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Willpower is not synonymous with “executive function”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2013

John Monterosso  and
Shan Luo
John Monterosso
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089. johnrmon@usc.edu http://dornsife.usc.edu/labs/monterosso/ shanluo@usc.edu
Shan Luo
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089. johnrmon@usc.edu http://dornsife.usc.edu/labs/monterosso/ shanluo@usc.edu
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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.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 700 - 701
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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