ArticleSocial and personality psychology compass2018
Another look at impulsivity: Could impulsive behavior be strategic?
Article in Social and personality psychology compass, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Maximizing within-session stability in individual differences during an experiential impulsivity task.Learning & behavior · 2025Article
- Suicide Prevention Measures at High-Risk Locations: A Goal-Directed Motivation Perspective.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Context-dependent Impulsivity in Substance Use Disorder: A Neuroscience-informed Framework.Current addiction reports · 2025Article
- Trait impulsivity is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes incidence in adults over 8 years of follow-up: results from the NutriNet-Santé cohort.BMC medicine · 2024Observational
- Environmental uncertainty and the advantage of impulsive choice strategies.PLoS computational biology · 2023Article
- Hedonic Consumption in Times of Stress: Reaping the Emotional Benefits Without the Self-Regulatory Cost.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Impulsivity and compulsivity are differentially associated with automaticity and routine on the Creature of Habit Scale.Personality and individual differences · 2019Article
- Moving Beyond System 1 and System 2.Experimental psychology · 2019Article
- On How Definitions of Habits Can Complicate Habit Research.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In the present article, we propose that impulsive behavior may be a response to certain needs or goals that people have in the moment and could therefore be strategic. We review briefly the dominant approaches and findings in the impulsivity literature. We then examine different behaviors that are typically considered impulsive such as delay discounting, risky sexual behavior, risk taking in the context of emotion dysregulation, and adolescent risk behavior and present evidence suggesting that they follow the general principles of goal pursuit. Specifically, they are (a) enacted when perceived as relevant to the individual's motivation; (b) less likely when alternative means to fulfill these goals are available; and (c) supported rather than reduced by sufficient executive control, a hallmark of goal pursuit. We do not argue that there is no impulsive behavior. Rather, we suggest that such behavior may represent individuals' attempts to fulfill current motivations or needs. This approach emphasizes the functionality and dynamism of the behavior, it provides a framework to explain the inconsistencies in the literature, it helps us to move away from pathologizing or moralizing the behavior, and it provides insights about potential strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of acting impulsively.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.