The significance of self control

Angela L Duckworth, PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.1019725108

Self control is among the most widely studied constructs in the social sciences. For instance, more than 3% of peer reviewed psychology articles in the past year were referenced by the key word “self control” or closely related terms. The report by Moffitt et al. in PNAS substantially advances this growing literature by demonstrating robust predictive associations between childhood self control and a wide range of consequential life outcomes in a large, nationally representative sample of New Zealanders.

Monikers for self control vary widely and include delay of gratification, effortful control, willpower, executive control, time preference, self discipline, self regulation and ego strength. Moffitt et al. use the term self control synonymously with conscientiousness, a large class of personality traits that includes responsibility, industriouness and orderliness. The common thread running through diverse conceptualizations of self control is the idea of effortful regulation of the self by the self. Self controlled individuals are more adept than their impulsive counterparts at regulating their behavioral, emotional and attentional impulses to achieve long term goals.

The notion of effortful self governance presumes as internal conflict between mutually exclusive responses. One cannot, alas, have one’s cake later and eat is now too. Critical to situations that call upon self control is that one response….