New research has described willpower as “fragile, unreliable and weak” with only a fleeting impact on avoiding negative behaviour.
University of Toronto researcher Michael Inzlicht and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign psychology professor Brent Roberts outlined this thinking in a review in the journal Current Opinion in Psychology.
They say that, rather than focus on willpower, many studies show that scoring highly on ongoing “conscientiousness” is a strong indicator of academic, financial and health success.
“We assumed that highly conscientious people simply engage their willpower more often than their less-conscientious peers,” Professor Roberts said in the research report.
“But this is not the case. Conscientious people do not control themselves more than others. In fact, studies have shown that they spend less time restraining wayward desires.”
The researchers said the misguided emphasis on willpower led to interventions designed to increase it.
This approach occasionally yielded some positive short-term results but, in the long term, such changes tended to erode.
“People usually revert to their baseline levels of willpower and conscientiousness,” Professor Inzlicht said. “Willpower is generally fragile, unreliable and weak.”
The research report said there was often confusion between momentary willpower and other characteristics that made conscientious people successful.
“Success in life might be the result of engaging less in day-to-day willpower and more in cold calculation before a temptation is ever met,” the report said.
“Maybe conscientiousness is explained not by exerting willpower, but by avoiding the need to exert it in the first place.”
The full report is on the University of Illinois website.
