robust, reliable experimental support
1. What is self-management?
2. What are Skinner’s two self-control responses?
3. Describe the seven self-management strategies.
4. List the steps of how to use self-management.
5. What is willpower?
6. Explain ego depletion and decision fatigue.
7. What is the role of blood glucose in self-control?
8. How can willpower be increased?
How long are resolutions __________? (Norcross et al., 2002):
- past the first week: 75%
- past 2 weeks: 71%
- past 1 month: 64%
- past 6 months: 46%
- 1 year: 12% (Wiseman, 2007)
“Good resolutions are useless attempts to interfere with scientific laws. Their origin is pure vanity. Their result is absolutely ___.” -- Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890, p. 64).
How can self-management be used to withstand temptation by _______ _________?
(Homer, 8th century BCE)
- Odysseus, Greek king of Ithaca
- target behaviour: avoid steering ship into the rocks, lured by the enchanting song of the ______
- self-management program:
• took advice from Circe, a goddess of magic
• had his sailors tie him to the mast so he could hear the Sirens’ song
• sailors _______ their ears with beeswax
- results:
• upon hearing the song, ordered his sailors to untie him, but they just tied him tighter
• when they were out of earshot, communicated to be released by his ______
- definition: engaging in one behaviour to control or prevent the occurrence of a ______ behaviour
- or, the personal application of behaviour change procedures that produces a desired change in behaviour
- typically involves a conflict between short-term contingencies and long-term ________
- a.k.a. self-modification, self-regulation, or self-control programs
- a.k.a. _________, or self-discipline?
Skinner (1953): two-response conceptualization of self-control
• ___________ response: (i.e., the self-management behaviour) behaviour that influences future occurrence of the controlled response
• __________ response: the behaviour that you want to change (i.e., the target behaviour)
e.g., you enrol in a payment deduction plan to save money (controlling response) instead of spending it frivolously (controlled response)
- examples of self-management:
• increased exercise
• reduced tooth-grinding
• decreasing anxiety in taking _____
• increased time spent relaxing after dinner in men with Type A behaviour
• ____-_______: explicitly determining the criterion level of the target behaviour and the timeframe for achieving it
- achieving your goal can itself be a (conditioned) reinforcer
- goals should be S.M.A.R.T.: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound (Doran, 1981)
- not always effective when used by itself
• ____-__________ person observes and records their own behaviour as it occurs
- often produces __________--the measurement of behaviour itself causes a change in behaviour
- typically used with goal-setting
e.g., successfully used to reduce overeating, decrease smoking, and increase homework completion
- works better if data is public (vs. private), and if monitoring is physically recorded (vs. not recorded)
• manipulating ___________ (i.e., antecedent interventions)
e.g., woman designated one chair to be her “smoking chair,” placed so that it precluded conversation or TV watching; eventually put the chair in the basement and smoking decreased from 30 cigarettes/day to 5 (Nolan, 1968)
e.g., _______ (1981) recommended that writers set aside a particular place for writing that had books, a typewriter, comfortable desk and chair, etc.
• behavioural ________: written document that specifies and defines the target behaviour, what data will be collected and how, the criterion level of the target behaviour, the time frame for achieving it, and contingencies that affect the target behaviour
- is a formal way of making a commitment to your goal
- requires a self-management _______/contract manager/mediator
e.g., stickK.com uses “commitment contracts” and “referees”
• ____-____________ consequences: manipulating reinforcers and punishers
- person may take unearned rewards (“_______ reinforcement” or “short-circuiting the contingency”)
- may be difficult to punish yourself
• ______ support
- other people serve as cues for the target behaviour or provide natural reinforcers
• self-instructions and ____-______
- self-instructions: statements that tell yourself what to do, how to do it, or when to do it
Cohen et al. (1980):
- Betty, a 19-year-old college student
- target behaviour: ________
- often got sidetracked by talking on the phone, snacking, listening to music, or other distractions
- self-management: read a card with self-instructions on studying every 15 minutes
- results: studying increased from 60% of the time during baseline to over ___
- self-praise: statements of affirmative evaluations of your behaviour
• negative self-talk (____-_________) is linked to depression (cause vs. effect?)
(Miltenberger, 2024)
1. ______ to engage in self-management
2. define the target behaviour and competing behaviours
3. set goals
4. ____-_______
5. conduct a functional __________ (e.g., ABC observations)
6. choose appropriate self-management strategies
7. ________ change
8. reevaluate self-management strategies if necessary
9. implement ___________/generalization strategies
• positive life outcomes (including higher GPA, happy family life, good friends, robust health, lower depression and psychopathology, less alcohol abuse, satisfying career, financial security, and more) are consistently associated with two characteristics: ____________ and ____-_______ (Tangney et al., 2004)
• however, among two dozen “character strengths,” people were _____ likely to recognize self-control in themselves (Baumeister & Tierney, 2011)
(Find out your score on the Self-Control Scale.)
Hofmann et al. (2012):
- 205 participants in Würtzburg, Germany given Blackberrys
- were contacted at random times, and asked to report whether they were experiencing a desire (“__________ ________”)
- most common desires: eating, sleeping, leisure, sex
- were successful in resisting temptations only about ___ of the time
- conclusion: self-control __________--but why?
Roy Baumeister et al. (1998): The ______ experiment
- participants asked to skip a meal and fast for at least 3 hours for a “taste perception” experiment
- brought into the lab, which was filled with the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies
- participants sat at a table with a plate of warm cookies and a bowl of ________
• cookie condition: asked to eat 2-3 cookies
• ______ condition: asked to eat 2-3 radishes
- next, participants were given (impossible) geometric figure tracing problems
- dependent variable: persistence (time spent before giving up) and number of attempts
- results:
• no-food control: 20.9 min.; 32.8 attempts
• cookie group: 18.9 min.; 34.3 attempts
• ______ group: 8.4 min.; 19.4 attempts
- ___ _________: after exerting self-control on one task, you will be less effective on a subsequent self-control task--just like a muscle gets tired
Baba Shiv & Fedorikhin (1999):
- participants told they were in a ______ experiment
- were given a number to remember
• group 1 (high processing resources): given seven-digit number
• group 2 (low processing resources): given two-digit number
- each participant was taken to another room to continue the experiment
- on the way, they passed by a cart and were asked to choose one of two snacks to receive at the end of the study:
• chocolate cake with cherry topping
• _____ salad
- recited the number they were given
- results:
• group 1: 59% chose the ____
• group 2: 37% chose the ____
- interpretation: remembering seven digits requires more cognitive resources than does remembering two digits
- the cognitive resources required for remembering reduce _________ for resisting the temptation of sweet treats
Vohs et al. (2008):
- part 1: students shown a variety of products (e.g., coloured pens, scented candles, coloured T-shirts)
• ______ group: How often have you used each product? And rate it from 1-5.
• ______-______ group: Which product would you choose (e.g., red pen vs. purple pen)?
- part 2: given test of self-control: holding forearm in 1 °C water as long as possible
• rating group: 67.4 seconds
• forced-choice group: 27.7 seconds
- ________ _______: making decisions depletes willpower
Gailliot et al. (2007, as cited in Baumeister & Tierney, 2011): “Mardi Gras theory”
- Does giving in to __________ preserve willpower?
- all participants fasted, and were divided into groups
• milkshake group: given rich ice cream milkshake (made with full-fat cream)
• low-fat group: given milkshake made with half-and-half (cream with half the butterfat)
• control group: read out-of-date technical manuals
- next, all groups performed a self-control task
- results: both milkshake groups ____________ the control group
- experiment was considered a _______--unless...
- maybe it isn’t just a metaphor that willpower takes energy
- that is, perhaps food energy (_____ _______) increases self-control
Tasks used in experiments to deplete willpower:
• resisting cookies while hungry
• writing down thoughts without thinking about a polar bear
• suppressing emotion while watching the scene in Terms of Endearment in which a dying Debra Winger says goodbye to her children
DeWall et al. (2011): _______ and willpower
- part 1: in double-blind “taste test study,” participants were given lemonade
• glucose condition: sweetened with sugar
• placebo condition: sweetened with artificial sweetener (Splenda®)
- part 2: competitive reaction time task, which soon became impossibly difficult
- results:
• all participants became __________
• placebo group acted more aggressively toward their computer-based “partner” (even started _______ aloud and banging the computer)
• however, glucose group were able to keep their tempers under control and continued to cooperate in the game, demonstrating greater willpower
Ways to temporarily boost willpower:
• consume _______/simple carbs (really short term)
• consume _______/complex carbs (short term)
• rest, relaxation, mindfulness, and meditation (short term)
Oaten and Cheng (2006a): willpower _______
- “_________” undergraduates were given gym memberships
- performed 2-month program of physical exercise, which required willpower
- self-regulation performance measured by a laboratory task (computer-based visual tracking task--while ignoring the Eddie Murphy video __________) and everyday behaviours
- results: overall long-term ________ in willpower
• decreases in perceived stress, emotional distress, smoking, alcohol and caffeine consumption
• increase in healthy eating, emotional control, household chores, monitoring of spending and improvement in ________
- similar willpower improvement obtained by:
• participating in a study program
• improving your _______
• using your non-dominant hand
• saying “yes” instead of “____”
- exerting willpower leads to ego depletion in the short term
- but as you exercise your willpower, it _________ over time--just like a muscle grows stronger (strength model of self-control; Baumeister et al., 2007)
Ways to strengthen willpower (long-term):
• keeping track of your eating
• exercising regularly
• using a mouse with your weaker/non-dominant hand
• speaking in complete sentences and without swearing
Results of strengthened willpower:
• smoking, drinking, and snacking less
• watching less television
• studying more
• washing more dishes
de Ridder et al. (2012):
- meta-analysis of self-control studies
- people who score highest in self-control use it the _____ every day
- that is, those with high self-control use it to create strong (beneficial) _________ habits
- they structure their lives so that they do not need to expend willpower during the day
e.g., planned a route that avoided walking past Tim Hortons every time
- vice-versa for those who scored low on self-control: their lives were structured so that they were constantly forced to use willpower to resist temptation
e.g., expended willpower to resist buying a donut when walking past Tim Hortons every time
- to keep your New Year’s resolutions, set up your life to ________ temptations
Pros & cons of the strength model:
robust, reliable experimental support
does not explain why people may resist (or give in to) a particular temptation
alternative explanations may account for willpower effects (e.g., __________: can paying someone overcome ego depletion?)
How to Keep Your Resolutions (Tierney, 2012):
• _________: like Odysseus, prevent yourself from engaging in undesirable behaviours (increased response effort)
e.g., lower your credit card limit; don’t keep unhealthy snacks in your home
• use behavioural _________
e.g., stickK.com
• keep track: ____-_______ your behaviour(s)
e.g., write it down; use gadgets like Fitbit, Withings Wi-Fi scale, Pavlok, etc.
• don’t overreact to a lapse:
e.g., “____ ___ ____ effect”: after you go over your daily calorie limit, you just keep eating anyway (Cochran & Tesser, 1996)
• reward often: _________ your successes
(but DON’T eat a piece of cheesecake to reward yourself for having a salad)