What we want to do versus what we think we should do: an empirical investigation of intrapersonal conflict
Journal
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
Subject
Organisational Behaviour
Publishing details
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 2002 Vol 15:5 p 403-418
Authors / Editors
O'Connor K M;De Dreu C K W;Schroth H;Barry B;Lituchy T R;Bazerman M H
Biographies
Publication Year
2002
Abstract
People often feel torn between what they want to do and what they believe they should do. As a result, they experience intrapersonal conflict. For example, people know that they should avoid credit card debt, but they want to splurge on just one more purchase. Following Loewenstein's (1996) temporal perspective to understanding internal conflict and inconsistency, we offer three studies that empirically demonstrate (1) a distinction between the want self and the should self, (2) that behavior is more closely linked to the want self, (3) that the want self is the self that is temporally inconsistent, and (4) that adopting a want versus should perspective can have a significant impact on actual behavior.
Keywords
Intrapersonal conflict; Time; Want; Should; Ultimatum game; Negotiation
Available on ECCH
No