Self-Control Individual Differences and What They Mean for Personal Responsibility and Public Policy

Description

Good self-control is a crucial factor in the distribution of life outcomes, ranging from success at school and work, to good mental and physical health, and to satisfying romantic relationships. While in the last decades psychologists have learned much about this all-important trait, both social theory and politics have not caught up. Many academics and policymakers still seem to believe that everybody has unlimited capacity for self-control and that maintaining discipline is purely a matter of volition. This book shows that such beliefs are fundamentally mistaken. It presents the state-of-the-art in research on self-control, explains why this trait has been largely overlooked, and sets out the profound implications of this psychological research for moral responsibility, distributive justice and public policy. It shows that the growing emphasis in politics on 'personal responsibility' is deeply problematic, and outlines alternatives more in accord with human psychology. Contents List of Figures page x List of Tables xii Acknowledgments xiii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Individual Differences in Self-Control 5 1.2 The End of Personal Responsibility? 11 1.3 So What Is to Be Done? 18 Part I Self-Control 23 2 A Gift for Life 25 2.1 The Many Benefits of Self-Control 26 2.2 Origins of Self-Control 33 2.3 Conclusion 37 3 How Situation Undermines Self-Control 38 3.1 Negative Affect and Cognitive Load: The Role of Working Memory 40 3.2 Prior Self-Control: The Role of “Energy” 44 3.3 Acute Stress and Insufficient Sleep 54 3.4 Unable or Unwilling? 59 3.5 Conclusion 65 Appendix 67 4 Building Self-Control? 73 4.1 Self-Control Training 78 4.2 Self-Control Techniques 82 4.3 A “Third Way”: Nudging 89 4.4 Conclusion 91 Published online by Cambridge University Press viii Contents 5 The Value of the Future 94 5.1 How to Measure Time Orientation 95 5.2 Individual Differences in Delay Discounting 99 5.3 Mental Time Travel 103 5.4 Living Fast and Slow 106 5.5 Conclusion 114 6 The Self-Control Effects of Poverty 117 6.1 Poverty and Trait Self-Control 119 6.2 Poverty and State Self-Control 122 6.3 Poverty and Uncertain Outcomes 128 6.4 Conclusion 132 Part II Implications for Society and Politics 135 7 The Ever-Growing Importance of Self-Control 139 7.1 The Civilization Process: Ever-Growing Interdependency 140 7.2 A Civilization Offensive: The Age of Responsibility 155 7.3 Conclusion 167 8 Self-Control and Moral Responsibility 170 8.1 Preliminary Groundwork 172 8.2 The Objective Standpoint 175 8.3 The Subjective Standpoint 182 8.4 The Instrumental Standpoint 192 8.5 Heuristics and Brokenness 206 8.6 Conclusion 211 9 Who Should Get What? 215 9.1 The Responsibility Approach: A Happy Marriage … 216 9.2 … That Cannot Work 221 9.3 Plan B: Sufficientarianism Plus Relational Equality 229 9.4 Conclusion 235 Published online by Cambridge University Press Contents ix 10 Conclusion: What Is to Be Done? 238 10.1 The Three Standpoints and the Role of Psychology 239 10.2 Limited Self-Control and the “Correction” of the Law 244 10.3 Five Potential Strategies for Closing Self-Control Gaps 251 10.4 Getting Real?! 259 Notes 264 Bibliography 312 Index 350