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Self-control observed

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Howard Rachlin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500. hrachlin@psych.1.psy.sunysb.edu

Abstract

Complex cases of self-control involve processes such as guilt-avoidance, inhibition, self-punishment, conscious thought, free will, and imagination. Such processes, conceived as internal mediating mechanisms, serve the function in psychological theory of avoiding teleological causation. Acceptance of the scientific legitimacy of teleological behaviorism would obviate the need for internal mediation, redefine the above processes in terms of temporally extended patterns of overt behavior, and clarify their relation to selfcontrol.

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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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