Resisting temptation isn’t easy for anyone… especially when you’ve gotten into the habit of indulging yourself, as many of us have.
But a new study by researchers out of the University of Texas at Austin looked for ways to help us to resist temptation and suggests the key to doing so is to exaggerate the threat.
So if you’re on a diet, focus on the threat of that cookie or piece of delicious chocolate to your weight loss goals. Exaggerating the negative may in fact help you resist just about any temptation.
For this study, researchers focused on two self-regulatory areas – dieting and academic goals.
“Four experiments show that when consumers encounter temptations that conflict with their long-term goals, one self-control mechanism is to exaggerate the negativity of the temptation as a way to resist, a process we call counteractive construal,” the study authors point out.
For one of the experiments, female participants were asked to estimate the calorie count of a cookie, half being offered the cookie as a complimentary gift for their participation, the other half were not offered any reward.
Those with a strong dieting goal saw the delectable treat as having more calories than it actually did… and being more threatening to their long term weight loss goals.
Another test found that environmental factors, in this case posters of fit models (vs. those with nature scenes) helped women stay focused on their diet goals. They too were more likely to exaggerate the calories in a tempting drink that they planned to enjoy later, and drank less when offered the drink.
When self-control conflicts arise, another of the experiments looked at the so-called counteractive construal to see if it would be helpful. This experiment involved 93 college students, finding that those with higher grade point averages were more likely to overestimate the length of time an upcoming party would last (taking time away from studying), and were less likely plan on attending the event when reminded of their academic goals.
Continues below…
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Resist Temptation: Exaggerate The Threat Continued…
So, tricking yourself into seeing that tasty treat (or another indulgence) as a bigger threat to your weight loss goals than it actually is could be a smart strategy to help you resist temptation. Or at the very least, limit how much you indulge.
Besides exaggerating the down side of what tempts you… here are a few more suggestions to help you resist temptation.
- Remember the Law of Attraction (also known as The Secret) where what you think about comes to be. Shift your focus from what you’re trying to resist, to what you want to do.
- Focus on good behaviors like the taste of fresh fruits and veggies, or the sense of accomplishment you’ll have after that workout.
- Reward yourself with healthy, fun treats… going to the beach or watching a favorite program… to celebrate your success.
- Plan ahead to resist temptation, especially in situations where you know you’ll be especially tempted. Give yourself something else to do (or eat) instead of indulging in something less healthy.
- Don’t beat yourself up for not succeeding all the time. Be accepting and compassionate, and keep at it.
These findings are set to appear in the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.
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