UGH, another red light! If I’m late again, my wife is going to be so upset. Maybe I should just run this red light...
Inhibitory Control
To navigate life in society, we constantly need to suppress unwanted or inappropriate thoughts or actions, be it jumping the red light when we are in a rush or sleeping in when we have a 9 am lecture. Without this ability to inhibit, our lives would look drastically different: we would act impulsively, without forethought, making us “unthinking creatures of habit” . The absence of inhibitory control would leave us at the mercy of impulses, ingrained habits of thought or action, and strong environmental stimuli that pull us this way or that. Inhibitory control is the ability to suppress a strong impulse to do or focus on something, and instead choose to do or focus on what is more appropriate or required.
Ugh, I really need to get there on time... But running this light would be reckless. I can’t risk getting a ticket or causing an accident. I’ll just wait. It’ll only be a few more seconds.
References
1. Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64(1), 135–168. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750 2. Logan, G. D., Schachar, R. J., & Tannock, R. (1997). Impulsivity and Inhibitory Control. Psychological Science, 8(1), 60–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00545.x 3. Munakata, Y., Herd, S. A., Chatham, C. H., Depue, B. E., Banich, M. T., & O’Reilly, R. C. (2011). A Unified Framework for Inhibitory Control. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(10), 453–459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2011.07.011