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

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: WHAT’S ON YOUR MOST-
WANTED LIST?
The science suggests that when we outlaw a food, we increase desire. Is this true in your
experience? Have you ever tried to lose weight by cutting out a food group or favorite snack? If
so, how long did that last—and how did it end? Is there anything on your do-not-eat list right
now? If so, how has outlawing it influenced your cravings for it? If you don’t diet, is there
anything you’re prohibiting? Has it killed your desire, or fed it?

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THE POWER OF ACCEPTANCE
What are we to do with our thoughts and cravings if not push them away? Maybe we should embrace
them. That’s the conclusion of a study that gave one hundred students transparent boxes of Hershey’s
Kisses to keep with them at all times for forty-eight hours. Their challenge: Don’t eat a single Kiss, or
any other chocolate. (To be sure there were no cheaters, the experimenters subtly marked each Kiss
so they would know if anyone tried to replace eaten Kisses.) The experimenters didn’t send the
students off defenseless; they gave them advice on how to handle their temptation. Some students
were told to distract themselves whenever they wanted to eat a Kiss. They were also told to argue
with thoughts of eating. For example, if they had the thought, 
Those chocolates look so good. I’ll eat
just one!
they should try to replace it with the thought, 
You are not allowed to eat the chocolates, and
you don’t need one.
In other words, these students were told to do exactly what most of us do when
we want to control our appetites.
Other students got a lesson in the white-bear phenomenon. Experimenters explained ironic rebound
and encouraged the students not to push away thoughts about eating chocolate. Instead, they should
notice when they were craving chocolate, accept whatever thoughts or feelings they had about the
chocolate, 
but also remember that they didn’t have to act on those thoughts and feelings
. While not
controlling their thoughts, they still had to control their behavior.
Over the forty-eight-hour test of their willpower, the students who gave up thought control had the
fewest cravings for chocolate. Interestingly, the students who were helped the most by the acceptance
strategy were those who ordinarily had the least self-control around food. When students who
typically struggled the most with food cravings tried to distract or argue with themselves, it was a
disaster. But when they let go of thought suppression, they were less tempted by the Kisses and less
stressed out about having to carry around chocolate they couldn’t eat. Most incredibly, not a single
student using the acceptance strategy ate a Kiss, despite staring at the promise of reward for two days
straight.