October 28, 2026

In the realm of personal finance and psychology, personal debt has long been an area of concern, with individuals racking up large amounts of credit card debt and other forms of debt. Self-reported measures, such as the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS), are frequently used to predict and assess risk factors for debt-prone individuals. However, these measures rely on individuals’ self-reflections on their thoughts and behaviours, and may be distorted by the individual’s inflated sense of self-control, thus skewing the results of such assessments. 

In the study “Pitfalls of self-reported measures of self-control: Surprising insights from extreme debtors” (Journal of Personality, 2023), Associate Professor Jia Lile (NUS Psychology), Wei Lun Yuen (NUS Marketing), Dr Ong Qiyan (NUS Social Service Research Centre) and Associate Professor Walter Edgar Theseira (Singapore University of Social Sciences) found that extreme debtors tended to report higher self-control on self-report measures but scored lower on objective measures of self-control tasks. 

The researchers used a combination of self-report measures and objective tasks to assess the profiles of extreme debtors with two control groups — Singaporean adults and college students from an elite national university, a group known to excel at self-control. They found that self-reported measures may be more susceptible to an individual’s psychological distortions as compared to behavioural measures. Unlike self-reported measures, behavioural measures involve capturing people’s responses to specific scenarios rather than having them self-assess.  

Interestingly, extreme debtors appeared to hold an inflated perception of their self-control capacity, possibly arising from rationalising past failures or comparing their social standing with other debt-ridden individuals. This means that extreme debtors face a “double whammy” situation where they suffer from real deficits in inhibitory control and an illusory sense of strong self-control capacity, which could deepen their financial troubles due to overconfidence in situations requiring financial regulation. 

Beyond illuminating weaknesses in methods used to assess self-control, the findings carry broader implications given the growing reliance on readily-available digital spending where it has become increasingly easy for individuals to lose track of accumulating expenditures. This issue is not limited to debt-ridden individuals; even individuals with moderate debts may overestimate their self-control capabilities. Ultimately, it is crucial for interventions to cultivate both realistic self-awareness and concrete behavioural regulation strategies tailored for individuals with poor financial behaviours. 

Read the full article here.