Mastering Self-Control
Went to see Roy Baumeister and John Tierney give a brief talk about willpower (based on their book “Willpower”) at Town Hall last night. It was a cursory talk, though Baumeister’s observations of “decision fatigue” were intriguing, as were his claims that similar phenomena illustrate that willpower acts as a muscle. Unfortunately for me, follow-up questions about ADD and other specifics about the potential applications of his theory were barely addressed. In particular, I wonder what Baumeister would say about notions of self-efficacy, which are (for me) a more compelling explanation, at least of the data presented in this 30 minute talk.
