ABSTRACT
People often behave paradoxically: They do things they later wish they had not done, and they fail to do things they later wish they had. This temporal inconsistency is readily apparent in health-related behavior. People resolve to quit or curtail behaviors with negative health consequences (e.g., smoking and other substance use, overeating, etc.), only to return to excessive consumption at some later time. Similarly, they resolve to initiate new patterns of behavior with positive health consequences (e.g., regular exercise, low-fat diets, etc.), only to fail quickly to adhere to their resolutions.
