It's often been said that people who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. According to new research published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, though, it appears that being reminded of our failures actually makes us more likely to repeat such behaviors.
Per the researchers, remembering our past mistakes will not necessarily help us make better decisions in the present. In fact, thinking about our failures at self-control -- whether it's blowing a diet, racking up more credit card debt than we intended, or cheating on a partner one or more times -- leads us to repeat them.
For example, thinking about a time when you blew a diet by eating an entire pizza pie by yourself makes you more likely to blow another one in the same way.
Titled "Haunts or Helps From the Past: Understanding the Effect of Recall on Current Self-Control," the study is the first of its kind and was conducted by professors at the University of Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt University.
Among the findings:
Per the researchers, remembering our past mistakes will not necessarily help us make better decisions in the present. In fact, thinking about our failures at self-control -- whether it's blowing a diet, racking up more credit card debt than we intended, or cheating on a partner one or more times -- leads us to repeat them.
For example, thinking about a time when you blew a diet by eating an entire pizza pie by yourself makes you more likely to blow another one in the same way.
Titled "Haunts or Helps From the Past: Understanding the Effect of Recall on Current Self-Control," the study is the first of its kind and was conducted by professors at the University of Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt University.
Among the findings:
- Participants who recalled ten successes were willing to incur roughly 21% more credit card debt than those who recalled only two successes
- Participants who recalled two or ten failures were both likely to incur as much credit card debt as those individuals who recalled ten successes
- When people recall two past successes at self-control (e.g., instances when they resisted spending money on items they didn't need), these instances come to mind easily. It is fairly easy for everyone to think of two such successes. This ease of recall makes people believe that that they are good at self-control -- that they are the kind of person who can resist temptations --- and since people usually want their actions to be in line with their views of themselves, they hold back when confronting tempting situations in the present
- When participants were asked to recall many successes (ten), they struggled to come up with that many examples. This difficulty led them to assume that they must not be that good at self-control if they cannot come up with the required number of successes and these participants indulged more than those participants who recalled only two successes
- Participants who recalled self-control failures engaged in equivalent levels of indulgence, whether they recalled few or many such occasions
- When we're made to think of our failures -- that puts us in a negative mood and research has shown that when people are in a negative mood state, they tend to indulge to make themselves feel better (e.g. drowning their sorrows at the bar)
The research has important implications for companies that strive to assist individuals who suffer from addiction or other issues that result from a lack of self-control, like gambling and obesity. As it turns out, advising them to reflect on times when they failed at self-control so as to maintain it in the present may have the opposite effect.
Did you find the study interesting? How good (or bad) are you at maintaining self-control?
Please check out other posts by clicking here: How to Understand People
Comments