Losing control : how and why people fail at self-regulation

Self-regulation refers to the self's ability to control its own thoughts, emotions, and actions. Through self-regulation, we consciously control how much we eat, whether we give in to impulse, task performance, obsessive thoughts, and even the extent to which we allow ourselves recognition of our emotions. This work provides a synthesis and overview of recent and long-standing research findings of what is known of the successes and failures of self-regulation. People the world over suffer from the inability to control their finances, their weight, their emotions, their craving for drugs, their sexual impulses, and more. The United States in particular is regarded by some observers as a society addicted to addiction. Therapy and support groups have proliferated not only for alcoholics and drug abusers but for all kinds of impulse control, from gambling to eating chocolate. Common to all of these disorders is a failure of self-regulation, otherwise known as "self-control." The consequences of these self-control problems go beyond individuals to affect family members and society at large. In Losing Control, the authors provide a single reference source with comprehensive information on general patterns of self-regulation failure across contexts, research findings on specific self-control disorders, and commentary on the clinical and social aspects of self-regulation failure. Self-control is discussed in relation to what the "self" is, and the cognitive, motivational, and emotional factors that impinge on one's ability to control one's "self." Key Features • Discusses the importance of the concept of self-regulation to general issues of autonomy and identity • Encompasses self-control of thoughts, feelings, and actions • Contains a special section on the control of impulses and appetites • First book to integrate recent research into a broad overview of the area Audience: Researchers and students in social psychology and personality, and clinical psychologists. This book is printed on acid-free paper. 8 Copyright © 1994 by ACADEMIC PRESS All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Part II Part III Part IV Preface Acknowledgments What Is Self-Regulation? 6 Basic Ingredients of Self-Regulation Importance of Self-Regulation Plan of Book 12 Conflicting Standards Inadequate Strength 17 Psychological Inertia 20 Lapse-Activated Causal Patterns 22 Renegade Attention 25 Rolling the Snowball 27 Acquiescence: Letting It Happen 29 Misregulation 31 Summary and Conclusion 32 Underregulation 38 Misregulation 47 Summary and Conclusion 57 Aimlessness: Not Setting Goals 62 Overly Rigid Goals and Plans 63 Unrealistic Goals, Foolish Commitments 65 Failing to Delay Gratification 68 Self-Handicapping 70 Procrastination 72 When Success Breeds Failure 74 Mismanaging Money 78 Summary and Conclusion 80 Obsessions and Compulsions 83 Unwanted Thoughts 86 Decisions and Inferences 90 The Strange Case of Self-Deception 95 Summary and Conclusion 99 Underregulation and the Myth of Venting 102 Misregulation 110 Overgeneralization: Mismatching Moods and Strategies 118 Overgeneralization across Circumstances 121 Ignoring Long-Term Concerns 123 Individual Differences in Skill 125 Summary and Conclusion 126 What Are Impulses and Addictions? 132 How Impulses Arise The Problem of Impulse Control 137 Attention, Rationalization, and Temptation 138 Self-Awareness 140 Snowballing 141 Having That First Drink Drinking a Great Deal 156 Summary and Conclusion 168 Underregulation 174 Misregulation 192 Self-regulation refers to the self's ability to control its own thoughts, emotions, and actions. This work provides a synthesis and overview of the research findings of what is known of the successes and failures of self-regulation. It discusses the importance of the concept of self-regulation to general issues of autonomy and identity.