Experience, Resistance, and Enactment of Desires: Differential Relationships With Trait Measures Predicting Self-Control

Past research suggests that trait self-control, trait mindfulness, and implicit theories about willpower contribute to self-control, however, their incremental value for this adaptive capacity is unknown. Applying the four-step model of motivated behavior (Hofmann, Baumeister, Förster, & Vohs, 2012), we assessed the frequency of desire experience, resistance, and enactment in everyday life. Results of two highly-powered correlational studies (Study 1: n = 273, Study 2: n = 465) suggest that higher trait self-control is associated with a less frequent experience of desires, higher trait mindfulness with less frequent desire resistance, and a nonlimited theory about willpower is associated with a less frequent enactment of desires. These findings suggest that the traits studied contribute to successful self-control in different ways.