The Science of Self-Control

By H. Rachlin. 2004

654 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This book proposes a new science of self-control based on the principles of behavioral psychology and economics. Claiming that insight and self-knowledge are insufficient for controlling one's behavior, Howard Rachlin argues that the only way to achieve such control--and ultimately happiness--is through the development of harmonious patterns of behavior. Most personal problems with self-control arise because people have difficulty delaying immediate gratification for a better future reward. The alcoholic prefers to drink now. If she is feeling good, a drink will make her feel better. If she is feeling bad, a drink will make her feel better. The problem is that drinking will eventually make her feel worse. This sequence--the consistent choice of a highly valued particular act (such as having a drink or a smoke) that leads to a low-valued pattern of acts--is called "the primrose path." To avoid it, the author presents a strategy of "soft commitment," consisting of the development of valuable patterns of behavior that bridge over individual temptations. He also proposes, from economics, the concept of the substitutability of "positive addictions," such as social activity or exercise, for "negative addictions," such as drug abuse or overeating. Self-control may be seen as the interaction with one's own future self. Howard Rachlin shows that indeed the value of the whole--of one's whole life--is far greater than the sum of the values of its individual parts.

Subfields: Artificial Intelligence, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Management Science and Operations Research

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/67f88abce6b25cd5fd8e6467723c0f7450d93ab6

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Citations in the corpus

Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: Associations, explanations, and implications. (2009, background): “Consulting one’s religious scriptures, as Rachlin (2000) proposed, can also be conceptualized as an output for effecting selfchange because religious scriptures can provide behavioral guidance that is more likely to be followed as a result of the fact that the guidance emanates from a sacred source.”
On the Self-regulatory Dynamics Created by the Peculiar Benefits and Costs of Narcissism: A Contextual Reinforcement Model and Examination of Leadership (2009, background): “Theft is beneficial to the thief, but costly for others; thus thieves will, when possible, be punished (see Baumeister & Scher, 1988; Platt, 1973; Rachlin, 2004, for reviews on these issues).”
Theory-driven design strategies for technologies that support behavior change in everyday life (2009, background): “and in fact often helps with being able to sustain the behavior over time, as long as the break does not become a pattern [17].”
Risk and Rationality in Adolescent Decision Making (2006, background): “Moreover, animals seem to have a shorter time horizon and are more impulsive than are human children, who, in turn, are more impulsive than human adults (Ainslie, 2001; Metcalfe & Mischel, 1999; Rachlin, 2000).”
Psychiatric aspects of impulsivity. (2001, positive): “Impulsivity may be related to an underlying mechanism of behavioral inhibition (26, 27).”
The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. (2004, background): “Humans tend to discount future relative to present gains (Rachlin, 2000), respond to dangerous situations with stereotyped, overlearned behaviors (Staw, Sandelands, & Dutton, 1981), and weigh risks and losses more heavily than opportunities and gains (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Finkenauer, & Vohs, 200”
Consideration of future consequences, ego-depletion, and self-control: Support for distinguishing between CFC-Immediate and CFC-Future sub-scales (2008, background): “By definition, most acts of self-control involve sacrificing short-term happiness (e.g., directing money one might spend today into a retirement fund) to achieve long-term well-being (e.g., retiring with enough money to live comfortably) (Rachlin, 2000).”
Remember the future: working memory training decreases delay discounting among stimulant addicts (2010, neutral): “017 tion of the past and future are linked (17,18), then it might be possible to decrease an individual’s discounting of future events by increasing his or her ability to remember past events.”
Promoting prospective self-control through abstraction ☆ (2010, background): “Monterosso, 2003; Kudadjie-Gyamfi & Rachlin, 1996; Read et al., 1999). 1051 K. Fujita, J.C. Roberts / Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 46 (2010) 1049–1054”
The influence of abstract and concrete mindsets on anticipating and guiding others' self-regulatory efforts ☆ (2004, background): “Given the assumption that balancing long-term, abstract aims and immediate, concrete experiences constitutes the core essence of self-regulation (e.g., Mischel et al., 1989; Rachlin, 2000; Trope & Fishbach, 2000), this hypothesized applicability of an abstract or concrete mindset across different co”
Self-Control in School-Age Children (2014, neutral): “…Sadovsky, & Spinrad, 2004; Freud, 1920; Fujita, 2011; Hofmann, Friese, & Strack, 2009; Milkman, Rogers, & Bazerman, 2008; W. Mischel et al., 1989; Rachlin, 2000; Rothbart & Rueda, 2005) but also with classical and contemporary philosophical work on the same topic (Aristotle, 1999; Frankfurt,…”
The burden of proof for a cultural group selection account (2014, neutral): “(1969) Law in culture and society. Aldine. [aPR] Nelson, E. E. & Panksepp, J. (1998) Brain substrates of infant–mother attachment:”
Internet Addiction and Delay Discounting in College Students (2010, methodology): “, the point at which a larger, delayed reward is subjectively equivalent to a smaller, immediate reward) were calculated using the method described by Rachlin et al. (1991). Figure 1 shows the median indifference points as a function of reward delay for both groups.”
A review of delay-discounting research with humans: relations to drug use and gambling (2006, background): “1) is often used to portray this phenomenon (e.g. Rachlin, 2000).”