People just have this limited capability to control themselves, whether that be controlling their emotions and then applying themselves in some other task, and this ... has a lot of implications.
So, for example, even though I would tell all of my students to quit smoking of they’re smokers, it probably would not be the best idea for them to quit smoking during finals, because if self control is a limited resource and we know it takes a lot of willpower to quit smoking, it also takes a lot of willpower to go to the library and open up the books and stay on task ... .
Just realizing that self control is limited may make you think twice about what you’re regulating or what you’re controlling ... so I think that once you know this, you can sort of “arm yourself”.
Michael Inzlicht
Michael Inzlicht's Website
Assistant Professor
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