Cognitive nurturing for rule-guided action: An analytic review of intervention practices
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Objectives: An analytic review of interventions targeting the ability to exercise self-control will draw on the literature search described in this protocol. This analytic review will (1) gather and examine literature that focuses on how interventions in the various contexts target the ability to exercise self-control as it is conceptualized in SAT; (2) evaluate the extent to which they achieve this through key mechanisms of cognitive nurturing and exercising self-control as specified in SAT; (3) assess the relationship between engaging these mechanisms and interventions’ effectiveness; and (4) examine the implications for improving interventions’ efficacy and impact. Background: Crime is a persistent social problem; however, there remains a lack of clarity and consensus on what causes it and how to effectively prevent it. Situational Action theory (SAT) provides a general, dynamic and mechanism-based account of crime as moral action (consisting of rule-breaking behaviors) that has received empirical testing and supported across a range of international contexts (see Hardie & Rose 2025; Wikström and Treiber forthcoming). SAT identifies the ability to exercise self-control as a core personal characteristic that shapes people’s action choices when they encounter conflicting rule-guidance. This review explores if self-control, its nurturing, and its exercise as conceptualized within SAT can establish a framework for current intervention practices targeting crime and its causes, and if this can improve subsequent intervention practices. While there is substantial interest in interventions that target the development of capacities and skills to exercise self-control, the core evidence is still fragmented, and no synthesis has evaluated this literature through SAT’s analytical lens. Methods: Relevant studies will be identified through a systematic search of electronic databases (PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC, Criminal Justice Abstracts, CENTRAL). Studies of various design presenting interventions targeting the ability to exercise self-control, including the underlying cognitive capacities that support it will be eligible. A pre-specified framework grounded in SAT constructs will be used to extract and code data. A narrative synthesis will be carried out in line with SWiM guidelines; meta-analysis is not anticipated given the expected variation of interventions and outcome measures. Risk of bias will be evaluated employing the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Expected conclusions: The review intends to highlight various interventions targeting the development and exercise of self-control that vary in their theoretical grounding, target mechanisms, and delivery contexts, but fail to differentiate individual capacities that support the exercise of self-control from the active exercise of self-control, and place particular emphasis on strengthening inhibition and consideration of consequences. Employing SAT as an analytical lens is expected to uncover limitations between current intervention practice and theory-informed understanding of the ability to exercise self-control as the ability to manage action choices under conflicting rule-guidance and resist external pressures to break personal rules, how it develops and is exercised, and its conditional relevance. The review will present a structure for enhanced, theoretically consistent crime prevention strategies focused on the ability to exercise self-control.
Source: CrimRxiv
Institution: University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225348607