The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It

WHY THOUGHT SUPPRESSION DOESN’T WORK
Why does trying to eliminate a thought or emotion trigger a rebound? Wegner’s hunch is that it has
something to do with how the brain handles the command 
not to
think about something. It splits the
task into two parts, achieved by two different systems of the brain. One part of your mind will take on
the job of directing your attention toward anything other than the forbidden thought. It’s like the
woman in Wegner’s first study trying not to think of the white bear—“I’m trying to think of a million
things to make me think about everything but a white bear . . . hey, look at this brown wall.” Wegner
calls this process the 
operator
. The operator relies on the brain’s system of self-control and—like all
forms of effortful self-control—requires a good deal of mental resources and energy. Another part of
your mind takes on the job of looking for any evidence that you are thinking, feeling, or doing
whatever you don’t want to think, feel, or do. It’s like the young woman observing, “I keep thinking of
it over and over and over . . . every time I try and not think about a white bear, I’m still thinking about
one.” Wegner calls this process the 
monitor
. Unlike the operator, the monitor runs automatically and
without much mental effort. The monitor is more closely related to the brain’s automatic threat-
detection system. This can sound good—automatic self-control!—until you realize how critical the
cooperation is between operator and monitor. If, for any reason, the operator runs out of steam, the
monitor is going to become a self-control nightmare.
Under ordinary circumstances, the operator and the monitor work in parallel. Let’s say you’re
headed to the grocery store, and you’ve decided that you 
will not
be tempted by the snack food aisle.
While the operator is trying to focus, plan, and control your behavior (“I’m here at the grocery store
to pick up cereal, nothing else. Where’s the cereal aisle?”), the monitor is scanning your mind and
your environment for warning signs. (“Danger! Danger! Cookies on aisle three! You love cookies! Is
that your stomach growling? Alert! Alert! Beware of the cookies! 
Cookies cookies cookies!
”) If your
mental resources are high, the operator can make good use of the monitor’s hysteria. When the
monitor points out possible temptations or troubling thoughts, the operator steps in to steer you
toward your goals and out of trouble. But if your mental resources are taxed—whether by
distractions, fatigue, stress, alcohol, illness, or other mental drains—the operator cannot do its job.
The monitor, on the other hand, is like the Energizer Bunny. It keeps going and going and going.
A tired operator and an energized monitor create a problematic imbalance in the mind. As the
monitor searches for forbidden content, it continuously brings to mind what it is searching for.
Neuroscientists have shown that the brain is constantly processing the forbidden content just outside
of conscious awareness. The result: You become primed to think, feel, or do whatever you are trying
to avoid. So as soon as you pass the snack aisle in the grocery store, the monitor will remember the
goal 
not
to buy cookies, and fill your mind with 
Cookies cookies cookies!
Without the operator’s full
strength to balance the monitor, it’s like a Shakespearean tragedy in your very own brain. By trying to
prevent your downfall, the monitor leads you straight to it.

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