Salad = success and fries = failure? Conceptualizing and assessing self-control outcome measures in food decision-making research

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Haws ◽  
Scott Davis ◽  
Utpal Dholakia
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Self Control

A multilevel analysis of the influence of bullying participant roles upon the trajectories of adolescents’ social and emotional competencies

2021 ◽  
pp. 014303432198897
Author(s):  
Vítor Alexandre Coelho ◽  
Marta Marchante
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Emotional Competencies ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
One Year ◽  
Competencies Development ◽  
Bullying Participant Roles ◽  
Social And Emotional Competencies

This study analyzed how social and emotional competencies evolved according to adolescents’ involvement in bullying, and whether gender influenced social and emotional competencies’ development. Five-hundred-fourteen students ( Mage = 12.71; SD = 1.09) were assessed through self-reports at three different time points for one year. Results showed that students involved in the three analyzed bullying roles displayed a more negative trajectory in all but one social emotional competence analyzed compared to students not involved in bullying. The exception was students who bullied others for responsible decision making. Additionally, gender differences were only found in self-esteem trajectories; boys displayed a more pronounced decrease. In larger classes, students displayed higher levels of self-control, social awareness and responsible decision-making. These results showed that reduced social and emotional competencies were a consequence of bullying involvement for every bullying role analyzed.

scholarly journals Why hasn’t evolution selected for perfect self-control?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Hayden
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Subjective Feeling ◽  
Obvious Reason ◽  
Control Failures

Self-control refers to the ability to deliberately reject tempting options and instead select ones that produce greater long-term benefits. Although some apparent failures of self-control are, on closer inspection, reward maximizing, at least some self-control failures are clearly disadvantageous and non-strategic. The existence of poor self-control presents an important evolutionary puzzle because there is no obvious reason why good self-control should be more costly than poor self-control. After all, a rock is infinitely patient. I propose that self-control failures result from cases in which well-learned (and thus routinized) decision making strategies yield suboptimal choices. These mappings persist in the decision-makers’ repertoire because they result from learning processes that are adaptive in the broader context, either on the timescale of learning or of evolution. Self-control, then, is a form of cognitive control and the subjective feeling of effort likely reflects the true costs of cognitive control. Poor self-control, in this view, is ultimately a result of bounded optimality.

scholarly journals Altering gain of the infralimbic-to-accumbens shell circuit alters economically dissociable decision-making algorithms

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (27) ◽  
pp. E6347-E6355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian M. Sweis ◽  
Erin B. Larson ◽  
A. David Redish ◽  
Mark J. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Synaptic Transmission ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Nucleus Accumbens Shell ◽  
Synaptic Remodeling ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
Deliberative Processes ◽  
Reward Valuation

The nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh) is involved in reward valuation. Excitatory projections from infralimbic cortex (IL) to NAcSh undergo synaptic remodeling in rodent models of addiction and enable the extinction of disadvantageous behaviors. However, how the strength of synaptic transmission of the IL–NAcSh circuit affects decision-making information processing and reward valuation remains unknown, particularly because these processes can conflict within a given trial and particularly given recent data suggesting that decisions arise from separable information-processing algorithms. The approach of many neuromodulation studies is to disrupt information flow during on-going behaviors; however, this limits the interpretation of endogenous encoding of computational processes. Furthermore, many studies are limited by the use of simple behavioral tests of value which are unable to dissociate neurally distinct decision-making algorithms. We optogenetically altered the strength of synaptic transmission between glutamatergic IL–NAcSh projections in mice trained on a neuroeconomic task capable of separating multiple valuation processes. We found that induction of long-term depression in these synapses produced lasting changes in foraging processes without disrupting deliberative processes. Mice displayed inflated reevaluations to stay when deciding whether to abandon continued reward-seeking investments but displayed no changes during initial commitment decisions. We also developed an ensemble-level measure of circuit-specific plasticity that revealed individual differences in foraging valuation tendencies. Our results demonstrate that alterations in projection-specific synaptic strength between the IL and the NAcSh are capable of augmenting self-control economic valuations within a particular decision-making modality and suggest that the valuation mechanisms for these multiple decision-making modalities arise from different circuits.

Values Activation and Present Bias

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-69
Author(s):  
Onna Brewer ◽  
Orhan Erdem
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Experimental Study ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Values Clarification ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Present Bias ◽  
Writing Activity

Present bias—difficulty resisting instant gratification over a future and larger reward (also called delay discounting)—has been associated with various suboptimal behaviors and health outcomes. Several methods have been proposed to produce reductions in this bias and promote self-control. In this randomized experimental study of 137 undergraduate college students, the authors examined the effect of a 10-minute values clarification writing exercise on present bias in a monetary decision-making task compared with a neutral writing activity. While participants in the values clarification condition showed less present-biased behavior, this finding was not statistically significant at the .05 level. Thus, they place emphasis on implications for future research and practice with the aims of reducing present bias and building better communities.

scholarly journals Reducing the Consumer Attitude–Behaviour Gap in Animal Welfare: The Potential Role of ‘Nudges’

Animals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Vigors
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Farm Animal ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Consumer Attitude ◽  
Choice Architecture ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Farm Animal Welfare

Citizen concern for the welfare of farm animals is well documented. However, there is a notable gap between people saying they want improved farm animal welfare and how they actually behave as a consumer. This is known as the citizen–consumer attitude–behaviour gap. As improvements in farm animal welfare can be affected by market demand, the choices consumers make become important. This paper introduces the concept of ‘nudging’ and discusses how it could be applied to reduce the attitude–behaviour gap amongst consumers. By designing the choice environment to better reflect the behavioural biases known to impact human decision-making, ‘nudge’ tools function to prompt individuals to make choices that are aligned with their stated intentions. Four ‘nudge’ tools: self-nudges, choice architecture, social norms and pre-commitments are discussed. The behavioural rationales for their use are reviewed and examples of how they might be applied to animal welfare provided. Improved farm animal welfare arguably requires improved pro-welfare consumer behaviour. This paper highlights how this might be encouraged by: self-nudging the salience of an ethical self-image; altering the choice architecture to influence decision-making; articulating social norms to impact behaviour; and using pre-commitment devices to overcome self-control issues.

scholarly journals Brain stimulation reveals crucial role of overcoming self-centeredness in self-control

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (10) ◽  
pp. e1600992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Soutschek ◽  
Christian C. Ruff ◽  
Tina Strombach ◽  
Tobias Kalenscher ◽  
Philippe N. Tobler
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Impulse Control ◽  
Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Social Discounting ◽  
Number Recognition ◽  
Social Decision Making

Neurobiological models of self-control predominantly focus on the role of prefrontal brain mechanisms involved in emotion regulation and impulse control. We provide evidence for an entirely different neural mechanism that promotes self-control by overcoming bias for the present self, a mechanism previously thought to be mainly important for interpersonal decision-making. In two separate studies, we show that disruptive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the temporo-parietal junction—a brain region involved in overcoming one’s self-centered perspective—increases the discounting of delayed and prosocial rewards. This effect of TMS on temporal and social discounting is accompanied by deficits in perspective-taking and does not reflect altered spatial reorienting and number recognition. Our findings substantiate a fundamental commonality between the domains of self-control and social decision-making and highlight a novel aspect of the neurocognitive processes involved in self-control.

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