A smarter way to think about willpower - The Washington Post - 0 views
www.washingtonpost.com/...rter-way-think-about-willpower
self-control discipline habits psychology brain science science
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in a self-report questionnaire completed by more than 80,000 American adults, self-control ranked lowest among 24 strengths of character.
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Without a time machine that allows us to travel backward and compare Americans from different decades on the same self-control measures, we can’t be sure. Indeed, the scant scientific evidence on the question suggests that if anything, the capacity to delay gratification may be increasing.
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there are plenty of behaviors that require self-control that have held steady or even improved in recent decades
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the ratio of household consumption to household net worth just hit a postwar low: In 2018 consumption was 13.2 percent of net worth, down from 16.3 percent in 1946.
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science shows that helping people do better in the internal tug-of-war of self-control depends on creating the right external environment.
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some choices are not in our best interest. Taxing, regulating, restricting or even banning especially addictive drugs may lead to more freedom
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we recommend nudges — subtle changes in how choices are framed that make doing what’s in our long-term interest more obvious, easier or more attractiv