What is Self-Control and How Can We Measure It?

Self-control helps us to achieve our goals (like having more time for your favorite hobby) and stay away from behaviors we want to avoid (like spending all afternoon on your phone). There are different strategies for self-control, like committing to doing (or not doing) certain things or distracting ourselves from things we would like to avoid. Because self-control is so important in many parts of our lives, there is a lot of psychology research on the topic. This article describes our work with a questionnaire that assesses eight different self-control strategies. We translated the questionnaire from English to German and then tested its quality. In the process of reading about our work, you will also learn about the various self-control strategies, so you can try them yourself.