Desires Flashcards
What is a Desire?
A motivated state towards something of pleasure
Understanding and controlling desires is more effective than controlling ________
Willpower
Having a strong desire will affect the ______ needed
Willpower
Outline Hoffman et al’s study (beeped)
205 participants answered a baseline questionnaire, were beeped 7x a day for 1 week and asked if they were currently experiencing a desire and then some questions about that desire
What did Hoffman find that people were worst at?
They were worst at resisting media use, even though they were good overall at resisting other things
In Hoffmans study, what % of people did give in, even when trying to resist?
42%
S____ and L______ were most conflicted with desire and goals
Sleep and Leisure
Stronger desires were ____ difficult to control and resist
More
Weak desires were __% successful at resisting
90%
Alcohol increased the probability of behaviour enactment, even when people are trying to _____ that desire
Resist
Alcohol predicts ______ desire strength
Increased
______ are stronger after alcohol, even if that person doesn’t have poor willpower
Impulses
An example of having stronger impulses after alcohol use?
Vegetarian craving meat when drunk
What does alcohol predicting increased desire strength help us to understand?
Why alcohol impairs self-control as a result, because people find it harder to resist these stronger desires, so therefore have diminished self control
Different people have different desires, and ______ them differently
Experience
Strength of desires varies across what 3 things?
1) Type of desire
2) Individual
3) Situation
When does a desire turn into a temptation?
When it conflicts with your goal
An example of a desire turning into a temptation?
Goal to lose weight, a desire to eat bacon or MacDonald’s would be a temptation
When a desire does not turn into a temptation, its not an issue, provide an example of this?
If you didn’t have a goal to avoid cookies, there is no conflict in having them
Desire strength ______ _______ Behaviour enactment, but it did not predict _____ or ______
Positively predicts, Conflict or Resistance
Desire strength did affect the resistance to behaviour relationship, why is this?
Because conflict triggers resistance, which negatively predicts behaviour enactment
Fishback and Myseth’s Two-Staged model, said that people fail at self-control due to 2 reasons, what are they?
1) They don’t resist temptation
2) They don’t identify a desire as a temptation
Why is failing to identify a desire as a temptation a bad thing? i.e. not identifying that going on your phone conflicts with getting uni work done
Because whether or not we recognise a desire as a temptation determines whether willpower is recruited or not
Conflict is _______ for control
Necessary
Name 3 ways that desires can be regulated?
1) Increase conflict, to motivate yourself more
2) Increase resilience
3) Decrease desire strength
What are the 2 main strategies to cope with desires?
1) Interventive strategies = coping after you’ve experienced it, down-regulating the desire
2) Preventive strategies = preventing it prior by inhibiting the desired behaviour
How did the Marshmallow test use interventive strategies?
Children were asked to image that the marshmallow was fake, focus on how it looks rather than tastes, and to distract themselves
How is showing lung cancer pictures on fag packets an interventive strategy?
Because it tries to affect the desire by attempting to decrease it
What did Van Ditten et al find about the effect of cognitive load on likelihood of wanting an unhealthy snack, and the strength of the desire?
Cognitive load reduced the likelihood of wanting an unhealthy snack, and the desire strength for the unhealthy snack decreased, especially for those scoring highly on the sensitivity measure to food
What did Hamilton find about the meditation group and their cravings?
They did not experience a crave increase, but controls did
Therefore, after Vans study on distraction, and Hamiltons study on mindfulness, we can make what 2 conclusions?
That a) distracting yourself from the desire and b) being mindful of the desire both work
Name the 4 preventive strategies (P, R, P-C, C)
1) Preventing the desire e.g. hiding the crisps
2) Reminder of conflict e.g. post-it note on crisp cupboard reminding you of your goal
3) Pre-commitment e.g. telling people you are giving up crisps, or buying a ticket in advance to avoid dropping out as you’ve already paid for it
4) Constraint opportunities e.g. only taking enough money to the pub for a drink, not crisps as well
Despite having good control being unrelated to the number of desires you have, it did predict what?
1) Lower desire strength
2) Less conflict
3) Less resistance
Why do people who are better at self-control, have fewer problematic desires?
Because they experience less temptation, and control their desires without using willpower
Why do people who are better at self-control, have fewer problematic desires?
Because they experience less temptation, and control their desires, not by using more willpower
The probability that a user clicked on a notification within 5 minutes was ___%?
83%
People responded just as _____ when their phone was on _____
Quickly, silent
State three reasons why the “doom and gloom” of smartphones is overstated?
1) Most data is correlational
2) More of a symptom rather than a cause of mental health problems
3) Only explains 0.4 of the variance in wellbeing
Negative effects of regularly eating potatoes on wellbeing was nearly as _____ as the effect on technology
Large
Bullying was ___ times more as large of a negative effect than technology
Six
Name 3 negative effects of smartphone usage?
1) Diminishes our memory for experiences, as we are relying on videos instead
2) Using phones during meals diminishes enjoyment of spending time with others and impairs ability to make social connections
3) Parents feel more distracted and have less social connection with their children
Purely the _____ of a phone reduces cognitive performance
Presence
Receiving notifications (_____ _____ _____ _____) significantly ______ performance on a demanding task
Even without viewing them, disrupted
People low in self-control are more likely to respond to notifications _______, creates a harsh cycle
Immediately
Social media engagement linked with _____ delay discounting
Poorer
How much more likely are you to be involved in an accident if you text while driving?
20-30%
More dangerous than _____ driving
Drink
Using your phone whilst driving is less about attitudes and norms, and more about a ___-____ problem
Self-Control
Trying to understand and control our desires is probably a more effective way of self-regulating than relying on ______
Willpower
From Hoffman et al key reading, results said that desires were _____, variable in _____ and largely ________
Frequent, intensity, unproblematic
In this reading, personality was found to have stronger influence on dimensions of desire that emerged early in its course e.g. desire strength and conflict, whereas situational factors showed relatively more influence on components later in the process e.g. ____-_____ and ______
Behaviour enactment, Resistance
