Passion versus reason: Impulsive and reflective determinants of self-control success and failure

Abstract

Everyday life is full of temptations that challenge our capacity at self-control, or willpower: The tasty but high-caloric dessert cake, the extra glass of red wine, the handsome co-worker with the charming smile. Of course, people are often remarkably good at resisting temptation (albeit not always and not everybody to the same extent. Sometimes we get swayed and self-control fails. And, if it fails, it often feels as though something or somebody else inside oneself has “pulled the strings.” We are then literally faced with “two souls within the chest,” as the quote from Goethe’s Faust goes.