"The disasters reveal a limitation of the muscle metaphor: certain evolutionarily prepared drives seem to withstand even the most bulked-up powers of will."
— Pinker, Steven (b. 1954)
Author
Place of Publication
New York
Date
September 2, 2011
Metaphor
"The disasters reveal a limitation of the muscle metaphor: certain evolutionarily prepared drives seem to withstand even the most bulked-up powers of will."
Metaphor in Context
Readers of "Willpower" are treated to triumphs of self-control, like the singer Amanda Palmer (in her first career as a living statue) and the endurance artist David Blaine, along with crash scenes like Oprah Winfrey's yo-yoing weight and Eliot Spitzer's hotel-room entertainment. The disasters reveal a limitation of the muscle metaphor: certain evolutionarily prepared drives seem to withstand even the most bulked-up powers of will. The authors note that people with the highest levels of self-control are only slightly better than average at controlling their weight, and they describe disturbing experiments that confirm the old saying "When the penis stands up, the brains get buried" (it sounds better in Yiddish).
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Steven Pinker, "The Sugary Secret of Self-Control," The New York Times (September 2, 2011). <Link to NYTimes.com>
Date of Entry
09/08/2011
