Glossary
Restraint Bias
What is restraint bias?
Restraint bias is overestimating your ability to resist temptation. You think the snacks on your desk will be easy to ignore. A few hours later, the bag is empty.
What the research found
Nordgren and colleagues examined beliefs about impulse control in four studies. In a follow-up of recovering smokers, people who believed more strongly in their self-control exposed themselves to more temptation and had higher relapse rates four months later. This association does not prove that confidence caused the relapses.
Examples of restraint bias
A shopper might browse an online sale expecting to resist every extra purchase, then spend more than planned. A student might keep a game open while working, confident they will ignore it. If that confidence overstates their ability to resist the distraction, it illustrates restraint bias.
Why it matters
If you overestimate your restraint, you may put yourself in situations that make a goal harder to keep. The useful question is how well your confidence matches what you actually do when temptation is nearby.