ABSTRACT
Self-control has become a prominent research topic in contemporary social psychology, inspired by the seminal publications of many contributors to the present volume. They have made a convincing case that self-control is at the heart of well-being, success, achievement, health, and adaptive behavior (Baumeister, Gailliot, & DeWall, 2006; Baumeister & Vohs, 2004; Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004; see also Oettingen & Gollwitzer, Chapter 8, this volume). Many research groups and labs have adopted the major self-control paradigms, such as ego depletion, self-regulation, addiction, and consumption control. In such a growing research program, conceptual clarity becomes more and more important to understand and integrate the numerous empirical findings. Let us therefore start with an explication of the theoretical premises of self-control research and its relation to other theoretical conceptions.
