7 checked facts

Self-control

Everything on this site about self-control — each one naming the study behind it.

You underestimate how much control you have over your habits.
Research indicates that people who view willpower as a limited resource perform worse on self-control tasks than those…
A minor lapse in control leads to a total collapse.
The 'what-the-hell' effect describes how a small violation of a goal leads to the abandonment of that goal entirely.…
You overestimate your ability to control your impulses.
The restraint bias is the tendency for people to overestimate their ability to show self-control in the face of tempta…
You consistently overestimate your ability to handle immediate temptation.
The restraint bias is a pattern where individuals overestimate their self-control and consequently put themselves in s…
A minor lapse leads you to abandon all progress.
The what-the-hell effect explains why one small deviation from a goal often results in a total collapse of self-contro…
The more you try not to think, the more.
A 1994 study revealed that instructions to suppress a specific thought result in that thought becoming more cognitivel…
Doing a good deed makes us more likely to cheat later.
A 2010 study found that participants who bought green products were more likely to lie and steal in a subsequent task.…