PSY407H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter N/A: Resource Depletion, Milkshake, Prefrontal Cortex
Document Summary
Self-regulation can be undermined by failures to transcend overwhelming temptations, negative moods and resource depletion, and when lapses in self-control snowball into self-regulatory collapse. Successful self-regulation is dependent on top-down control from the prefrontal cortex to areas involved in reward and emotion. Self-regulations allows for us to control behaviour, make plans, control impulses, inhibit behaviour, etc. Failures of self-regulation result in things like obesity, addiction, poor financial decisions, sexual infidelity, etc. 40% of deaths can be attributed to some form of self-regulation failure. Better regulators often have better life outcomes. Self-regulation is more likely to occur when people are in bad moods, when minor indulgences turn into full-on binges, when people are overwhelmed by immediate temptations, and when control itself is impaired (after drunk). Upset people act aggressively, spend too much, take more risks, comfort the self with indulgences, etc. Over time, negative affect can become a trigger for these actions through classical conditioning.
