Citation

Nordgren LF, van Harreveld F, van der Pligt J. Psychol. Sci. 2009; 20(12): 1523-1528.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Association for Psychological Science, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02468.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Four studies examined how impulse‐control beliefs—beliefs regarding one's ability to regulate visceral impulses, such as hunger, drug craving, and sexual arousal—influence the self‐control process. The findings provide evidence for a restraint bias: a tendency for people to overestimate their capacity for impulse control. This biased perception of restraint had important consequences for people's self‐control strategies. Inflated impulse‐control beliefs led people to overexpose themselves to temptation, thereby promoting impulsive behavior. In Study 4, for example, the impulse‐control beliefs of recovering smokers predicted their exposure to situations in which they would be tempted to smoke. Recovering smokers with more inflated impulse‐control beliefs exposed themselves to more temptation, which led to higher rates of relapse 4 months later. The restraint bias offers unique insight into how erroneous beliefs about self‐restraint promote impulsive behavior.