People with high self-control prefer meaning over pleasure, study finds

A new study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science sheds light on why some people are better at pursuing their long-term goals than others. The researchers found that individuals with high self-control tend to prefer engaging in activities that feel meaningful rather than those that are simply pleasurable. In contrast, people who are better at enjoying immediate pleasures tend to seek out experiences that are enjoyable in the moment. These preferences may help explain why self-controlled individuals often excel in areas like health, work, and relationships.

Self-control helps people resist temptation, avoid distraction, and stick to plans. Whether it’s saving money, following a diet, or maintaining a study routine, people with high self-control tend to succeed at tasks that require discipline. Traditionally, researchers thought this success stemmed from their ability to suppress impulses or tolerate discomfort. But the authors of the new study propose a different explanation: perhaps people with high self-control simply enjoy different kinds of experiences—ones that align with their goals.

“We found in previous studies that people with high trait self-control spend more time with what they call ‘work’ and people with higher trait hedonic capacity with more ‘leisure.’ I wanted to better understand whether these differences are self-chosen/motivated or rather have to do with external factors (e.g. their courses at uni, working besides studying),” explained study author Katharina Bernecker, a research assistant at the University of Zurich and professor at Bern University of Teacher Education.

To test this idea, the researchers conducted a series of three studies. The first two examined what people did with unexpected free time and how they felt about those activities. The third study asked participants to make hypothetical choices between meaningful and pleasurable activities. In each study, the researchers assessed two personality traits: self-control and hedonic capacity, or the tendency to enjoy pleasurable experiences.

In Study 1a, 449 participants imagined having a few hours of free time and listed up to four activities they might do. They then rated how meaningful and how pleasurable those activities would feel. In Study 1b, a new sample of 231 participants was given an actual hour of free time during a study session and could choose how to spend it. They later reported what they did and how it felt. Both studies used established questionnaires to measure participants’ levels of self-control and hedonic capacity. Activities were then rated based on how much meaning or pleasure participants derived from them.

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Study 2 involved 248 participants who completed a series of hypothetical choices. In each of 20 trials, they were shown two activity options—one described with a word suggesting meaning (such as “purposeful”) and the other with a word suggesting pleasure (such as “enjoyable”). Participants chose which activity they would prefer if they unexpectedly had a few hours of free time.

The findings were consistent across all three studies. People with higher self-control rated their chosen or imagined activities as more meaningful. This was true regardless of what activity they selected—whether it was gardening, reading, or working.

On the other hand, people with higher hedonic capacity experienced greater pleasure from their activities, again regardless of what those activities were. These relationships were not due to people with high self-control choosing different types of activities than those with high hedonic capacity. Instead, it seemed that individuals differed in how they experienced the same activity. For example, someone high in self-control might view studying as fulfilling, while someone else might see it as boring.

“Most surprising to me was that we did not find differences in the coded activities—what people spent their free time doing,” Bernecker told PsyPost. “It somehow suggests that either people with high trait self-control are construing the experience of productivity and meaning, or we just couldn’t detect differences in the codes because the activities did differ on some level (e.g., reading a tabloid vs. a newspaper). Or it might also be that the activity itself isn’t what causes the experience, but rather the reason behind it (doing it for pleasure vs. learning or self-development), which is something we didn’t assess.”

In the third study, participants with higher self-control consistently chose the activities described as meaningful, while those with higher hedonic capacity preferred the ones described as pleasurable. These preferences suggest that people are drawn to experiences that match their personality traits, even when they are making choices in hypothetical situations with no real stakes.

Interestingly, the researchers also found that both traits—self-control and hedonic capacity—were linked to greater satisfaction with how participants spent their time. However, the emotional tone of that satisfaction differed slightly. Hedonic capacity was more strongly linked to joy, while self-control was more associated with a sense of meaning.

The findings provide evidence “that a lot of self-control success might be due to people’s motivation to feel productive and engage in meaningful activities rather than avoid pleasure,” Bernecker explained. “People with high trait self-control seem to enjoy this experience more than something that is just fun. That means spending a weekend or holiday doing nothing is probably not for them. They need to do something that allows them to feel productive—like learning a new skill. When we think of holidays, we usually think of lying on the beach, doing nothing, but that might not be the most enjoyable way to spend free time, at least not for all of us.”

Still, the authors note that their studies were correlational and based on self-report. While the findings are consistent with their hypothesis, they cannot confirm that self-control causes people to prefer meaningful experiences, or the reverse.

“The studies are all correlational, which means we cannot tell which comes first—trait self-control or the preference for meaning,” Bernecker said. “This is a problem with basically all trait research because traits can’t be experimentally manipulated. For instance, perhaps the trait still means that people are better at controlling their impulses or persisting despite effort, which allows them to experience meaning. Or they are motivated by that feeling of meaning, and this is what gives them the extra push to choose and persist in effortful tasks.”

The long-term goal for this line of research is to “understand trait self-control, as it has so many positive outcomes,” Bernecker explained. “If we understand the processes, we can help people get better at it. And our findings suggest that there might be a rather enjoyable route to better self-control.”

“With my research, I would like to inspire self-control researchers to think about the positive aspects of applying control—most studies center around withstanding effort or avoiding pleasure, but there are also positive aspects of activities like exercise, doing household tasks, learning, or taking care of others’ needs. These things make us feel productive, and sometimes they are meaningful. If we could teach people to focus more on these aspects, perhaps we could get them to engage in these activities more often—instead of just teaching impulse control.”

The study, “High Self-Control Individuals Prefer Meaning Over Pleasure,” was authored by Katharina Bernecker, Daniela Becker, and Aiste Guobyte.