{"id":5427,"date":"2020-02-06T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/blog\/?p=5427"},"modified":"2020-02-02T15:31:01","modified_gmt":"2020-02-02T20:31:01","slug":"how-does-self-control-really-work-introducing-a-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/how-does-self-control-really-work-introducing-a-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does Self-Control Really Work? Introducing a Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every teacher I know wishes that our students could control themselves just\u00a0a little bit better<\/em>. Or, occasionally, a whole lot better.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rarely do we worry that students have too much self-control.<\/p>\n

All these observations prompt us to ask: how does this thing called self-control<\/strong> really work?<\/p>\n

In the field of psychology, that question has led to a fierce debate. If you’d like to enter into that debate, well, I’ve got some resources for you!<\/p>\n

A Very Brief Introduction<\/h2>\n

Roy Baumeister has developed a well-known theory about self-control. You can read about it in depth in his book\u00a0Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength,\u00a0<\/em>written with John Tierney.<\/p>\n

Think of self-control as a kind of inner reservoir. My reservoir starts the day full. However, when I come down for breakfast, I see lots of bacon. I know I…MUST…RESIST…BACON, and that self-control effort drains my reservoir a bit.<\/p>\n

However, once I finish my oatmeal and leave the kitchen, the bacon no longer tempts me so strongly. I’ve stopped draining the reservoir, and it can refill.<\/p>\n

Baumeister’s theory focuses on all the things that drain the reservoir, and all the strategies we can use to a) refill it, or b) expand it.<\/p>\n

Baumeister calls this process by a somewhat puzzling name: “ego depletion.” The “depletion” part makes good sense: my reservoir is depleted<\/em>. The “ego” part isn’t as intuitive, but we’ll get used to that over time.<\/p>\n

The key point: in recent years, the theory of ego depletion has come under debate — especially as part of the larger “replication crisis<\/a>” in psychology.<\/p>\n

Some say the theory has (literally) hundreds of studies supporting it. Others note methodological problems, and worry that non-replications languish in file drawers.<\/p>\n

Welcome Aboard<\/h2>\n

Because self-control is so important to teachers, you just might be intrigued and want to learn more.<\/p>\n

One great resource is a podcast<\/a>, charmingly titled “Two Psychologists, Four Beers.” A couple times a month, Yoel Inbar and Michael Inzlicht get together over a few brews and chat about a topic.<\/p>\n

In this episode<\/a>, they talk about this controversy at length and in detail. SO MUCH interesting and helpful information here.<\/p>\n

One key point to know: Inzlicht himself is a key doubter of Baumeister’s research. He’s not a dispassionate observer, but an important critic.<\/p>\n

Friendly On Ramp<\/h2>\n

However interested you are in the topic of self-control, you might not have 80 minutes to devote to it.<\/p>\n

Or, you might worry it will be overly complex to understand the first time through.<\/p>\n

Good news!\u00a0Ahmad Assinnari has put together a point-by-point summary<\/a> of the podcast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You could read it as an introduction to an upcoming debate, and\/or follow along to be sure you’re tracking the argument clearly. (BTW: Assinnari refers to Inzicht both as “Inzlicht” and as “Michael.” And, beware: it’s easy to confuse “Michael” with “Michel,” another scholar in the field.)<\/p>\n

So, if you’d like to learn more, but you’re not sure you want to read Baumeister’s book, this post serves as an introduction to Assinnari’s summary. And, Assinnari’s summary introduces the podcast.<\/p>\n

With these few steps, you’ll be up to speed on a very important debate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You’d like to know how researchers think about self-control, but don’t know where to begin? Begin here…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":5430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,14],"class_list":["post-5427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-methodology","tag-self-control"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5427"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5432,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5427\/revisions\/5432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}