Self-control: disentanling inhibition and initiation

Self-control is usually defined as a unit in a regulatory cycle process. As such, it can be used for inhibition of urgent need or overriding impulsive responses, but it can also mean that person can engage in a behavior which is aversive at the moment. Contemporary the most influential is strength model of self-control that envisages one general and limited source of energy for every act of self-control. According to this model, after depleting this energy, one's ability to control his or her behavior or thought is impaired, even in domains that does not relate to the cause of the depletion. However, there has been substantial criticism of this model recently - regarding theoretical implausibility, possible bias in literature (or even manipulated results) and also growing body of evidence that is not in line with the model. Because of that, there are attempts to alter or dismiss the model. One of the possible updates is distinguishing between two domains of self-control (inhibition and initiation). This thesis overviews body of recent findings about self-control and proposes experimental design which could serve to verify hypothesis of existence of two independent domain of self- control. Limits of this approach and suggestions for future research are also discussed. Keywords: Self-control, ego..