Strength of Will

Abstract

that Baumeister and Heatherton point out (e.g., failures of monitoring, although I think that most drinkers know the limits of their own monitoring capability) and the special case of acute psychosis may be argued. Apart from these, even the case of action that seems self-destructive in its result need not be considered a failure of control. Of course, there are gamblers who lose, criminals who get caught, and addicts and drinkers who ruin their lives. They are people, often demoralized people, for whom talk of transcendence or delay of gratification is meaningless and for whom therefore the immediate relief or the short-term gain is what counts. In any case, it is a mistake to imagine, when we talk of so-called self-destructive action, that short-term gains and longterm consequences are always calculated. They are not. In fact, such calculations are often avoided: A few drinks, an abruptness of action with a quick completion, a rationalization that emphasizes the single and relatively safe instance of a general and risky pattern-all these diminish one's sensation of making a risky choice. They are ways in which people (some people particularly but all of us sometimes) can avoid asking themselves questions to which, they dimly suspect, the answers will be unpleasant.

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