Restraint bias 😷

What is it?

The tendency to overestimate our ability to control impulsive behaviour.

Example -

New year is here! You might have made some goals, some new routines, some new habits by which you would like to live.

The truth being, a lot of people do that but after 3-4 months, they feel like being hard on themself & deter from doing those new things. Feeling this limit is restraint bias.

Where does it occur?

As the name suggests, it happens in our daily lives. You might’ve seen people making promises and then deterring from them.

Or let’s just accept it. We all sometimes do that.

Why do I need to know?

We are faced with temptation and impulses every day. It is universal to act impulsively at times, or let our emotions and urges push us towards behaving in ways we otherwise wouldn’t.

However, when we repeatedly overestimate our restraint and fail to take measures to limit our temptation, there can be life-shaping consequences. In its strongest form, the restraint bias can push us back into cycles of addiction. Overall, matters of restraint are no small thing. [1]

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