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There is a belief that willpower is finite and exhaustible and nothing will change how much willpower one has, that one cannot increase one's willpower. For ex
by mechnik 15y ago
There is a belief that willpower is finite and exhaustible and nothing will change how much willpower one has, that one cannot increase one's willpower.
For example, you only have 25 cents worth of willpower at a certain time and if you spent all of it on not eating a cookie you will not have any left for something else.
I suppose if a "trick" increases willpower that proves that willpower is not finite and exhaustible.
Clearly there are limits but one's mindset counts for performance.
- hammock 15y agoMy point was the fact that a resource is finite does not mean you can't grow it. If I am a child with a second-grade education- I have a finite amount of knowledge, but there are "tricks" (aka education, development) that I can do to increase my knowledge. If I have a pond in my backyard, there is a finite amount of water it can hold, but if I dredge out a few more hectares, it will store even more groundwater and its capacity has increased while still remaining finite (I cannot drink from it forever).
- mechnik 15y agoI understand your point about the meaning of 'finite'. My point simply is that those who primarily viewed willpower as a limited resource, finite and exhaustible, did not perform as well as those who believed that exercising willpower increases it. It is not about the nuances of a certain word but how certain attitudes affect performance. Dweck wrote a popular book 'Mindset' where she contrasts 'fixed' mindset with 'growth' mindset. Perhaps 'fixed' makes more sense than 'finite' here. More information at http://mindsetonline.com/ http://mindsetonline.com/