One the Psychology research says that thinking
abstractly (Existing only in the mind) help you to Boost self-control.
Many of the long term goals people
strive for -- like losing weight -- require us to use self-control and forgo
immediate gratification. And yet denying our immediate desires in order to reap
future benefits is often very hard to do.
In a new article in the August issue
of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the
Association for Psychological Science, researchers Kentaro Fujita and Jessica
Carnevale of The Ohio State University propose that the way people subjectively
understand, or construe, events can influence self-control.
Research from psychological science suggests
that categorizing things abstractly into broad categories (called high-level
construal) allows us to psychologically distance ourselves from the pushes and
pulls of the immediate moment. This, in turn, makes us more sensitive to the
broad implications of our behavior and leads us to show greater consistency
between our values and our behavior.
For example, a dieter choosing based
on immediately apparent differences between the choices (low-level construal)
might focus on taste and opt for a candy bar over an apple. A dieter choosing
on the basis of high-level construal, however, might view the choice in the
broader terms of a choice between weight loss and hedonism, and opt for the
apple.
The researchers draw together many
strands of research to provide evidence for the role of these different kinds
of construal in decisions involving self-control. They argue that research
investigating the link between construal level and self-control is important
and timely as some of the most pressing societal problems -- including obesity,
addiction and debt -- are associated with failures of self-control.
Image Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1418550
Post a Comment