“He who does not know history is condemned to repeat it,” said Napoleon Bonaparte. However, according to the latest research carried out by Boston College (UK), the University of Pittsburgh (USA) and Vanderbilt University (USA), what we do not remember improves our capacity for self-control. facing everyday situations in which we have previously failed or made mistakes .
” Despite the common belief that remembering our mistakes will help us make better decisions in the present, we actually find that thinking about our failures leads us to repeat them in the present, something that is not useful at all,” he explains. Hristina Nikolova, study leader.
For example, thinking that remembering the last time we said “no” to eating a good piece of chocolate cake will help us control our desire to enjoy this dessert again and choose a piece of fruit instead, it does nothing but help us to boost the desire for the pleasure that we would get from eating that cake. For what reason?
To reach this conclusion, the scientists carried out several experiments that spanned four years in which they examined how the content of the participants’ memories and their ability to retrieve them affected their decisions regarding self-control dilemmas such as controlling issues. as disparate as money (for example buying something expensive but unnecessary, a whim), time or performing complicated tasks.
The results revealed that participants who most clearly remembered their self-management successes were willing to incur 21% more credit card debt than those who recalled far fewer successful self-management situations. Additionally, those who recalled 2-10 failed self-control situations at the time of decision were as likely to incur credit card debt as those who recalled their moments of positive self-control.
The study shows that consumers only show better self-control after reflecting on their past under very specific conditions, but when they experience difficulties in remembering a large number of occasions when they have been an example of self-control, it leads the participant to think that perhaps not Be so good at it and let yourself be carried away by the “object of desire .” Hence, remembering less equals more . In any case, remembering how many times or when we have failed in self-control led the participants to be more forgiving with that capacity for containment, regardless of the amount of memories they had managed to bring to the present.
” When we have to think about our failures it puts us in a negative frame of mind and research has shown that when people are in a negative frame of mind, they tend to be tempted to feel better, ” says Nikolova.
“ Ultimately, remembering failures does little to improve self-control, despite the conventional wisdom that one learns from past mistakes. In fact, our results instead argue that focusing on past mistakes can condemn us to repeat them, ”Nikolova concludes.
This is the first research to address the effect of memories on self-control and has been published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.
