Rita Coelho do Vale

Who they are

This site draws on the 2016 paper only. No affiliation has been verified, and none is given.

This page records only what the papers and their published records state. Biography beyond the cited work is not given here.

Key papers

The benefits of behaving badly on occasion (2016), with Pieters and Zeelenberg. In two controlled experiments, one simulated and one with people who were actually dieting, plans that included scheduled indulgences kept people more motivated and in a better mood than rigid plans. A third study of people pursuing a range of goals found a similar benefit. The paper also frames part of the benefit as restoring self-control resources.

Key ideas

The central idea is that building a slip into the plan removes its power. If a goal is framed as a clean record, one lapse can feel like the end of it, which is the abstinence violation effect. A planned indulgence keeps the record intact. The self-control framing sits uneasily with the replication record on willpower as a depletable resource, but the motivation and mood findings do not depend on it.

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