Breakdown of will

Abstract

Human valuation of future rewards follows a hyperbolic discount curve, resulting in inherent motivational instability and periodic reversals of preference. This dynamic inconsistency suggests that the individual is not a unified executive agent but a population of competing interests organized through intertemporal bargaining. Within this framework, self-control emerges as a recursive process of self-prediction, where current choices serve as precedents that influence the credibility of future intentions. This mechanism, while enabling the development of willpower through personal rules, also explains the etiology of self-defeating behaviors such as addiction and compulsion. While these internal contracts facilitate long-term planning, they frequently produce deleterious side effects, including legalistic rigidity, loss of emotional immediacy, and the systematic erosion of appetite. Successful navigation of this internal marketplace requires strategies of indirection, as the direct application of the will to emotional experiences often leads to premature satiation and diminished utility. By integrating findings from experimental psychology, behavioral economics, and philosophy of mind, this model provides a reductive, deterministic account of human irrationality and the functional architecture of volition. – AI-generated abstract.