Will Power is Contagious

Recently I am reading the book “The Willpower Instinct:How Self-control Works,Why it Matters,and What You Can do to Get More of It”. The book shares different experiments and findings on how to become a more disciplined individual, based on a famous Stanford Psychology Course. And one findings is quite interesting: will power is contagious.

The will power is weakened in the following 3 ways:

1. Unconscious imitation: imitate others when observe the undisciplined behaviors from surroundings.
2. Contagious emotion: lost will power due to the negative emotions from others.
3. Imagination. When one imagine others are having addictive behaviors, self-discipline will also decrease. The example would be you will be more inclined to have sensational experience when you are thinking of a friend who is addictive to drug.

On the other hand, the discipline will be strengthened if you are emotinally resisting the behaviors you observed. For example, when you feel negatively about someone eating chocolate, you will be have more will power.

The book suggest a few tips to based the findings of contagious behavior:

1. At the start of the day, spend a few minutes to think about your goals, and the possible temptation you will encounter, and how you will protect yourself from the temptation.
2. Look for the will power role model and get support from family or friends.