Tips on shoring up your willpower and sticking with those New Year’s resolutions
self-control
Improving Willpower: How to Keep Self-Control from Flagging
Why does willpower often seem to fail us, just when we need it most?
Control Yourself! Inhibiting Physical Action Cuts Risky Gambling and Drinking
Want to gamble smarter, make less risky financial decisions or cut down on your drinking? Practice stopping yourself midway through a simple physical movement, new research suggests.
Can Addictive Behaviors Be Predicted in Preschool?
Children’s behavior at age 3 offers some surprising clues about their risk of developing addictive behaviors like problem gambling or drug misuse in their 30s
Is Twitter Really More Addictive than Alcohol? The Vagaries of Will and Desire
Twitter and Facebook are harder to resist than alcohol and cigarettes, but so is the urge to work, according to new research on people’s daily struggles with self-control and desire.
Q&A: Steven Pinker’s Case for Why the World Is Heading Toward Peace
Amidst the headlines tallying the damage wrought by persistent economic decline, cataclysmic climate change and unbending political stalemate — among other things — Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker brings good news.
The Secrets of Self-Control: The Marshmallow Test 40 Years Later
Ever wonder why your willpower fails you just when you need it most? The results of a new long-term study, which first began more than 40 years ago with the now-famous marshmallow test in preschoolers, may offer some clues.
Hopefulness Is Better Than Happiness for Diet Success
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow — if you want to stick to your diet. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which found that upbeat, forward-looking feelings like hopefulness led to better dietary choices, while positive …
Does Acting Like a Weiner Mean You’re An Addict?
As revelations about Rep. Anthony Weiner’s Twitter sexting continue to emerge — including private messages he sent to a 17-year-old girl — the announcement Saturday that he was entering “treatment” was almost inevitable. …
The Cranky Dieter Explained: How Self-Control Makes You Angry
Have you ever noticed that people on diets are really crabby? While many might blame low blood sugar or a general lack of pleasure (rice cakes, cabbage soup — ugh!), recent psychological research suggests that it’s actually the …
The Key to Health, Wealth and Success: Self-Control
Self-control may be the secret to success, according to a persuasive new study that followed 1,000 children from birth to age 32: children who showed early signs of self-mastery were not only less likely to have developed …
To Keep Willpower from Flagging, Remember the F-Word: ‘Fun’
Exercising self-control isn’t fun.
If you’re dieting, for instance, you may easily resist the blueberry muffin at that impossibly aromatic bakeshop you pass by in the morning. You may then have lunch with your friends but just …
