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From willpower to strategies: Existing insights and outstanding issues in self-control strategy use in daily life
Marina Milyavskaya1, Tyler Thorne1, Mike Sullivan1
1Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Canada.
Abstract:
This paper focuses on recent advances in research on strategies that support self-control in everyday life. No one strategy or set of strategies appears to be effective at all times and in all situations. To understand effective self-control, we must expand our understanding of how strategies fit the situation and the person. To this end, we propose researching unexplored aspects of situations, how self-control strategies develop in the first place, and the role of emotion regulation in self-control strategy effectiveness. We also highlight methodological blind spots and offer ways to correct them and introduce new methodological approaches to best capture self-control strategies in everyday life.
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