![]() Responding coolly and calmly rather than behave too emotionally.Overriding unwanted thoughts, feelings, or impulses.Resisting short-term temptations and delay gratification to achieve long-term goals. ![]() We could define willpower and see its benefits as (American Psychological Association, 2012): So, where does this leave us with our understanding – its meaning and definition?Īccording to the American Psychological Association (APA), “willpower is the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals.” (American Psychological Association, 2012, para. Willpower is evident in the latter.Īnd “anyone with some life experience under their belt knows that they can accomplish more with a healthy sense of constraint and willpower” (Hollins, 2021, p. Other times, we maintain the drive to push on, despite other interests, temptations, and distractions. We don’t have the willpower to stick to the diet or get to the gym. Sometimes, because of the ongoing competition within our brains, we fail. Finally, in the middle, but lower down in our prefrontal cortex, the cells fire to keep us motivated and in line with our goals (I want) (McGonigal, 2013). The left side of this brain region helps us stick to tasks (I will)–even boring ones–while the right side (I will not) stops us from being distracted or giving in to temptation. It has three key areas, each one helping us weigh up whether “I will,” “I will not,” or “I want” to do something. So, when we put things off, watching TV instead of completing the tax form, that’s our prefrontal cortex at work.Īnd yet, this part of the brain is more than a single unified decision-maker. It directs what we pay attention to and think about–and even the emotions we experience (McGonigal, 2013). Neuroscience tells us that our prefrontal cortex–the part of the brain just behind our forehead–controls what we do. What Is Willpower? Its Meaning & Definition What Is Willpower? Its Meaning & Definition.(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved). Overall, the results indicate that interventions are a promising avenue for promoting self-control and may help to contribute to changing health outcomes associated with a wide variety of diseases and disorders. In addition, it is suggested that developing a self-control profile may be advantageous for aligning specific interventions to mitigate specific deficits. The diagram suggests that the individual target processes of the interventions may potentially summate to produce general self-control, or perhaps even produce synergistic effects. A diagram outlining a proposed set of intervention effects on self-control is introduced to motivate further research in this area. Similarly, interval schedules primarily target interval timing, which promotes self-controlled responses. For example, effort exposure appears to primarily increase effort tolerance, which in turn can improve self-control. ![]() Most interventions are domain-specific, targeting specific cognitive and behavioral processes that relate to self-control rather than targeting overall self-control. Some of the successful interventions are long-lasting, whereas others may be transient. Most of the interventions have been consistently shown to increase self-control, except for mindfulness training. The self-control interventions include effort exposure, reward discrimination, reward bundling, interval schedules of reinforcement, impulse control training, and mindfulness training. Self-control can exert a significant impact on human health and impulsive behaviors are associated with a wide range of diseases and disorders, leading to the suggestion that impulsivity is a trans-disease process. This review article discusses various cognitive and behavioral interventions that have been developed with the goal of promoting self-controlled responding.
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