We all desire self-control — the resolve to skip happy hour
and go to the gym instead, to finish a report before checking Facebook, to say no
to the last piece of chocolate cake. Though many struggle to resist those
temptations, new research suggests that people with low self-control prefer and
depend on people with high self-control, possibly as a way to make up for the
skills they themselves lack.
This research, conducted by psychological scientists
Catherine Shea, Gráinne Fitzsimons, and Erin Davisson of Duke University, is
published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for
Psychological Science.