When we hear about tolerance and self-indulgence we usually make an association with a lack of willpower. That is, we think we eat the ice cream because we do not have enough self-control to resist temptation.
In short, we are quite intransigent when it comes to self-control and willpower, although numerous psychological studies have shown that our will is a finite resource, so to speak.
Now a new study conducted at Ultrech University gives us a different perspective. In practice, these researchers claim that we behave in a self-indulgent way because we think it is the most correct decision and not because we cannot help it or because of a lack of self-control.
In fact, the field of self-indulgence, willpower and self-control is very interesting. For example, it is known that after hours of hard work, people are more likely to break their iron control and indulge in small indulgences, perhaps as a kind of reward or gift.
Therefore, the researchers had to create an experiment in which people believed that they had worked hard but without this undermining their willpower and causing them to lose control. How they did it?
They asked the participants to undergo a classification test to assess dyslexia. Therefore, people had to look at 200 words and, with a keyboard in front of them, each time they had to press the key that corresponded to the first letter of the word. What was interesting was that one group did this test for 5 minutes and were told that they should repeat it again while another group was given a one minute break between each test.
As you can imagine, the trap was in the break. The group that was not given a break thought they had worked very hard even though in reality all the people worked for the same period of time.
Next, all participants underwent the Stroop test, a classic test that assesses self-control where the person is asked to read the words and not the colors (for example, the word blue is presented in yellow). This test confirmed that both groups had the same level of self-control.
Finally, each participant was asked to rate the taste of some chocolates, candies, and chewing gum. The results? People who thought they had worked harder ate a lot more.
This tells us that self-indulgence is not always the result of a lack of willpower but can also be understood as a gift we give to ourselves.
Reference:
Witt, J.C.; Evers, C. & Ridder, DT (2012) License to sin: Self-licensing as a mechanism underlying hedonic consumption. European Journal of Social Psychology ; 42(4): 490-496.
