard Bühringer
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Institut für Therapieforschung, Munich, Germany
| | - Michael N. Smolka
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Thomas Goschke
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
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Kruschwitz JD, Goschke T, Ahmed Mohamed Ali E, Kraehe AC, Korb FM, Walter H. The role of anticipated emotions in self-control: linking self-control and the anticipatory ability to engage emotions associated with upcoming events. Front Psychol 2024; 14:1152155. [PMID: 38259533 PMCID: PMC10802682 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1152155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Self-control is typically attributed to "cold" cognitive control mechanisms that top-down influence "hot" affective impulses or emotions. In this study we tested an alternative view, assuming that self-control also rests on the ability to anticipate emotions directed toward future consequences. Using a behavioral within-subject design including an emotion regulation task measuring the ability to voluntarily engage anticipated emotions towards an upcoming event and a self-control task in which subjects were confronted with a variety of everyday conflict situations, we examined the relationship between self-control and anticipated emotions. We found that those individuals (n = 33 healthy individuals from the general population) who were better able to engage anticipated emotions to an upcoming event showed stronger levels of self-control in situations where it was necessary to resist short-term temptations or to endure short-term aversions to achieve long-term goals. This finding suggests that anticipated emotions may play a functional role in self-control-relevant deliberations with respect to possible future consequences and are not only inhibited top-down as implied by "dual system" views on self-control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johann D. Kruschwitz
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 940) "Volition and Cognitive Control", Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Thomas Goschke
- Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 940) "Volition and Cognitive Control", Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Elkhansa Ahmed Mohamed Ali
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anne-Carolin Kraehe
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 940) "Volition and Cognitive Control", Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Franziska Maria Korb
- Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 940) "Volition and Cognitive Control", Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Henrik Walter
- Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 940) "Volition and Cognitive Control", Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
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