Identifying and Battling Temptation

Abstract

1 Despite knowing well that “you can’t have your cake and eat it too, ” people still want many conflicting things at once. That is, people want to fulfill short-term desires and they want to do so without obstructing their long-term interests. Thus, weight watchers wish to eat many delicious cakes and they also wish not to look like they have eaten many delicious cakes. Similarly, professionals wish for early leave on Friday afternoon, and they also wish for early promotions at year-end reviews. And feuding partners want to maintain their innocence in every battle, and they also want to maintain their relationship through every battle. In a world where people want to have it both ways – to enjoy the moment and to prosper in the long run – how do they protect long-term interests from the allure of short-term desires? An individual faces a self-control dilemma whenever the attainment of an alluring desire or temptation would conflict with more important, longer-term goals (Ainslie, 1992;