Self-Regulation Without Force: Can Awareness Leverage Reward to Drive Behavior Change?
Vera U. Ludwig, Kirk Warren Brown, Judson A. Brewer
Perspectives on Psychological Science August 28, 2020 DOI: 10.1177/1745691620931460 (opens in new tab) via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractSelf-regulation is often seen as a struggle between impulses and willpower, but an alternative approach emphasizes autonomous motivation, where behavior aligns with personal values or intrinsic satisfaction. Advances in neuroscience show that reward valuation involves brain regions like the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex, and clinical treatments like mindfulness training suggest a shift from forced to unforced behavior change. This paper proposes that bringing awareness to subjective experience and behavior can change the valuation of learned unhealthy behaviors, leading to sustainable self-regulatory shifts without relying on willpower.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Mindfulness training |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Ventromedial prefrontal cortex Cognitive psychology Self-control Behavior change |
| Citations | 69 |
| Key finding | Proposes that awareness of subjective experience can change valuation of unhealthy behaviors, enabling self-regulatory shifts without force. |
Abstract
To reach longer-term goals and live aligned with their values, people typically must regulate their behavior. Effortful self-control is one way to achieve this and is usually framed as a forceful struggle between lower-level impulses and higher-level cognitive control processes. For example, people may restrain themselves from eating cake in order to lose weight. An alternative avenue of self-regulation draws on autonomous motivation: Individuals eat healthfully because it is values-congruent or intrinsically satisfying. Recent advances in the understanding of reward valuation on a neural level (e.g., ventromedial prefrontal cortex/orbitofrontal cortex) and emerging treatments on a clinical level (e.g., mindfulness training) suggest a possible mechanistic convergence between brain and behavior that is consistent with a shift from forced to unforced behavior change. Here we propose how an overlooked aspect of reinforcement learning can be leveraged using a simple yet critical feature of experience that is not reliant on willpower: Bringing awareness to one's subjective experience and behavior can produce a change in valuation of learned but unhealthy behaviors, leading to self-regulatory shifts that result in sustainable behavior change without force.