Self-Control Success Revealed: Greater Approach Motivation Towards Healthy versus Unhealthy Food

Abstract

Deviating from existing literature on self-control failure the current research examines self-control success and the role of motivation. Functional research suggests people visually perceive objects to be bigger when they are motivated to approach them. Using the size perception task, participants estimated the size of a healthy and an unhealthy food object that were identical in size. In the current research we simulated a reflective state vs. impulsive state using an ego-depletion manipulation in Study 1 and a cognitive load manipulation in Study 2. Results from both studies revealed that participants in a reflective state (vs. impulsive state) assigned increased size estimations to the healthy food item compared to the unhealthy food item. Current findings demonstrate greater approach motivation towards a 'virtue' (i.e., healthy food) as a mechanism that underlies self-control success, suggesting that successful self-control involves initiating approach towards a virtue rather than inhibiting a vice.