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Willpower is not synonymous with “executive function”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2013

John Monterosso
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089. [email protected]://dornsife.usc.edu/labs/monterosso/[email protected]
Shan Luo
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089. [email protected]://dornsife.usc.edu/labs/monterosso/[email protected]

Abstract

Kurzban et al. make a convincing case against the idea that willpower is a depleting resource. However, they do not advance a positive account of willpower. Rather than treating “willpower” as a synonym of “executive function,” we argue that the term willpower should be designated for mechanisms individuals deploy to reduce dynamic inconsistency in their behavior.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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