the problem with self control...

Behavioral psychologists agree with the statement while psychoanalysts scoff at it. Humanities idea of “self control”, is considered by some to be an immeasurable internal force which allows us to show self restraint. Behaviorist suggest instead that we are a product of our reinforces and believe that proposing the idea of a construct inside us to explain internal motivators actually takes control away.

Many are familiar with the famous experiment involving Pavlov’s Dogs; how he was able to elicit salivating in dogs to a unrelated stimulus of a bell ringing. In a similar way we are reinforced everyday by a process called the A.B.C method. An example of step A (Antecedent) would be the phone ringing. An example of step B (Behavior) would be picking it up. An example of step C (Consequence) is someone answering. In this situation we have a example of unconscious positive reinforcement. If the consequence was pleasurable, the person is likely to repeat such behavior. Another example of reinforcement is hitting the snooze button. In this situation we have a negative reinforcement; the annoying noise was taken away.
It get’s interesting from here. If we continue conditioning theses neurological process for a sustained portion of time, the axons become hard and permanent. When this happens, the only treatment to undue this is brick therapy (bash em in the head with a brick). So here is my problem with pornography. If someone has a history of looking at a certain type of porn for example, they can retrain what they are actually sexually stimulated to (depending on what they are using as a stimulus at). Perhaps it’s no coincidence the majority of known pedophiles have a shared history of looking at pornography.

It must be noted that this simple conditioning with reinforces is much more complex in humans, probably more than behaviorist care to admit. A fellow named Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs that we attempt to fill, and any number of our behaviors can be unconsciously driven to meet one of these needs.
So if you your tired of making promises to yourself that seem to be broken as quickly as they can be made, alter your behavior through simple behavioral modification. Were all unhappy in some fashion with the frequency, duration, or intensity of one or more behaviors. Such modification will involve altering these factors: response effort, environment, and reinforcements. Regardless if this mentality may seem fatalistic, it is important to remember that in every opportunity we can still turn towards goodness. The problem is with each selfish decision we make, were more likely to repeat that process again.