These findings underscore the importance of the stimulus qualities a person has to resist in an act of self-control. Sensitivity to characteristics of environmental cues (e.g., salience, reward value) can significantly influence an individual’s ability to suppress inappropriate actions in favor of appropriate ones. This tension between regulation of behavior and sensitivity to positive environmental cues in many ways parallels observations from our adolescent study (Somerville et al., 2011). Perhaps unsurprisingly, children’s ability to delay gratification at 4 years of age predicts parental ratings of these individuals’ self-control during adolescence, too (Mischel, Shoda, & Peake, 1988). Both examples show how stimulus qualities such as rare, positive social cues can compromise an individual’s self-control and suggest that both developmental and individual differences affect this ability. Thus, individuals who have diminished self-control may be especially vulnerable during adolescence, when a heightened sensitivity to emotional environmental cues can further hinder this ability.