People may suppress temptations with pure willpower or use strategies to reduce their pull. In this paper, we examine lay theories about self-control strategy use. A fictional person described as a high self-control individual was seen as more likely to use willpower than strategies (Experiment 1). In four other experiments, targets described as using strategies were perceived as relatively lower in self-control than those using willpower (Experiments 2–5). This difference disappeared for participants who scored high on a scale assessing the belief that strategies are indicative of self-control (Experiment 4) and was reduced for those who were assigned to read an article about self-control strategies rather than about willpower (Experiment 5). Strategy beliefs were also linked to more intentions to use strategies (Experiments 4–5). We conclude that willpower is more central to people's idea of self-control than strategies, and that this lay belief affects person perception and behavioral intentions.

人们可能会用纯粹的意志力来抑制诱惑，或者使用策略来减少诱惑。在本文中，我们研究了关于自我控制策略使用的外行理论。一个虚构的人被描述为高度自控的人，被认为更有可能使用意志力而不是策略（实验 1）。在其他四个实验中，被描述为使用策略的目标被认为比使用意志力的目标在自我控制方面相对较低（实验 2-5）。对于那些在评估策略是自我控制的指标（实验 4）这一信念的量表上得分高的参与者，这种差异消失了，对于那些被分配阅读关于自我控制策略而不是关于意志力的文章的参与者，这种差异减少了（实验 5） ). 策略信念也与更多使用策略的意图相关（实验 4-5）。