Citation

Burkley E, Burkley M, Curtis J, Hatvany T. Soc. Personal Psychol. Compass 2018; 12(10): e12416.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Blackwell Publishing, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/spc3.12416

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

People constantly experience a tug-of-war between their self-control on one end and their temptations on the other. Although a great deal of research has examined such self-control dilemmas, much of it has focused on the "push" of self-control rather than the "pull" of temptations. To facilitate future work on this latter construct, we sought to create a taxonomy of temptations. Using a top-down approach, we relied on the philosophical and historical concept of the seven deadly sins--gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, envy, pride, and wrath--to identify and define the most commonly experienced temptations. In support of this taxonomy, we review evidence for the role that self-control plays in resisting each of these seven temptation domains, including work on trait self-control and momentary exertions of self-control. Where applicable, we identify areas where research is lacking and make suggestions for future work. Lastly, we discuss how this taxonomy offers researchers both theoretical and practical benefits.

Language: en