Too much of a good thing? Exploring the inverted‐U relationship between self‐control and happiness

Wiese, Christopher W.; Tay, Louis; Duckworth, Angela; D’Mello, Sidney K.; Kuykendall, Lauren; Hofmann, Wilhelm; Baumeister, Roy F.; Vohs, Kathleen D.

doi:10.1111/jopy.12322

“…Moreover, we found that average moment-to-moment autonomous motivation accounted for some of the documented relation between self-control and well-being (Hofmann et al, 2014;Wiese et al, 2017), and extended the scope of that relation to include burnout and purpose.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Self-Control and the Reasons Behind Our Goals

Converse¹,

Juarez²,

Hennecke³

2018

Preprint

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Motivation derived from a sense of truly valuing or enjoying one’s pursuits (“wanting to do it”) – as opposed to motivation born of external demands or other people’s expectations (“having to do it”) – is associated with goal-pursuit success and overall well-being. But what determines the quality of motivation in the first place? Many theoretical perspectives identify features of the task or situation as determinants, but have largely ignored the potential contribution of individual self-regulatory tendencies. We ask here whether individual differences in self-control may be associated with an individual’s likelihood of “wanting to” pursue current goals, operationalized as the momentary experience of autonomous motivation. We first describe an exploratory experience-sampling study that documented the association (Study 1) and prompted subsequent development of the hypothesis that trait self-control and autonomous motivation are related. A second experience sampling study replicated the effect (Study 1R) and two cross-sectional studies helped hone its interpretation (Studies 2 and 3). We then employed an experimental paradigm to test whether the association between trait self-control and autonomous motivation is goal-dependent. Consistent with an instrumental, self-regulatory account of the association, we found that trait self-control was related to autonomous motivation for a novel task only when an individual expected to continue working on that task (Study 4). Employing an integrative perspective, this work expands our understanding of trait self-control by identifying it as a candidate contributor to motivation quality, and, more generally, helps to integrate otherwise disparate approaches to understanding motivation.

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“…Despite having effects on the focal outcome, that is, whether people show goal-consistent behavior or not, selfregulatory strategies may also vary with regard to their effects on the person's well-being. Generally, self-control is positively related to well-being, and likely so because people with higher self-control experience less conflicts between their current desires and their goals (Hofmann et al, 2014;Wiese et al, 2017). Another possible path through which self-control may lead to higher well-being is through its positive effect on goal progress (Brunstein, 1993).…”

Section: Response Modulation Strategy Suppressing the Impulse To Quitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Many roads lead to Rome: Self‐regulatory strategies and their effects on self‐control

Hennecke

¹

,

Bürgler

²

2020

Social & Personality Psych

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In a self-control conflict, people face a dilemma between a current goal (e.g., to exercise regularly) and competing impulses, habits, or desires (e.g., to stay on the couch and continue watching TV). To resolve such conflicts in favor of their goals, individuals may capitalize on a variety of self-regulatory strategies. In this article, we review recent research on the self-regulatory strategies people use in their daily lives, research on the effectiveness of these strategies, and research on the consequences of self-regulatory strategy use on wellbeing. We furthermore take both an individual-differences and a situational perspective by linking strategy use to individual differences between people (e.g., in self-control) and by emphasizing that strategy effectiveness likely depends on situational context (e.g., on current demands). Finally, we introduce ideas and potential future research questions revolving around the role of individual differences in regulatory flexibility (including context-sensitivity) for determining a person's self-regulatory success.Good self-control is a highly desirable trait. Being able to act in the interest of one's goals even in the face of competing impulses, habits, and desires, appears to be necessary for living a successful, healthy, and happy life: In fact, self-control supports high achievement at school and work, helps people to control their body weight, makes them stay away from drugs and crime, promotes the experience of satisfying personal relationships, and generally fosters

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“…Despite having effects on the focal outcome, that is, whether people show goal-consistent behavior or not, self-regulatory strategies may also vary with regard to their effects on the person´s well-being. Generally, self-control is positively related to well-being, and likely so because people with higher self-control experience less conflicts between their current desires and their goals (Hofmann et al,2014;Wiese et al, 2017). Another possible path through which self-control may lead to higher well-being is through its positive effect on goal progress (Brunstein, 1993).…”

Section: Focusing On Negative Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Many roads lead to Rome: Self-regulatory strategies and their effects on self-control

Hennecke¹,

Bürgler²

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a self-control conflict, people face a dilemma between a current goal (e.g., to exercise regularly) and competing impulses, habits, or desires (e.g., to stay on the couch and continue watching TV). To resolve such conflicts in favor of their goals, individuals may capitalize on a variety of self-regulatory strategies. In this article, we review recent research on the selfregulatory strategies people use in their daily lives, research on the effectiveness of these strategies, and research on the consequences of self-regulatory strategy use on well-being. We furthermore take both an individual-differences and a situational perspective by linking strategy use to individual differences between people (e.g., in self-control) and by emphasizing that strategy effectiveness likely depends on situational context (e.g., on current demands). Lastly, we introduce ideas and potential future research questions revolving around the role of individual differences in regulatory flexibility (including context sensitivity) for determining a person´s selfregulatory success.

show abstract

Too much of a good thing? Exploring the inverted‐U relationship between self‐control and happiness

Abstract: Our main finding is that self-control enhances subjective well-being with little to no apparent downside of too much self-control.

Cited by 85 publications

References 63 publications

Self-Control and the Reasons Behind Our Goals

Self-Control and the Reasons Behind Our Goals

Many roads lead to Rome: Self‐regulatory strategies and their effects on self‐control

Many roads lead to Rome: Self-regulatory strategies and their effects on self-control

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