Self-Control

What it is

The capacity to hold to a long-term aim when an immediate reward is on offer. Dan Ariely, in Predictably Irrational, treats procrastination and self-control as problems people can see in themselves and plan for, for example by committing in advance.

In effect

In the article on buy now, pay later, it explains why splitting a price can make an immediate purchase easier to choose over a later aim.

What it does not say

It is a broad capacity, not a single measured effect. It does not say that people who pay in instalments lack self-control.

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