Willpower as a muscle
[quote author=Willpower Instinct]
The first scientist to systematically observe and test the limits of willpower was Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University with a long-standing reputation for studying puzzling phenomena. .........For the last 15 years, he has been asking people to exert their willpower in the laboratory - turning down cookies, tuning out distractions, holding back their anger, and holding their arms in ice water. In study after study, no matter what task he used, people's self-control deteriorated over time. A concentration task didn't just lead to worse attention over time; it depleted physical strength. Controlling emotions didn't just lead to emotional outbursts; it made people more willing to spend money on something they didn't need. Resisting tempting sweets didn't just trigger cravings for chocolate; it prompted procrastination. It was as if every act of willpower was drawing from the same source of strength, leaving people weaker with each successful act of self-control.
These observations led Baumeister to an intriguing hypothesis: that self-control is like a muscle. When used, it gets tired.
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This observation can be used to strategize willpower challenges - like if struggling with something that one wants to do, it is useful to schedule it for a time when one has more strength and energy.
For training willpower, researchers have asked people to challenge the self-control muscle by asking people to control one small thing that they are not used to controlling.
[quote author=Willpower Instinct]
Studies have shown that committing to any small consistent act of self-control - improving your posture, squeezing the handgrip every day to exhaustion, cutting back on sweets, and keeping track of your spending - can increase overall willpower. And while these small self-control exercises may seem inconsequential, they appear to improve the willpower challenges that we care about most, including focusing at work, taking good care of our health, resisting temptation, and feeling more in control of our emotions.
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The important "muscle" action being trained in all these studies isn't the specific willpower challenge of meeting deadlines, using your left hand to open a door, or keeping the F-word to yourself. Its the habit of noticing what we are about to do, and choosing to do more difficult thing instead of the easiest.
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So modern studies are saying the same thing as Gurdjieff said, " work on small aims at first" and "do what It does not like".
KM also states that willpower fatigue is not unlike what researchers have found about muscle fatigue. Research of Timothy Noakes, professor of exercise and sports science at University of Cape Town, on what happens to endurance athletes under extreme conditions (following the work of Nobel prize winning physiologist Archibald Hill) has shown
[quote author=Willpower Instinct]
no evidence for physiological failure happening within the muscles; instead it appeared that the brain was telling the muscles to stop. The brain, sensing an increased heart rate and rapidly depleting energy supply, literally puts the brakes on the body. At the same time, the brain creates an overwhelming feeling of fatigue that has little to do with the muscles' capacity to keep working. As Noakes puts it, "Fatigue should no longer be considered a physical event but rather a sensation or emotion." Most of us interpret exhaustion as an objective indicator that we cannot continue. This theory says it is just a feeling generated by the brain to motivate us to stop, in much the same way that the feeling of anxiety can stop us from doing something dangerous, and a feeling of disgust can stop us from eating something that will make us sick. But because fatigue is only an early warning system, extreme athletes can routinely push past what seems to the rest of us like the natural physical limits of the body.
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Some scientists now believe that the limits of self-control are just like the physical limits of the body - we often feel depleted of willpower before we actually are. In part, we can thank a brain motivated to conserve energy. Just as the brain may tell the body's muscles to slow down when it fears physical exhaustion, the brain may put the brakes on its own energy-expensive exercise of the prefrontal cortex. This does not mean we are out of willpower; we just need to muster up the motivation to use it .
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Gurdjieff knew what he was talking about when he talked about putting super-efforts.
Moral Licensing Effect
Moral licensing refers to the situation where after one does something good and feels good about oneself, chances are that one is likely to give in to impulses afterwards. Shoppers who restrain themselves from buying something tempting are more likely to go home and eat something tempting. Employees who put in extra time on a project may feel justified putting a personal expense on the company credit card.
[quote author=Willpower Instinct]
Anything you moralize becomes fair game for the effect of moral licensing. If you tell yourself that you are "good" when you exercise and "bad" when you don't, then you are more likely to skip the gym tomorrow if you work out today. Tell yourself you are "good" for working on an important project and "bad" for procrastinating, and you are more likely to slack off in the afternoon if you made progress in the morning. Simply put: Whenever we have conflicting desires, being good gives us permission to be a little bad.
Importantly this is not just a matter of running out of blood sugar or willpower. When psychologists ask people about their licensed indulgences, the indulgers report feeling in control of their choices, not out of control. Instead they report feeling proud of themselves for earning a reward. They offer the justification, "I was so good, I deserve a little treat". This sense of entitlement too often becomes our downfall. Because we are quick to view self-indulgence as the best reward for virtue, we forget our real goals and give in to temptation.
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Anything that makes us feel warm and fuzzy about our virtue - even just thinking about doing something good - can license us to follow our impulses. In one study, people were asked to choose which type of volunteer work they would prefer: teaching children in a homeless shelter or improving the environment. Even though they are not signing up for any actual service, just imagining the choice increased their desire to splurge on a pair of designer jeans. Another study found that merely considering donating money to a charity - without actually handing over any cash - increased people's desire to treat themselves at the mall.
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{F}eeling good about ourselves for past (or future hypothetical) good behavior helps us justify indulgences. When you feel like a saint, the idea of self-indulgence does not feel wrong. It feels right. Like you earned it . And if the only thing motivating your self-control is the desire to be a good enough person, you are going to give in whenever you are already feeling good about yourself.
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While most of us believe that making progress on our goals sours us on to greater success, psychologists know we are all too quick to use progress as an excuse for taking it easy. Ayelet Fishbach, professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and Ravi Dhar, professor at the Yale School of Management, have shown that making progress on a goal motivates people to engage in goal-sabotaging behavior. In one study, they reminded successful dieters of how much progress they had made toward their ideal weight. They then offered the dieters a thank-you gift of either an apple or a chocolate bar. 85% of the self-congratulating dieters chose the chocolate bar over the apple, compared with only 58% of the dieters who were not reminded of their progress. A second study found the same effect for academic goals: students made to feel good about the amount of time they had spent studying for an exam were more likely to spend the afternoon playing beer pong with friends.
Progress can cause us to abandon the goal we have worked so hard on because it shifts the balance of power between our competing selves. Remember that by definition, a willpower challenge involves two conflicting goals. Part of you is thinking about your long-term interests; the other part wants immediate gratification. In the moment of temptation, you need your higher self to argue more loudly than the voice of self-indulgence. However, self-control success has an unintended consequence: it temporarily satisfies and therefore silences the higher self.
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Essentially, the same point mentioned in the "Thinking, Fast and Slow" thread comes up: a state of feeling smug and good weakens System2 operation and lets automatic reactions take center stage.
[quote author=Willpower Instinct]
Progress can be motivating, and even inspire future self-control, but only if you view your actions as evidence that you are committed to your goal. ... These two mindsets have very different consequences. When people who have taken a positive step toward meeting a goal - for example exercising, studying or saving money - are asked, "How much progress do you feel you have made on your goal?" they are far more likely to then do something that conflicts with that goal, like skip the gym the next day, hang out with friends instead of studying, or buy something expensive. In contrast, people who are asked "How committed do you feel to your goal" are not tempted by the conflicting behavior. A simple shift in focus leads to a very different interpretation of their own actions - "I did that because I wanted to", not "I did that, great, now I can do what I really want!".
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A consistent reminder of the overall aim is thus necessary to stay on track. Reiterating the aim to oneself periodically may be of help in this regard. Another suggestion coming from research is that when attempting to change a behavior, aiming to reduce the variability in the behavior is useful. Instead of setting unrealistic goals in changing a behavior (like aiming to exercise everyday and failing at it) starting off with achievable goals and aiming to stick to it (exercise twice a week and keep track of the variability) yields better results.
Role of Self Compassion
Beating oneself up for failure at willpower tasks is counterproductive. It leads to the "what he hell effect" (psychologists have names for everything).
[quote author=Willpower Instinct]
If you think that the key to greater willpower is being harder on yourself, you are not alone. But you are wrong. Study after study shows that self-criticism is consistently associated with less motivation and worse self-control. It is also one of the biggest predictors of depression, which drains both "I will" power and "I want" power. In contrast, self-compassion - being supportive and kind to yourself, especially in the face of stress and failure is associated with more motivation and better self-control.
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One reason forgiveness helps people recover from mistakes is that it takes away the shame and pain of thinking about what happened. The what-the-hell effect is an attempt to escape the bad feelings that follow a setback. Without the guilt and self-criticism, there is nothing to escape. This means it is easier to reflect on how the failure happened, and less tempting to repeat it.
On the other hand, if you view your setbacks as evidence that you are a hopeless loser who screws everything up, thinking about your failure is a miserable exercise in self-hate. Your most urgent goal will be to soothe those feelings, not learn from your experience. This is why self-criticism backfires as a strategy for self-control. Like other forms of stress, it drives you straight to comfort coping, whether that's drowning your sorrows at the nearest dive bar, or lifting your spirits with a Visa sponsored shopping spree.
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Ironic Rebound - or do not think about the white bear
Trying not to think about something does not work. Efforts to not think about something usually rebounds and results in the the opposite effect. Reminded me of experiences when I was learning to ride a bike and hard as I tried not to hit the post, I would be left flat on the back thinking what went wrong. That was not a willpower but a skill challenge but the dynamics could be similar. Anyway, according to an approach adopted by Philippe Goldin, Stanford Neuroscientist working with people having social anxiety, what works is the acceptance of the feelings of anxiety but not to be immersed in them - very similar to the traditional Buddhist mindfulness approach.
[quote author=Willpower Instinct]
He (Goldin) teaches social anxiety sufferers to observe and accept their thoughts and feelings - even the scary ones. The goal is not to get rid of the anxiety and self-doubt, but to develop a trust that they can handle these difficult thoughts and feelings. If they learn that there is no inner experience that they need to protect themselves from, they can find more freedom in the outer world.
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And in this context, mindful breathing as well as body awareness serve as great aids in combating powerful feelings. The goal is not to suppress thoughts - but to accept their presence but not believe in them. We cannot control what thoughts automatically come to the mind - but we do not have to accept the content of that thought. But for this to happen, the prefrontal cortex has to be active. As research suggests, system1 is likely to believe the thought that comes to the mind by default and it is the task of system2 to unbelieve it.