Self-Control for Real People: Broadening Self-Control Through Situated Cognition

In the domains of philosophy and psychology, self-control has traditionally been understood through the lens of internal mechanisms – processes encompassing neural circuitry, psychological resources, or computational strategies that are realized entirely within the brain. This perspective has yielded significant results, particularly in providing explanations for how individuals exert effort to resist immediate temptations. The widespread concept of willpower serves as the prime exemplar of these models, often being equated with or considered the primary manifestation of self-control itself. However, contemporary approaches have recently begun to expand this view, providing arguments that the traditional model captures only a single facet of a much broader and more complex phenomenon. This expansion of the theoretical landscape is twofold. First, a number of scholars now emphasize a "diachronic" form of self-control, which involves the proactive avoidance or strategic prevention of future temptations rather than mere reactionary resistance. Second, and occurring concurrently, a growing body of research has highlighted that successful self-control frequently relies on situational strategies – such as the deliberate modification of one's surrounding environment – rather than on sheer willpower alone. Crucially, these proactive, situation-managing strategies are typically demonstrated to be more successful than a sole reliance on moment-to-moment mental effort. In my thesis, I aim to build directly upon these recent in order to develop and defend a comprehensively situated account of self-control. By drawing from the established framework of situated cognition – a paradigm which views cognition as emerging from the dynamic and continuous interaction between the brain, the body, and the environment – I argue for a more expansive and holistic understanding of self-control. This new understanding is one that explicitly includes the whole individual and their agential relationship to their environment, which is understood as physical, social, and cultural in its constitution. It is through this novel approach that I am also able to explore a critically under-researched area within the literature: namely, the specific ways in which social norms, entrenched cultural practices, and shared value systems not only shape our underlying motivations for exercising self-control but also provide the pervasive and often overlooked tools we use to achieve it successfully. The ultimate goal of this research is therefore to present a wider, more integrative understanding of self-control, one that more accurately represents and makes sense of the complex motivational struggles that people genuinely face in the real world.