Media Contact: 
 
 Brett Israel 
 
 Director, Business News and Communications 
 
 Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management 
 
 (615) 322-3469 | brett.israel@owen.vanderbilt.edu 
 
 How people remember past behavior affects their choices in the present, according to a new study that suggests the relationship between recall and self-control is more complicated than previously believed. 
 
 Research on self-control often suggests recollecting past mistakes as a way to avoid making them again. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people with food addictions reflect on past lapses to keep from overeating. But Vanderbilt University professor Kelly Haws thought there might be more to the story, so she and her team designed several studies to test the nuances of recall. Haws and colleagues found that focusing on past behaviors is not always a good idea. Research on self-control often suggests recollecting past mistakes as a way to avoid making them again. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people with food addictions reflect on past lapses to keep from overeating. But Vanderbilt University professor Kelly Haws thought there might be more to the story, so she and her team designed several studies to test the nuances of recall. Haws and colleagues found that focusing on past behaviors is not always a good idea. 
 
 
 
 
 
 "Be very careful when you ask anybody to dig up the past," said Haws, an associate professor of marketing at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. "That can be a very ineffective way to change future behavior for the better." 
 
 
 
 
 
 The research was published online June 30 in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. 
 
 
 
 
 
 In one experiment, Haws and colleagues divided subjects into two groups: they asked one group to remember self-control "successes" —say, buying shoes from the sales rack rather than shelling out for new Jimmy Choos. The other group was asked to remember examples of poor choices, or "failures." 
 
 
 
 
 
 Then the researchers added a twist —they wanted to see how the ease of recall affected self-control. To do this, they used a well-known method in cognitive psychology —they asked some subjects to remember more examples than others. 
 
 
 
 
 
 The method works because it's generally easier to call up two past examples than ten. Therefore, the thinking goes, people asked to remember two instances of smart spending might think they make great choices, since the recall felt easy. 
 
 
 
 
 
 On the flip side, people asked to remember ten examples of good financial decisions might doubt their self-control. 
 
 
 
 
 
 "You start to use that difficulty you're having as a cue for who you are and what you're like," Haws said. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Finally, Haws gave participants a budget, then asked them how much they would spend on an item they couldn't afford —a pair of shoes, a handbag or a video game. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Study participants asked to remember few instances of success, on the whole, spent within their allotted budgets. But those asked to remember more good examples exhibited poorer self-control —they tended to splurge on items they couldn't afford. 
 
 
 
 
 
 The results highlight several interesting elements of the relationship between recall and self-control. Perhaps the most surprising, Haws said, is that searching through the past can negatively affect behavior, depending on the ease of recall, even when past examples are positive. 
 
 
 
 
 
 We are constantly rewriting the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves —that's what makes recall an unreliable tool for improvement. Instead of dwelling on the past, Haws said, her research into behavior suggests that setting goals for the future can positively change present behavior. We don't buy the $700 boots because we want to go on that trip to Europe. We study instead of party because we want a good score on the test. 
 
 
 
 
 
 In short, if we want to have better self-control, "Look forward," Haws says. "Don't look back." 

 Remembering the past can negatively impact your self-control and decision-making process. In fact, we often don’t learn from our mistakes—we repeat them if we think about them too much, according to a study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. 
 
 "Be very careful when you dig up the past," says Kelly Haws, a professor of marketing at Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and lead author of the study. "For the most part, it isn’t helpful when you’re facing a current decision, and trying to learn from your mistakes can be a very ineffective way to change future behavior for the better." 
 
 In an experiment, Haws and her colleagues divided participants into four groups. The first group was asked to remember two situations where they practiced self-control and were successful; a second group was asked to recall 10 times they practiced successful self-control; a third group was asked to think about two times when they made poor choices; and a fourth group was asked to bring to mind 10 previous mistakes. 
 
 People constantly rewrite the stories they tell themselves about themselves, making recall an unreliable tool for improvement. 
 
 Then Haws gave participants a budget and asked them how much they would spend on an item they wanted, such as a pair of shoes, handbag, or video game. The participants who had been asked to recall two instances of success were the only group that spent within their allotted budgets. The other three groups exhibited poorer self-control, all splurging on items they couldn't afford. 
 
 The findings reveal the relationship between recall and self-control, says Haws: "The most surprising result was that searching through the past can negatively affect behavior, even when past examples are positive. People constantly rewrite the stories they tell themselves about themselves, making recall an unreliable tool for improvement." 
 
 Trying to remember 10 examples of good financial decisions might be a struggle, and that can lead someone to doubt their abilities. "You start to use that difficulty you're having as a cue for who you are and what you're like," she says. 
 
 Instead of using the past as a tool for improvement, Haws says her study suggests that setting goals for the future is a more productive way to positively change present behavior. 
 
 If you want better self-control, look forward and not back, Haws says. Before making a decision, don’t ruminate on past choices. 
 
 "Think positively about why you don’t want to eat that cookie, for example," she says. "Is it because you want to stay slim and healthy, or avoid the sugar energy crash you know is coming? Look forward to the reasons why you’re making tough choices. You don’t buy the $700 boots, because you want to go on that trip to Europe. You study instead of party because you want a good score on the test. It’s generally a more effective way to try to make decisions." 
 
 The only caveat to leaving the past behind is if you can quickly recall successes without putting too much thought into it, says Haws. "People asked to remember two instances of smart spending might think they make great choices, since the recall felt easy," she says. 
 
 Focusing on past mistakes—whether it’s two or 10—can make you feel down. "Several studies have robust findings that if you’re in a bad mood or experiencing negative emotions, it lessens your self control," says Haws. "You’ll do something that makes you feel good in the short term in an attempt to repair your mood. That’s why they call shopping ‘retail therapy.’" 
 
 While we’ve all been told that it’s important to learn from your mistakes, recalling them makes us internalize them and think of ourselves as people who do negative behaviors, says Haws. 
 
 "They become self-fulfilling behaviors," she says. "You start to tell yourself, ‘That’s what I do, so I might as well do it again.’ It’s better to let that go, and focus on the future." 

 "Be very careful when you ask anybody to dig up the past," says Kelly Haws. "That can be a very ineffective way to change future behavior for the better." (Credit: Chris Goldberg/Flickr 
 
 How to avoid saying ‘oops, I did it again’ 
 
 Studies on self-control suggest that recollecting past mistakes is a good way to avoid making them again. But researchers thought there might be more to the story. 
 
 To find out, they decided to test the nuances of recall—and discovered that focusing on past behaviors isn’t always a good idea. 
 
 “Be very careful when you ask anybody to dig up the past,” says Kelly Haws, associate professor of marketing at Vanderbilt University. “That can be a very ineffective way to change future behavior for the better.” 
 
 “Look forward. Don’t look back.” 
 
 In the first of a series of experiments published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, researchers divided subjects into two groups. They asked one group to remember self-control “successes” —say, buying shoes from the sales rack rather than shelling out for new Jimmy Choos. The other group was asked to remember examples of poor choices, or “failures.” 
 
 Then they added a twist—they wanted to see how the ease of recall affected self-control. To do this, they used a well-known method in cognitive psychology—they asked some subjects to remember more examples than others. 
 
 The method works because it’s generally easier to call up two past examples than 10. Therefore, the thinking goes, people asked to remember two instances of smart spending might think they make great choices, since the recall felt easy. 
 
 On the flip side, people asked to remember 10 examples of good financial decisions might doubt their self-control. “You start to use that difficulty you’re having as a cue for who you are and what you’re like,” Haws says. 
 
 Finally, Haws gave participants a budget, then asked them how much they would spend on an item they couldn’t afford—a pair of shoes, a handbag, or a video game. 
 
 Study participants asked to remember few instances of success, on the whole, spent within their allotted budgets. But those asked to remember more good examples exhibited poorer self-control—they tended to splurge on items they couldn’t afford. 
 
 The results highlight several interesting elements of the relationship between recall and self-control. Perhaps the most surprising is that searching through the past can negatively affect behavior, depending on the ease of recall, even when past examples are positive. 
 
 We are constantly rewriting the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves—that’s what makes recall an unreliable tool for improvement, Haws says. Instead of dwelling on the past, a better strategy to positively change behavior might be to set goals for the future: Don’t buy the $700 boots because you want to go on that trip to Europe, or study instead of party to get a good grade on tomorrow’s test. 
 
 In short, if we want to have better self-control, Haws says, “Look forward. Don’t look back.” 
 
 The 2012 ACR/Sheth Foundation Dissertation Competition Grant and the Dean’s Small Research Grant fund at the University of Pittsburgh supported the work. 
 
 Source: Vanderbilt University
– Trying to learn from your mistakes isn't such a good idea, according to new research out of Vanderbilt University. Reporting in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, scientists say that focusing on the past appears to put people in worse moods and may even be self-fulfilling. "Be very careful when you ask anybody to dig up the past," says Kelly Haws, an associate professor of marketing and coauthor of the study. Looking forward tends to be far more effective, she tells Fast Company. "You don’t buy the $700 boots, because you want to go on that trip to Europe. You study instead of party because you want a good score on the test. It’s generally a more effective way to try to make decisions." To study this, the team divided subjects into two groups, asking one to remember their self-control "successes," the other their "failures," reports Futurity. They also asked participants to remember different numbers of stories—some recalling many, others only a few. Finally, participants were given a budget and asked them how much they'd spend on something they can't afford—shoes or a video game, say. Turns out that those asked to remember a couple successes stuck to their budgets, while those asked to remember past failures or lots of successes all splurged. So if you want better self-control, Haws says: "Look forward. Don’t look back." (Need to work on your self control? Apparently watching reruns helps.)