Positioning self-control in a dual-systems framework

In this chapter we will discuss different perspectives on how self-control can be positioned in dual-system theories of information processing and behavior. Self-control has been defined as one’s capacity or ability to overrule one’s inner, impulsive responses, as well as to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998; Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004). However, this definition lacks an essential aspect, and a necessary component of self-control: the notion that a long-term goal is involved that makes it ‘worth’ inhibiting those impulses that can be rewarding in the shorter term (Carver & Scheier, 1981; De Ridder, Lensvelt-Mulders, Finkenauer, Stok, & Baumeister, 2012). Recently, definitions of self-control therefore also include the ability to resolve self-control dilemmas (De Ridder, Kroese, Gillebaart, & Adriaanse, 2016; Fujita, 2011; Myrseth & Fishbach, 2009), and different strategies for handling self-control dilemmas have been a novel self-control research focus (Ent, Baumeister, & Tice, 2015; Gillebaart, Schneider, & De Ridder, 2015; Myrseth & Fishbach, 2009). Self-control dilemmas are situations in which competing behavioral tendencies exist, fostering a (response) conflict that has to be resolved by acting on one of these tendencies.