Trait self-control is highly valued, often equated with moral righteousness and associated with numerous positive life outcomes. This paper challenges the conventional conflation of trait self-control and state self-control. We suggest that while trait self-control is consistently linked to success, state self-control is not the causal mechanism driving these benefits. Trait self-control, sometimes also referred to as conscientiousness, grit, and the ability to delay gratification, predicts better health, wealth, and academic achievement. Conventional wisdom has it that people high in trait self-control reap all these benefits because they engage in more state self-control, defined as the momentary act of resolving conflict between goals and fleeting desires. Despite its intuitive appeal, there are problems with extolling state self-control because of our love for trait self-control. First, empirical evidence suggests that individuals high in trait self-control do not engage in more state self-control but engage it less. Second, changes to state self-control do not reliably and sustainably improve people's outcomes, as least in the long-term. And third, despite the possibility of dramatic improvements in trait self-control, these improvements are often short lived, with people returning to their baseline trait level over longer time horizons. The roots of this problem are numerous: Imprecise and inaccurate naming of our constructs that lead to construct drift and contamination; ignoring the numerous other facets of conscientiousness like orderliness or industriousness; and not appreciating that traits are sometimes not reducible to states. We suggest that the celebrated benefits of trait self-control arise from mechanisms beyond state self-control and highlight the need for a broader conceptualization of self-control in psychological research and practical interventions.

中文翻译：

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国家自我控制的寓言


特质自我控制受到高度重视，通常与道德正义等同，并与许多积极的生活成果相关。本文挑战了特质自我控制和状态自我控制的传统混为一谈。我们认为，虽然特质自我控制始终与成功相关，但状态自我控制并不是驱动这些好处的因果机制。自我控制特质，有时也称为责任心、毅力和延迟满足的能力，预示着更好的健康、财富和学业成就。传统观点认为，自我控制能力强的人之所以能获得所有这些好处，是因为他们进行了更多的状态自我控制，即解决目标与短暂欲望之间冲突的短暂行为。尽管它具有直观的吸引力，但由于我们对特质自我控制的热爱，颂扬状态自我控制仍然存在问题。首先，经验证据表明，特质自我控制能力强的个体并没有更多地参与状态自我控制，而是参与得更少。其次，国家自我控制的改变并不能可靠、可持续地改善人们的生活成果，至少从长远来看是这样。第三，尽管特质自我控制有可能得到显着改善，但这些改善往往是短暂的，随着人们在较长时间内恢复到基线特质水平。这个问题的根源有很多：我们的构建体命名不精确和不准确，导致构建体漂移和污染；忽视责任心的许多其他方面，例如秩序或勤奋；并且没有意识到特征有时不能简化为状态。 我们认为特质自我控制的显着好处来自于国家自我控制之外的机制，并强调在心理学研究和实际干预中需要更广泛的自我控制概念。