Moving Beyond Deliberative Control of Impulses: The Effect of Construal Levels on Evaluative Associations in Self-Control Conflicts

Many prominent models propose that selfcontrol requires deliberative control of impulses. We propose that people s subjective mental construals of events can alter temptation impulses without requiring conscious deliberation. Research has indicated that high-level construals (subjective mental repre...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Psychological science 2009-07, Vol.20 (7), p.799-804
Main Authors:	Fujita, Kentaro, Han, H. Anna
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Association Behavior - physiology Behavioural psychology Candy bars Choice Behavior - physiology Coefficients Cognition Cognition & reasoning Cognition - physiology Cognitive models Conflict (Psychology) Consciousness Consciousness - physiology Decision Making - physiology Evaluation Female Humans Implicit beliefs Impulsive Behavior - psychology Impulsivity Internal-External Control Judgment Mental representation Ohio Personal Construct Theory Personality psychology Psychological effects Psychology Research Reports Self Self Concept Self control Self-management Shivs Social psychology Stimuli Students - psychology Task Performance and Analysis Temptation Tests
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Many prominent models propose that selfcontrol requires deliberative control of impulses. We propose that people s subjective mental construals of events can alter temptation impulses without requiring conscious deliberation. Research has indicated that high-level construals (subjective mental representations that capture the core, essential, and abstract features of events) lead to greater self-control than low-level construals (representations that capture secondary, incidental, and concrete features). We demonstrate that higher-level construals make it easier for people to associate temptations with negativity, as measured by the Implicit Association Test, and that, in turn, these construal-dependent changes in evaluative associations promote self-control. These findings indicate that subjective construals can influence selfcontrol without conscious deliberation.
ISSN:	0956-7976 1467-9280