Browsing by Subject "habits"

Desires are an integral part of everyday life. Many desires can be enacted without problems, but some desires are in conflict with other goals. Success in managing one’s problematic desires is influenced by many factors. This review aims to describe the role of trait self-control in managing daily desires and in achieving long-term goals. Traditionally, self-control research has assumed that trait self-control operates by resisting temptations. However, recent work has shown that avoiding temptations rather than resisting them and adaptive habits can act as moderators between trait self-control and goal attainment. An important question for future research is how trait self-control contributes to the formation and maintenance of adaptive habits. Future studies should compare different self-control strategies and measure people’s actual behavior in real-life situations. Experience sampling is a useful method for gathering empirical data on how people behave, think and feel in their natural environment.