Temptation-Coping Self-Control Strategies are also Seen as Less Indicative of Self-Control than Just Willpower in Japan: Replication of Gennara et al. (2023) with Additional Investigation Focusing on Cultural Self-Construal

This study aimed to assess whether the main findings of Gennara et al. (2023) are also applicable to a collectivist culture. We found that Japanese people also perceived people who used temptation-coping self-control strategies as having less self-control than those who used willpower. This was derived from a lay belief that strategy use is less indicative of self-control, which may hinder people’s intention to use strategies. However, some cultural differences may exist, as our results also showed that individual differences in interdependent construal of self were correlated with lay beliefs regarding strategy use.