Practicing self-control consumes real energy

http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/03/practicing_selfcontrol_consume.php

by gaika • 18 years ago

24 11 18 years ago

blurry3• 18 years ago

That explains why Obama is so skinny.

...how does obama have anything to do with self control? On numerous occasions he has lost his temper to the press, and that is just public stuff.

daniel-cussen• 18 years ago

Doesn't that go for most public figures, though?

blurry3• 18 years ago

I am surprised you would say that. From what I've seen (I've followed him and other candidates a lot during the debates) he showed extreme self control, more so than any other candidate.

I tend to agree with the New York Times:

In the way Mr. Obama has trained himself for competition, he can sometimes seem as much athlete as politician. Even before he entered public life, he began honing not only his political skills, but also his mental and emotional ones. He developed a self-discipline so complete, friends and aides say, that he has established dominion over not only what he does but also how he feels. He does not easily exult, despair or anger: to do so would be an indulgence, a distraction from his goals. Instead, they say, he separates himself from the moment and assesses.

What were some examples of those numerous occasions where he's lost his temper?

bilch• 18 years ago

The research was published in 2007. And it has been discussed here before.

Jebdm• 18 years ago

This seems fairly obvious to me; self control involves doing something extra. For instance, take the Stroop test (where a color word is shown in another color, e.g. "red" in blue ink). When asked to read the word, you don't have to do anything extra (assuming you are an experienced reader); you kind of automatically just "know" what the word is, it is your strongest identification with the written text. Identifying the color isn't any harder than reading the word, but you have to override your automatic propensity to say what's written.

Thinking of it in programming terms, you're not just doing "sayColor()" instead of "sayText()"; you always do "sayText()", but you also have to do "blockSayText()" and "sayColor()" in parallel.

electromagnetic2• 18 years ago

Personally, as a writer I have great difficulty writing when I'm trying to concentrate. It's actually quite unbelievable how much diet soda I go through, yet I write best (quality & quantity) when I'm chowing down on granola bars and candy. I think I drank an entire like uber-big gulp of coke in an hour and got out 2000 words, yet in the same amount of time I'm usually lucky if I get 500 words when I'm drinking Coke Zero.

Practicing self-control consumes real energy

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