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Updated: Aug 9, 2025
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The Willpower Paradox: Possible and Impossible Conceptions of Self-Control
Thomas Goschke1, Veronika Job2
1Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden.
Summary
Self-control involves overriding immediate desires for long-term goals. This study reveals a paradox in how we desire to resist temptation, suggesting common self-control assumptions may be incompatible.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Behavioral Science
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Self-control is crucial for aligning behavior with long-term goals.
- It's typically assumed self-control is needed when immediate desires outweigh goals.
- This leads to a paradox: desiring to resist a desire you most strongly feel.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the conceptual paradox in self-control.
- To identify incompatible assumptions within current self-control theories.
- To propose a framework for understanding different self-control processes.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis of self-control theories.
- Examination of core assumptions in self-control.
- Development of a taxonomy for self-control processes.
Main Results:
- Three common assumptions about self-control are mutually exclusive.
- Abandoning assumptions about intentionality, unitary agency, or overriding strongest desires resolves the paradox.
- A taxonomy categorizes theories based on which assumption they reject.
Conclusions:
- Rethinking self-control is necessary to resolve conceptual paradoxes.
- Different models of self-control abandon distinct assumptions.
- Implications for rationality and future research directions are discussed.
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