Citation

Hayden BY. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 2019; 374(1766): e20180139.

Affiliation

Department of Neuroscience, Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Center for Neuroengineering, University of Minnesota , Minneapolis, MN 55455 , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Royal Society of London)

DOI

10.1098/rstb.2018.0139

PMID

30966922

Abstract

Self-control refers to the ability to deliberately reject tempting options and instead select ones that produce greater long-term benefits. Although some apparent failures of self-control are, on closer inspection, reward maximizing, at least some self-control failures are clearly disadvantageous and non-strategic. The existence of poor self-control presents an important evolutionary puzzle because there is no obvious reason why good self-control should be more costly than poor self-control. After all, a rock is infinitely patient. I propose that self-control failures result from cases in which well-learned (and thus routinized) decision-making strategies yield suboptimal choices. These mappings persist in the decision-makers' repertoire because they result from learning processes that are adaptive in the broader context, either on the timescale of learning or of evolution. Self-control, then, is a form of cognitive control and the subjective feeling of effort likely reflects the true costs of cognitive control. Poor self-control, in this view, is ultimately a result of bounded optimality. This article is part of the theme issue 'Risk taking and impulsive behaviour: fundamental discoveries, theoretical perspectives and clinical implications.

Language: en

Keywords

cognitive control; economic choice; evolution; intertemporal choice; self-control