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The Role of Conflict Representation in Abstinence and Moderation in Self-control

Le, Phuong Quynh
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8514-7025
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1719962170314175

Abstract Details

2024, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Psychology.
Self-control—the prioritization of valued global goals over immediate local rewards—is typically conceptualized and studied as isolated decisions. Goal pursuit, however, generally requires people to make repeated self-control decisions across contexts. This dissertation adopts a higher-order, strategic level of analysis of self-control and explore, for the first time, people’s preferences for abstinence (a pattern of choices in which one never indulges) versus moderation (a pattern of choices in which one indulges when doing so does not harm one’s goals or even helps promote the pursuit of those goals). To understand when and why people may opt for one over the other, the present work explores one psychological feature that may support these strategy preferences: the representation of self-control conflicts as inherent (i.e., choice options are mutually contradictory) versus situational (i.e., choice options compete for limited resources). Eight studies document that people associate inherent and situational conflict representations with abstinence and moderation, respectively. By documenting that strategy preferences may differ as a function of conflict representations, this work questions the assumption of abstinence as the primary indicator of self-control success, raises methodological and conceptual questions about how best to assess these strategy preferences, and calls for greater understanding of self-control as a recurrent decision-making process.
Kentaro Fujita (Advisor)
Lisa Libby (Advisor)
Dylan Wagner (Committee Member)
133 p.
Behavioral Sciences; Psychology; Social Psychology
self-control, abstinence, moderation, conflict representation, goal pursuit

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Le, P. Q. (2024). The Role of Conflict Representation in Abstinence and Moderation in Self-control [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1719962170314175

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Le, Phuong. The Role of Conflict Representation in Abstinence and Moderation in Self-control. 2024. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1719962170314175.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Le, Phuong. "The Role of Conflict Representation in Abstinence and Moderation in Self-control." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1719962170314175

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1719962170314175
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© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.