What motivates a person to go out and do the things that they do? This is a deceptively simple question that has kept scientists and philosophers busy for thousands of years. We discuss the role of activity and inactivity in goals.

In the present article it is argued that aggression or more specifically, taking revenge has contrary to previous research findings not only negative (i.e., aggression increasing) but also positive (i.e., aggression reducing) consequences. Whereas aggressive thoughts and aggressive behavior might be reduced by taking revenge, negative feelings most likely increase. Thus, a fine-grained analysis of the consequences of revenge is warranted.

Each New Year has something magical about it. At the first of January a brand new year lies ahead of us, it is always a bit like “starting all over”. Almost everybody has made their New Year resolutions, planning to do everything this new year better than in the previous years. This time, we promised ourselves to quit smoking or nail biting, to lose weight, to finally start the renovation of our bathroom, to visit our family more often, etc. Funny enough, the plans we make are quite similar to the plans we made the years before. This is because at New Year’s Eve we realize that we did not manage to reach all the goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year.

Have you ever found yourself eating a tempting chocolate cake, although you want to lose a few pounds? Have you ever found yourself watching television, although you planned to work on an important but maybe boring project that day? Did you ever procrastin ate with submitting your tax declaration , preferring to go to a hockey game that night? Or did you ever catch yourself flirting with another person, although you feel strongly committed to your intimate relationship? All these challenging sit uations require a large amount of willpower and thus put a person ’ s self-discipline or self-...