Harnessing Our Inner Angels and Demons: What We Have Learned About Want/Should Conflicts and How that Knowledge Can Help Us Reduce Short-Sighted Decision Making
50 Pages Posted: 21 Sep 2007
Date Written: September 2007
Abstract
Although observers of human behavior have long been aware that people regularly struggle with internal conflict when deciding whether to behave responsibly or indulge in impulsivity, psychologists and economists did not begin to empirically investigate this type of want/should conflict until recently. In this paper, we review and synthesize the latest research on want/should conflict, focusing our attention on the findings from an empirical literature on the topic that has blossomed over the last 15 years. We then turn to a discussion of how individuals and policy makers can use what has been learned about want/should conflict to help decision makers select far-sighted options.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Construal Levels and Self-Control
By Yaacov Trope, Kentaro Fujita, ...
-
Highbrow Films Gather Dust: Time-Inconsistent Preferences and Online DVD Rentals
By Katherine L. Milkman, Todd Rogers, ...
-
Future Lock-In: Future Implementation Increases Selection of 'Should' Choices
By Todd Rogers and Max H. Bazerman
-
Values as Predictors of Judgments and Behaviors: The Role of Abstract and Concrete Mindsets
By Carlos J. Torelli and Andrew Kaikati
-
By Joanne Kane, A. Peter Mcgraw, ...
-
Relaxation Increases Monetary Valuations
By Michel Tuan Pham, Iris W. Hung, ...
-
Complexity: A Theoretical Analysis with Implications to Self Regulation and Goal Pursuit
-
Consumers Believe They Will Have More Control Over the Future than They Did Over the Past