WHAT IS TEMPTATION ?

Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment, that threatens long-term goals in the context of self-control and ego depletion.
Self-control is the ability to control self emotions and behavior in the face of temptations and impulses in order to achieve goals. It is a mental muscle that become both strengthened and fatigued. In the short term, overuse of self-control will lead to depletion. However, in the long term, the use of self-control can strengthen and improve over time. Self-control plays a valuable role in the functioning of the self on both individualistic and interpersonal levels.
Ego depletion refers to the idea  that self-control or will-power draw upon a pool of mental resources that can be used up. When the energy for mental activity is low, self-control is typically impaired, generating a state of ego depletion, impairing the ability to control oneself.
Temptation is also described as coaxing or inducing a person into committing such an act in many diverse contexts or situations, by manipulation or otherwise of curiosity, desire or fear of loss.
The role of glucose as a specific form of energy needed for self-control has been explored. Several recent experiments have found that the depletion effects can be reversed by simply tasting any sweet fruit, because of its psycho-physiological signaling effects.
The underlying neural processes associated with self-control failure have been recently examined using neuro-physiological techniques. According to cognitive and neurons' behavior, a conflict-monitoring / error-detection system identifies 'discrepancies' between 'intended goals' and 'actual behaviors.'
Error-related negativity signals are an electrical activity, in a wave form, of the brain generated in the anterior cortex and measured through electro-encephalograms and time-locked to an external event (visual stimulus) or a response (error). A robust wave frequency were observed after knowledgeable errors had been committed during various choice tasks, even when the participant was not explicit aware of making an error, however, in this case scenario the wave lengths were weaker.
These findings demonstrated evidence that depletion experienced after exerting short-term self-control, can weaken neural mechanisms responsible for conflict monitoring.
Younger people are more susceptible to the effects of ego depletion, given that the areas of the brain involved in self-control continue to develop until the mid 20s.
Ego depletion has also been implicating in guilt and pro-social behavior. The feeling of guilt is necessary in order to facilitate adaptive human interactions. It is dependent on the individual's ability to reflect on past actions and behaviors. Ego depletion has been shown to hinder the ability to engage in such reflection, thereby making it difficult to experience guilt. Since guilt leads to pro-social behavior, ego depletion will therefore reduce the good deeds that result from a guilty conscience.
In a society where a state of ego depletion exists in its young generation, the individuals are impaired of the ability to self-regulate their own emotions, making them vulnerable to a wide range of undesirable and mal-adaptive behaviors, such as acts of aggression. Knowledge and strategies to counteract it would therefore, be highly beneficial in various real-life situations.
In the world of consumerism, individuals are faced with decisions and choices that require the use of valuable energy resources in order to make the right and useful purchases while resisting temptation of impulsive or unnecessary ones.
The complexity of consumer decisions, with advertisement telling consumers how they deserve and must have a product, can generate in itself an ego depletion. Having many options consumers feel overwhelmed, causing mental fatigue and frustration. Fatigue and frustration stem from deals with specific requirements on ways to purchase a product, along with spending effort on deciding which store has the best deal or trying to get to the store. People then be led to buy the high priced or cheapest product. As soon as the consumers get low self-control they become more susceptible to buy products of high status, being now in the frequency of motivation and persistence, even to the point of pay more for a branded product. This will lead these consumers to have a sense of empowerment, the feeling to be in control, feeling that the brand name of the product is more beneficial and secure, and in this sense mistakingly overcoming their ego depleted states.
In a recent experiment, it was shown that inducing a positive mood can buffer the impairing effects of ego depletion, in the same way that the taste of a fruit can boost the neural mechanisms of it. Positive mood is generated by getting individuals with joyful energies capable of switch on the individual sense of humor. It seemed to allow people to recover faster from ego-depletion and furthermore, improved their ability to self-regulate. The existence of a spare reservoir of mental energy ultimately explains why these motivators can buffer the effects of mild or moderate ego depletion.
Self-control can be replenish and thus the immediate effects of an individual's depleted self-control can be overcome, and that an individual must be able to identify the presence of temptation (short term desire) before self-control may be affected by the outcome.