Self-Control in Animals and People

Self-Control in Animals and People takes an interdisciplinary look at self-control, how it works, and if humans are alone in their ability to exercise self-control. The book outlines the historical and recent approaches to learning when self-control succeeds and fails, also discussing which species share the ability to anticipate future outcomes. Readers will find an in-depth exploration on delaying gratification, the ways in which people and animals exhibit self-control, and what influences the capacity and expression of self-control. In addition, the book covers self-control research and outlines how to create fair tests for determining self-control in non-human animals.

• Presents an integrative look at the ways in which people and animals exhibit self-control
• Provides a comprehensive perspective of the evolutionary emergence of self-control across species
• Explores whether self-control can be improved or strengthened
• Studies different kinds of self-control and their links to one another
• Includes insights on mental time travel (chromesthesia) and how it relates to self-control
• Demonstrates how to develop self-control tests for human and non-human animals, and how to make fair and clear comparisons among those groups

Michael Beran is an Associate professor of psychology at Georgia State University. He is a cognitive psychologist with 21 years of experience working with nonhuman primates, young children, human adults, and other species such as birds, bears, and elephants. His research on self-control and future-oriented cognition has been supported by grants from the NIH and NSF. He is the editor or co-editor of eight major journals in the fields of comparative and cognitive science, and has published more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles (and more than 250 total publications) on aspects of human and animal cognition, including dozens of papers on self-control.