Getting a grip on yourself or your environment: Creating opportunities for strategic self-control in behavioral public policy

Abstract

In recent years, self-control research has shifted from a focus on effortful inhibition towards an understanding of self-control as strategically navigating one's environment by ignoring or avoiding situations that may challenge self-control. Yet despite increased attention to strategic self-control, an explicit consideration of perceived control over the environment as a potentially critical driver of self-control strategies is lacking. Recognizing the crucial role of perceived control, this article reviews research highlighting the interplay between self-control and control over one's surroundings. We first examine research on new conceptualizations of self-control that go beyond effortful inhibition of impulses. We then turn to research that addresses the role of perceived control over the environment, arguing that an emphasis on strategic self-control requires a profound understanding of how perceptions of control determine options for employing self-control strategies. We conclude with a discussion of promising new directions for behavioral public policies. These policies should better acknowledge the importance of perceived control by creating arrangements that help people in getting more control over their surroundings. This new perspective will take away concerns about an excessive individual frame that holds individuals responsible for self-control failures in unsupportive environments.