The ability to resist temptation in favor of long-term goals is a form of cognitive control. Lapses in this ability have been suggested to be at the very core of adolescent risky behavior 27. Cognitive control, which includes resistance from temptation or delay of immediate gratification has been studied in the context of social, developmental and cognitive psychology. Developmentally, this ability has been measured by assessing how long a toddler can resist an immediate reward (e.g., a cookie) in favor of a larger reward later (e.g., two cookies) 28. Although individuals vary in this ability even as adults, developmental studies suggest windows of development when an individual may be particularly susceptible to temptations. This ability has been described as a form of impulse control 29 and it is multi-faceted 30, 31, but can be operationally defined as the ability to accomplish goal-directed behavior in the face of salient, competing inputs and actions 32.
