ABSTRACT
To maintain good health, people often need to deal with conflicting desires, such as wanting to lose weight and wanting to eat a delicious dessert. Resolving goal conflicts through self-control is an important component in achieving and maintaining a healthy life. Self-control includes the formation of healthy habits, such as exercising and healthy eating, and the avoidance of unhealthy habits, such as drinking, substance abuse, and chronic stress (de Ridder, Lensvelt-Mulders, Finkenauer, Stok, & Baumeister, 2012). We define self-control as the capacity to resist a temptation that is in conflict with a desired, long-term goal, in order to protect this valued goal (e.g., resist alcohol to ensure safe driving). Throughout this chapter, we explore when self-control is needed for promoting health and well-being and, if it is needed, how the identification of a conflict and the exercise of self-control to resolve the conflict are jointly required to pursue a long-term health goal.
