The Role of Cognitive Processes in Overcoming Self-Control Failures

SESSION OVERVIEW The capacity to exert self-control is an important feature of human nature. Given the adaptive benefits of being able to control inner states and behavioral responses, self-control is of significant importance for achieving success in life (cf. Baumeister and Heatherton 1996). Self-control has also been studied from a consumer perspective, and particularly the self-control strength model has been gaining ground in consumer research (Baumeister 2002). According to this model, exerting self-control temporally depletes self-control in the same way as in which using a muscle temporally depletes its capacity to exert power. This vision presents a rather grim view on the consumer, who will find herself making decisions going against her long-term self-interest all too often. Accordingly, the empirical focus in recent years has been on consumer choices not conducive to long-term self-interest (e.g., Shiv and Fedorikhin 1999; Vohs and Heatherton 2000; Vohs and Faber 2007). The purpose of this symposium is to present ongoing research that sheds light on the cognitive processes underlying self-control, thereby providing insights in how consumers might proactively overcome temptations. Recent research has focused on consumer self-control failure (Shiv and Fedorikhin 1999; Vohs and Faber 2007). Self-control is typically shown to break down after the prior exertion of effort, for instance when resisting temptations. Some work attempted to shed light on the nature of depletion (e.g. Vohs and Schmeichel 2003; Webb and Sheeran 2002). Beyond its theoretical impact, such research has direct relevance to consumer research because it provides insights that may help to dampen the negative impact of the depletion state. The papers in this symposium fit into this stream of research in that they demonstrate the importance of cognitive processing in helping consumers to exert self-control. Thereby, all papers offer new insights in the nature of self-control, and simultaneously provide consumers with strategies that may help them to successfully deal with self-control dilemmas. In the first paper, Vosgerau, Bruyneel, Dhar, and Wertenbroch argue that the scarce resource on which all acts of self-control draw according to depletion theory is not self-control specific but rather of a more general nature, and that cognitions play an important role in the processes underlying depletion. In the second paper, Bruyneel and Dewitte argue that exerting self-control induces a concrete mindset, which subsequently drives depletion effects. The amount of effort exerted during the first task seems to be less important in producing depletion effects than the level of concreteness on which people process task-related information. In the third paper, Fishbach, Zhang, and Myrseth argue that goals decrease the motivational strength of tempting alternatives and prior exposure to temptations increase the motivational strength of goal-related alternatives. As a result of these counteractive shifts in evaluations, adhering to the goal is more valuable than yielding to the temptation and the initial conflict between the two is more likely to be resolved in favor of the goal. The underlying theme is that the three papers offer new insights in the nature of self-control, and hence in its applicability to consumer research. EXTENDED ABSTRACTS