Magen Eran, Gross James J
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Emotion. 2007 May;7(2):415-28. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.415.
Many of us succumb to temptations, despite knowing that we will later regret doing so. How can such behavior be avoided? In three studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that reconstruing temptation as a test of a valued internal quality ("willpower") would decrease the tendency to succumb by reducing the appeal of the temptation. In Study 1, participants who construed a challenging handgrip task as a test of willpower resisted the temptation to terminate the painful task longer than participants who did not. In Study 2, participants performed a handgrip task twice. Only participants who changed their construal of the task into a test of willpower improved their performance. In Study 3, participants took a timed math test while being tempted by comedy clips. Participants who reconstrued the situation as willpower test compared with participants who did not, (a) enjoyed the videos less, and (b) were better able to resist the tempting videos. These studies demonstrate that cognitive reconstrual can be used to modify reward contingencies, so that succumbing to temptation becomes less appealing, and resisting temptation becomes more appealing.
我们中的许多人都会屈服于诱惑，尽管我们知道这样做之后会后悔。如何避免这种行为呢？在三项研究中，作者检验了这样一个假设：将诱惑重新诠释为对一种有价值的内在品质（“意志力”）的考验，会通过降低诱惑的吸引力来减少屈服的倾向。在研究1中，将具有挑战性的握力任务诠释为意志力考验的参与者，比没有这样做的参与者更能抵抗终止这项痛苦任务的诱惑，坚持的时间更长。在研究2中，参与者进行了两次握力任务。只有那些将任务的诠释转变为意志力考验的参与者提高了他们的表现。在研究3中，参与者在观看喜剧短片的诱惑下进行了限时数学测试。与没有这样做的参与者相比，将情境重新诠释为意志力考验的参与者，（a）对视频的喜爱程度较低，（b）更能抵抗诱人的视频。这些研究表明，认知重新诠释可以用来改变奖励的权变因素，从而使屈服于诱惑变得不那么有吸引力，而抵制诱惑变得更有吸引力。
