From willpower to strategies: Existing insights and outstanding issues in self-control strategy use in daily life

Abstract

This paper focuses on recent advances in research on strategies that support self-control in everyday life. No one strategy or set of strategies appears to be effective at all times and in all situations. To understand effective self-control, we must expand our understanding of how strategies fit the situation and the person. To this end, we propose researching unexplored aspects of situations, how self-control strategies develop in the first place, and the role of emotion regulation in self-control strategy effectiveness. We also highlight methodological blind spots and offer ways to correct them and introduce new methodological approaches to best capture self-control strategies in everyday life.