ABSTRACT
Just as most people have their good or bad hair days, the capacity for self-control waxes and wanes within an individual across time and circumstances. Therefore, capturing self-control in daily life is a fundamental challenge for researchers. Fortunately, with the development of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), this challenge has become much easier to master, as this method is designed to help researchers collect ecologically valid data about behavior, thoughts, and feelings over time (Hektner, Schmidt, & Csikszentmihalyi, 2006; Shiffman, 2009; Shiffman, Stone, & Hufford, 2008). Moreover, the increasing popularity of the smartphone, together with its versatility and built-in features, has opened up numerous new ways to not only to assess daily fluctuations of self-control, but also to develop new smartphone-based interventions aimed at influencing self-control and self-regulation in daily life.
