The Science of Willpower

Secrets for self-control without suffering.

by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.

Top Science of Willpower Blog Posts from 2011

What Psych Today readers found funny, helpful, and important in 2011.

Published on December 30, 2011 by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. in The Science of Willpower

You clicked, you commented, you liked, you tweeted. The 5 most popular posts of 2011:

How Mistakes Can Make You Smarter
Nobody wants to make mistakes -- but how you react to them makes a big difference in whether you learn from them.

How Mindfulness Makes the Brain Immune to Temptation
Paying attention to cravings takes away their power.

What Does Compassion Look Like?
Can you tell who is compassionate just by looking at them? According to a new study, yes.

Mindful Eating, or Mindlessly Eating Better?
Why mindful eating needs to go beyond "listen to your body."

The Power of Self-Compassion
Self-compassion contributes to, not undermines, self-accountability.

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And a bonus runner-up, which was also one of my favorite posts, mostly because I thought this was one of the funniest commercials of the year!
Are You Making These Two Dieting Mistakes?
In nine seconds, everything you need to know about why most diets fail.

Happy New Year, everyone, and I look forward to sharing more fun findings and useful strategies for health and happiness in 2012.

Kelly McGonigal is a health psychologist at Stanford University. Her latest book is The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It.