Author Archives: polariskoi

Fresh off the press, this article in is part of the New Ideas in Psychology special issue “Control and Commitment: Philosophical, Psychological, and Neuroscientific Perspectives“.

Part of our Agency as Experience and Capacity research project, the paper examines the role of non-voluntary attention in self-control.

Attention and self-control: self-regulation from the bottom up
Author: Polaris Koi

Abstract
According to a widespread view, self-control is a top-down cognitive process that downregulates bottom-up processes, where those bottom-up processes, unless downregulated, are detrimental to self-control. In this paper, I argue that thinking of self-control solely in terms of top-down cognitive control is misleading. Instead, self-control has a necessary bottom-up component in conflict detection, realized by the interplay of the ventral attention circuit and the anterior cingulate cortex. This mechanism generalizes across different forms of self-control. I describe a model of the roles of top-down and bottom-up processing in self-control where bottom-up conflict detection allows the emergence of top-down control. On this model, some cases of self-control failure that are standardly thought to indicate impaired top-down control may often instead reflect maladaptive conflict detection. This insight also carries clinical relevance, such as for understanding ADHD. Intriguingly, this makes self-control begin nonvolitionally. Yet, while agents cannot exert synchronic control over whether conflict detection occurs, they can attempt to facilitate it through diachronic self-regulation, such as by shaping their circumstances to better enable adaptive conflict detection.

Keywords
Attention; Conflict detection; Self-control; Cognitive control; ACC; Executive function; ADHD

A new Finnish-language edited volume, edited by Dr. Anssi Bwalya (a postdoc in the research group) and his colleagues, examines psychology’s role in a society where structural problems are increasingly addressed as matters of individual mental health.

The volume consists of contributions from experts in different subdisciplines of psychology, many of whom are early-career. It criticises diagnosis-centric support, and advocates for moving beyond individualistic framing to assessing how social structures shape mental well-being, exploring how psychology can contribute to structural change.

For more info, see here!

On August 19th, the Enhancing metacognition, agency and resilience in AI-mediated work project organizes an one-day workshop on mind in the age of AI. We invite contributions – see more information on the workshop’s website!

Starting April 20, 2026, Polaris Koi is visiting the King’s College London Policy Institute. During the 6-month visitor affiliation, he will be working with economists Sanchayan Banerjee and Philipp Thamer on integrating dimensions of agency to behavioural public policy.

Polaris will be splitting his time between Turku and London – if you’re in the greater London area, feel free to get in touch!

A new open access article just out in Philosophical Explorations!

“Value-deflationist self-control”
Polaris Koi

Abstract: On the standard conception of self-control, self-control entails the resolution of a motivational conflict in favour of the option ranked better, loftier, or otherwise more valuable, and behaving accordingly. Sometimes, however, we appear to use self-control under ambivalence, or against our better judgment. In this paper, I seek to eliminate the apparent paradox induced by these cases by defending and developing a value-deflationist conception of self-control. For the value-deflationist conception of self-control endorsed in this paper, self-control is that which is enacted to align one’s behaviour with intention in the face of a competing motivation. I develop the view further by showing that errant and ambivalent cases of self-control are not mere anomalies or theoretical curiosities but instead are important for understanding disruptions of agency due to motivational-executive double binds, where agents struggle both to rank options and to steer their behaviour. Adopting a value-deflationist account allows us to describe how ambivalence undermines self-control. Value-deflationism about self-control has faced a range of criticisms, such as the criticism that errant cases would turn out to be standard cases under a different description. The paper responds to these criticisms, showing that attempts to reconcile these cases with the standard conception fall short.

Polaris recently appeared on Dr. Rebecca Roache’s podcast, The Academic Imperfectionist.

In the episode, Polaris & Rebecca discuss Polaris’ work on self-control, neurodiversity, and how we culturally get self-control all wrong. Topics of discussion included Polaris’ journey into philosophy, his work-in-progress progress book “Against willpower: Self-control, agency, and society”, as well as about his work with Ronroo.

Check out the episode here! And, make sure to browse the podcast archives as well for Rebecca’s top-notch insights on how to work through procrastination, gain self-compassion, and get things done without grinding your teeth.

We’re excited to announce our upcoming event, Agential Capacities in Context!
We have a stellar line-up and an open call for papers for junior scholars.
Check out more information on the event’s website.

We’re excited to share the newest addition to our research group – Dr. Jussi Jylkkä!

Dr. Jussi Jylkkä holds doctorates in both Philosophy and Psychology. His research interests span metacognition, executive functions, consciousness, meditation and psychedelic therapies.

Dr. Jylkkä joins the group as a senior research fellow, and his position is connected to the “Enhancing metacognition, agency and resilience in AI-mediated work” research project, which is part of the larger Transform-AI research consortium.

Fresh off the press, a new open access article with Polaris’ postdoc Anssi Bwalya as lead author examines fixedness and malleability as a dimension of lay beliefs about self-control.

Published in Psychological Reports, this paper is part of our Agency as Experience and Capacity research project, and stems from Anssi’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Edinburgh.

“Measuring Self-Control Beliefs: A Multidimensional and Domain-Specific Perspective”
Authors: Anssi Bwalya, Polaris Koi, Hugh Rabagliati, & Nicolas Chevalier
Abstract: Self-control allows people to align their behaviour with intention in the face of a motivational conflict. Lay beliefs about self-control are associated with self-control performance. However, previous research has focused on whether self-control is seen as a limited resource in the short term and mostly ignored beliefs about whether self-control is malleable in the long term. We examined these two aspects of lay beliefs in two preregistered questionnaire studies with adult UK participants (n1 = 182, n2 = 199). In both studies, beliefs about the limitedness and malleability of self-control were relatively independent of each other. Moreover, limitedness beliefs varied depending on the self-control domain. Self-control beliefs were related to but relatively distinct from self-esteem, self-efficacy, and trait self-control. Beliefs about the malleability of self-control were moderately associated with beliefs about the malleability of overall personality, but not with beliefs about intelligence. Our results support a multidimensional and domain-specific approach when measuring self-control beliefs.

We’re excited to welcome our new research assistant, Emmi Vahtera, to the team!

Emmi was part of our organising team for last year’s conference on agency and disadvantage as a trainee, and she proved to be a powerhouse. I for one am stoked to get to work with her.

Emmi will assist our team with communications, research management, and associated tasks. She’s currently finishing her master’s degree in Philosophy, and she’s also served as chairperson of the philosophy student organization Dialectica.