Neuroscience of Self and Self-Regulation

PS62CH14-Heatherton ARI 22 November 2010 9:19 Neuroscience of Self and Self-Regulation Todd F. Heatherton Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03766; email: [email protected] Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2011. 62:363–90 Key Words The Annual Review of Psychology is online at self-awareness, theory of mind, need to belong, social neuroscience, psych.annualreviews.org neuroimaging, addiction This article’s doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131616 Abstract by Dartmouth College on 12/08/10. For personal use only. Copyright c 2011 by Annual Reviews. As a social species, humans have a fundamental need to belong that en- All rights reserved courages behaviors consistent with being a good group member. Being 0066-4308/11/0110-0363$20.00 a good group member requires the capacity for self-regulation, which Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2011.62:363-390. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org allows people to alter or inhibit behaviors that would place them at risk for group exclusion. Self-regulation requires four psychological components. First, people need to be aware of their behavior so as to gauge it against societal norms. Second, people need to understand how others are reacting to their behavior so as to predict how others will respond to them. This necessitates a third mechanism, which detects threat, especially in complex social situations. Finally, there needs to be a mechanism for resolving discrepancies between self-knowledge and social expectations or norms, thereby motivating behavior to resolve any conflict that exists. This article reviews recent social neuroscience research on the psychological components that support the human capacity for self-regulation. 363 PS62CH14-Heatherton ARI 22 November 2010 9:19 ments were most likely to reproduce and pass Contents along their genes. As such, humans have evolved a fundamental need to belong that encourages INTRODUCTION.................. 364 behaviors consistent with being a good group The Need for Inhibition . 364 member (Baumeister & Leary 1995). Belonging COMPONENTS OF THE to a good group had considerable value, includ- SOCIALBRAIN.................. 365 ing access to shared resources, security from Self-Awareness.................... 365 various threats, and even assistance with daily Mentalizing....................... 366 chores. Hence, the human brain has adapted ThreatDetection.................. 366 within a complex social environment and is Self-Regulation . 366 likely to have evolved dedicated neural mech- A Social Neuroscience Approach. 366 anisms that are acutely sensitive to social con- SELF-AWARENESS AND text, especially for any signs that group mem- SELF-KNOWLEDGE............ 367 bership is imperiled (Heatherton & Wheatley IsSelfSpecial?..................... 367 2010, Mitchell & Heatherton 2009). Social and Cultural Context . 368 Age-RelatedChanges.............. 369 The Affective Self The Need for Inhibition and Psychopathology. 369 Being a good group member is not always easy, IsMPFCtheSelf?................. 370 however. There is an inherent conflict between THEORYOFMIND................ 370 what is enjoyable for the individual and what is UsingSelfasaTemplate........... 371 best for the group. From an individual perspec- Mentalizing the Outgroup. 371 tive, basic motivational reward processes en- DETECTIONOFTHREAT......... 372 courage behaviors that bring pleasure. Left to Adaptive Social Emotions . 372 our own devices and without fear of social eval- Social Rejection and uation, we might indulge our appetites without InterpersonalDistress........... 372 restraint: eat as much fattening tasty food as our StereotypeThreat................. 373 stomachs can hold, ingest chemical substances SELF-REGULATION............... 373 that activate dopamine receptors, and generally Cognitive Neuroscience follow the hedonistic rule of doing whatever of Self-Regulation . 373 feels good. But eating more than a fair share Emotion Regulation . 374 of food or otherwise monopolizing group re- by Dartmouth College on 12/08/10. For personal use only. Regulation of Thought . 375 sources comes with a cost to other group mem- Regulation of Behaviors . 377 bers and thus can threaten our status in the Self-Regulation as a Limited group. Inhibitions are therefore important for Resource....................... 379 Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2011.62:363-390. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org harmonious social relations, and evolution has CONCLUSION..................... 379 undoubtedly favored those who could control undesirable impulses. Inhibition is a core feature of self-regulation, which refers to the process by which people INTRODUCTION initiate, adjust, interrupt, stop, or otherwise Self-regulation: Many of the adaptive challenges facing our ear- change thoughts, feelings, or actions in order the process by which people change liest ancestors were social in nature, such as dif- to effect realization of personal goals or plans thoughts, feelings, or ferentiating friends from foes, identifying and or to maintain current standards (Baumeister actions in order to evaluating potential mates, understanding the et al. 1994a, Baumeister & Heatherton 1996, satisfy personal and nature and structure of group relations, and so Carver & Scheier 1998). At the broadest level, society goals and on. Those ancestors who were able to solve sur- self-regulation refers to intentional or pur- standards vival problems and adapt to their social environ- poseful acts that are directed from within the 364 Heatherton PS62CH14-Heatherton ARI 22 November 2010 9:19 person (Bandura 1989). From this perspective, research addressing this aspect of self- learning, physiology, and culture predispose regulation (for exceptions, see Cunningham certain behaviors, thoughts, or emotions in et al. 2005, Eddington et al. 2007). Accordingly, specific circumstances, but self-regulation much of the focus of this article is on regulation allows people to change or overcome them. and control of ongoing psychological activity. Although all humans have an impressive capacity for self-regulation, failures are com- mon, and people lose control of their behavior COMPONENTS OF THE in a wide variety of circumstances (Baumeister SOCIAL BRAIN & Heatherton 1996, Baumeister et al. 1994a). Controlling oneself to be a good group member Such failures are an important cause of several involves an awareness of how one is thinking, contemporary societal problems—obesity, sex- feeling, or behaving and the ability to alter any ual predation, addiction, and sexual infidelity, of these to satisfy the standards or expectations to name but a few. That even revered figures, of the group. This implies the need for at least including Catholic priests, celebrity/sports role four psychological components, the failure models, and respected political leaders, have of any of which can lead to poor outcomes been publicly castigated for their spectacular and censure from the group (Heatherton failures of self-control is testament to the 2010, Krendl & Heatherton 2009, Mitchell difficulties inherent in trying to control the & Heatherton 2009, Wagner & Heatherton self. This article discusses the neural bases of 2010b). fundamental components of the social brain, focusing on how having a “self ” serves the basic social skills necessary for maintaining Self-Awareness effective relations with group members. First, people need self-awareness to reflect on There are, of course, other important their behaviors, including their emotional dis- features of self-regulation, such as initiating plays, so as to judge them against group norms. self-regulatory efforts in order to achieve per- An empirical understanding of the self has sonal goals (Shah 2005). For example, Higgins a long history in psychology (see Baumeister (1997) distinguished self-regulatory efforts 1998), dating back to William James’ impor- aimed at achieving desirable outcomes from tant distinction between the self as the knower those aimed at avoiding undesirable outcomes. (“I”) and the self as the object that is known Promotion goals are those in which people ap- (“me”). In the sense of the knower, the self by Dartmouth College on 12/08/10. For personal use only. proach ideal goals with aspiration and a sense of is the subject doing the thinking, feeling, and accomplishment, focusing on potential gains. acting. In the sense of the objectified self, the By contrast, prevention goals are those in which self consists of the knowledge that people hold Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2011.62:363-390. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org people try to avoid losses by playing it safe or about themselves, as when they contemplate doing what they ought to do. This framework their best and worst qualities. The experience has proven useful for understanding a great deal of self as the object of attention is the psy- of social behavior, from how people behave in chological state known as self-awareness, which intergroup contexts (Shah et al. 2004) to how encourages people to reflect on their actions they respond to awkward interracial interac- and understand the extent to which those actions (Trawalter & Richeson 2006). Although tions match both personal values and beliefs understanding how people initiate behavior to as well as group standards (Carver & Scheier attain personal goals is clearly important for 1981, Duval & Wicklund 1972). Whether cer- many aspects of human behavior, particularly tain aspects of the self, such as self-serving bi- health behavior (Bandura 1991, Carver

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