Abstract
Our aim was to develop a taxonomy of commonly experienced goals and temptations. We expected to find evidence of interpersonal self-control challenges and avoidance temptations (e.g., avoid a difficult conversation), as these are anecdotally frequent but under represented in the psychological literature. In Study 1, we used qualitative coding to develop a taxonomy, after asking people to describe a goal and a competing temptation in four recent personal situations involving self-control failure. From these narrative descriptions, we identified categories of goals and temptations and then coded each scenario. We then verified the frequency of these goal and temptation categories (Study 2). Findings revealed many instances of interpersonal self-control challenges and some evidence of avoidance temptations, as well as the common phenomenon of being tempted to “not do the goal.” We discuss the variability in how people describe their goals in terms of approach and avoidance framing with the intention of outlining avenues for future research on commonly experienced self-control scenarios.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
In the service of fulling describing self-control challenge situations, we retained all scenarios in subsequent analyses, including those depicting successes (even though those were counter to the instructions). Conclusions do not change in any substantive way by excluding “success” scenarios.
References
Ayduk, Ö, Gyurak, A., & Luerssen, A. (2008). Individual differences in the rejection-aggression link in the hot sauce paradigm: The case of rejection sensitivity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 775–782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2007.07.004.
Baumeister, R. F. (2016). Toward a general theory of motivation: Problems, challenges, opportunities, and the big picture. Motivation and Emotion, 40, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9521-y.
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323–370.
Baumeister, R. F., Heatherton, T. F., & Tice, D. M. (1994). Losing control: How and why people fail at self-regulation. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.
Buhrmester, D., Furman, W., Wittenberg, M. T., & Reis, H. T. (1988). Five domains of interpersonal competence in peer relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 991–1008.
Carstensen, L. L., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Charles, S. T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54(3), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.3.165.
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (2011). Self-regulation of action and affect. In K. D. Vohs & R. F. Baumeister (Eds.), Handbook of Self Regulation (2nd edn., pp. 3–21). New York: Guilford Press.
Chase, J. A., Houmanfar, R., Hayes, S. C., Ward, T. A., Vilardaga, J. P., & Follette, V. (2013). Values are not just goals: Online ACT-based values training adds to goal setting in improving undergraduate college student performance. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 2(3), 79–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2013.08.002.
Chawla, N., & Ostafin, B. (2007). Experiential avoidance as a functional dimensional approach to psychopathology: An empirical review. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 63, 871–890. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20400.
Coats, E., Janoff-Bulman, R., & Alpert, N. (1996). Approach versus avoidance goals: Differences in self-evaluation and well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 1057–1067.
de Ridder, D. T. D., de Boer, B. J., Lugtig, P., Bakker, A. B., & van Hooft, E. A. J. (2011). Not doing bad things is not equivalent to doing the right thing: Distinguishing between inhibitory and initiatory self-control. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 1006–1011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.01.015.
Dholakia, U. M., Gopinath, M., Bagozzi, R. P., & Nataraajan, R. (2006). The role of regulatory focus in the experience and self-control of desire for temptations. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 16, 163–175. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp1602_7.
Dixon-Gordon, K. L., Bernecker, S. L., & Christensen, K. (2015). Recent innovations in the field of interpersonal emotion regulation. Current Opinion in Psychology, 3, 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.02.001.
Elliot, A. J. (2006). The hierarchical model of approach-avoidance motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 30(2), 111–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9028-7.
Elliot, A. J., & Covington, M. V. (2001). Approach and avoidance motivation. Educational Psychology Review, 13, 73–92. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009009018235.
Elliot, A. J., Sheldon, K. M., & Church, M. A. (2006). Avoidance personal goals and subjective well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 915–927.
Fujita, K. (2008). Seeing the forest beyond the trees: A construal-level approach to self-control. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(3), 1475–1496. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00118.x.
Fujita, K. (2011). On conceptualizing self-control as more than the effortful inhibition of impulses. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15(4), 352–366. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868311411165.
Funkhouser, E., & Veilleux, J. C. (2018). Framing temptations in relation to the self: Acceptance and alienation. In A. Mele (Ed.), Philosophy and science of self-control.
Galliot, M. T., & Baumeister, R. F. (2007). Self-regulation and sexual restraint: Dispositionally and temporarily poor self-regulatory abilities contribute to failures at restraining sexual behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672062934742.
Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119.
Halford, W. K., Lizzio, A., Wilson, K. L., & Occhipinti, S. (2007). Does working at your marriage help? Couple relationship self-regulation and satisfaction in the first 4 years of marriage. Journal of Family Psychology, 21, 185–194. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.21.2.185.
Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52, 1280–1300. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.52.12.1280.
Hofmann, W., Baumeister, R. F., Förster, & Vohs (2012). Everyday temptations: An experience sampling study of desire, conflict, and self-control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102, 1318–1335. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026545.
Hofmann, W., Rauch, W., & Gawronski, B. (2007). And deplete us not into temptation: Automatic attitudes, dietary restraint, and self-regulatory resources as determinants of eating behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 497–504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2007.01.005.
Hofmann, W., Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2012). What people desire, feel conflicted about, and try to resist in everyday life. Psychological Science, 23(6), 582–588. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612437426.
Klingsieck, K. B. (2013). Procrastination: When good things don’t come to those who wait. European Psychologist, 18, 24–34. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000138.
Köpetz, C. E., Lejuez, C. W., Wiers, R. W., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2013). Motivation and self-regulation in addiction a call for convergence. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612457575.
Kroese, F. M., & de Ridder, D. T. (2016). Health behavior procrastination: A novel reasoned route toward self-regulatory failure. Health Psychology Review, 10, 313–325. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2015.1116019.
Mann, T., de Ridder, D., & Fujita, K. (2013). Self-regulation of health behavior: Social psychological approaches to goal setting and goal striving. Health Psychology, 32(5), 487–498. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028533.
Muraven, M., Collins, R. L., & Nienhaus, K. (2002). Self-control and alcohol restraint: An initial application of the self-control strength model. Psychology of Addictive Behavior, 6, 113–120. https://doi.org/10.1037//0893-164X.16.2.113.
Netzer, L., Van Kleef, G. A., & Tamir, M. (2015). Interpersonal instrumental emotion regulation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 58, 124–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2015.01.006.
Roskes, M., Elliot, A. J., & De Dreu, C. K. (2014). Why is avoidance motivation problematic, and what can be done about it? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(2), 133–138. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414524224.
Rouse, P. C., Ntoumanis, N., & Duda, J. L. (2013). Effects of motivation and depletion on the ability to resist the temptation to avoid physical activity. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 11(1), 39–56.
Scholer, A. A., & Higgins, E. T. (2011). Promotion and prevention systems: Regulatory focus dynamics within self-regulatory hierarchies. In K. D. Vohs & R. F. Baumeister (Eds.), Handbook of self regulation (2nd edn., pp. 143–161). New York: Guilford Press.
Sirois, F., & Pychyl, T. (2013). Procrastination and the priority of short-term mood regulation: Consequences for future self. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7, 115–127. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12011.
Stroebe, W., Van Koningsbruggen, G. M., Papies, E. K., & Aarts, H. (2013). Why most dieters fail but some succeed: A goal conflict model of eating behavior. Psychological Review, 120, 110. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030849.
Tangney, J. P., Baumeister, R. F., & Boone, A. L. (2004). High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. Journal of Personality, 72(2), 271–324. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3506.2004.00263.xT.
Tice, D. M., & Bratslavsky, E. (2000). Giving in to feel good: The place of emotion regulation in the context of general self-control. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 149–159. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1103_03.
Zaki, J., & Williams, W. C. (2013). Interpersonal emotion regulation. Emotion, 13(5), 803. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033839.
Funding
Funding was provided by John Templeton Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Veilleux, J.C., Hill, M.A., Skinner, K.D. et al. Self-control failure scenarios in daily life: Develo** a taxonomy of goals and temptations. Motiv Emot 42, 653–670 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9695-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9695-1