Behavioral Self Control by Carl E. ThoresenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Context & Why I read this book
"Behavioral self-control" was on my reading list since I am currently doing wide reading about what is loosely termed willpower. I was familiar with one of the authors, Mahoney, who has written one of my favorite works on self-change.
What is the book about as a whole?
This book is about what was scientifically known about "self-control" and what methodological issues were present at the time (1974).
The book's structure
The book is divided in 7 chapters:
1. Self-Control: An Introduction (Relevance, Concept, Criteria, General Strategies)
2. Methodological issues in Self-Control (External Control, Extraneous Variables, Experimental Design, Reliability)
3. Self-Observation (Analysis, Methods, Studies)
4. Self-Reward (Laboratory Research, Clinical Applications, Issues)
5. Self-Punishment and Aversive Self-Regulation (Concept, Endurance&Restraint, Laboratory Analogues, Applications)
6. Covert Self-Control (Antecedents, Target Behaviors, Consequences, Problems & Prospects)
7. Summary and Implications (Methodological Problems, Techniques, Behavioral Humanism, Therapy, Personal Freedom)
One lesson
Apart from learning how to categorize self-regulation strategies at one disposal — namely, Environmental Planning vs. Behavioral Programming (Self-Observation, Self-Reward, Self-Punishment) — I was most intrigued by the fact that as early as 1974, Mahoney seems to conclude that the "key to self-mastery is not to be found in appeals to willpower and other presumed inner resources, but rather in awareness", by which he means "the knowledge of how to use various stimuli to increase and decrease certain responses". This, to my knowledge, somewhat runs against the more contemporary and popular works of for instance Anders Ericsson (Peak) who seems to focus more on the willpower concept itself.
Reading Recommendation / Who should read this?
This book is written for a scientific audience and includes many detailed studies. Since it was written nearly 50 years ago there probably have been quite some advancements in the area. However, the author did a great job of writing a scientific, objective, and timeless work and thus I feel it is very much worth a read for the interested reader. This grant a 7 out of 10 (⭑⭑⭑⭑) on my personal rating scale, which translates into "Good read, despite minor weaknesses; generally recommended".
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