When you restrain from scarfing down unhealthy foods or hold back on that extra drink, others may deserve some of the credit. Self-control is contagious, a new study suggests. In a series of studies in a lab setting, researchers found that watching or even thinking about someone with good self-control makes others more likely show the same restraint. And they found the opposite also holds true - people with lousy self-control influence others negatively. The effect is so powerful, in fact, that just seeing the name of someone with good or bad self-control flashing on a screen for 10 milliseconds changed the behavior of volunteers. ‘The take-home message of this study is that picking social influences that are positive can improve your self-control,’ said lead author Michelle vanDellen, a psychology professor at the University of Georgia. ‘And by exhibiting self-control, you’re helping others around you do the same.’ However, since the studies were conducted in a laboratory setting, more research will be needed to verify the results. People tend to mimic the behavior of those around them, and bad habits such as smoking, drug use and obesity tend to spread through social networks. But the […]