Faulty Beliefs about Self Control Make it Worse
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
Four new experimental studies confirm what many cognitive designers suspected – we are over confident when it comes to predicting our ability to control urges and impulses. Described in the research article, Restraint Bias: How the Illusion of Self-Restraint Promotes Impulsive Behavior, the authors get right to designable-insights:
“This biased perception of restraint had important consequences for people’s self-control strategies. Inflated impulse-control beliefs led people to overexpose themselves to temptation, thereby promoting impulsive behavior.”
If you don’t have access to the journal, you can get more info in the blog post, Step Away from the Cookie Jar!
Be sure to test for the restraint bias in your next behavior change project.
