Giving in and feeling bad: The effect of justification on self-control failure and subsequent emotion

Recent work suggests that the cognitive process of justification, which is the act of generating an excuse to give in to temptation prior to acting, can license tempting behavior and disrupt long term goal pursuit. However, the emotional repercussions of justification are unknown. We examined the effect of justification on self-control failure and subsequent emotion in two studies depicting an initiatory self-control situation (i.e., when the long-term goal is to act and the temptation is to do nothing). We predicted that self-control failure via justification would result in less negative and more positive affect compared to self-control failure without justification. In Study 1, participants reported on a vignette character, and in Study 2 they reported on what they would do in the context of a dilemma of whether or not to exercise. Across studies, self-control failure was associated with increased negative affect and decreased positive affect. The two studies differed in terms of whether justification increased (Study 1) or decreased (Study 2) likelihood of self-control failure. This study extends justification findings beyond initiatory self-control situations (i.e., when the temptation is to do something active and long-term goal involves restraint) and clearly ties self-control decisions to affective processes.