In this thesis, I take a mixed methods approach to exploring motivations and explanations for self-control and self-control failure. In Study 1, I used quantitative, experimental methods to test predictions derived from the strength model of self-control and self-determination theory related to voluntary risk, vitality, and self-control. In Study 2, I used thematic analysis of qualitative interviews to describe how people experience self-control and self-control failure. The strength model describes self-control as a limited resource that is depleted by acts requiring executive control. When people’s self-control is depleted, they are motivated to conserve and replenish self-control resources. One way of regaining self-control may be engaging in risky activities that provide a replenishing sense of vitality. Feelings of vitality are associated with perceptions of autonomy, and may serve as an experiential barometer of self-control strength. In Study 1, I manipulated self-control depletion and risk autonomy to test whether people engage in risky choices to provide a replenishing sense of vitality. My results suggest that vitality is not a reliable barometer of self-control strength. Perceptions of autonomy appear to be a predictor of short-term self-control strength, such that forced risk is a depleting experience. Further, perceptions of autonomy were an important facet of participants’ attributions of self-control success. However, thematic analysis further suggests that experiences of self-control cannot be removed from a context of motivation and emotion. More than just short-term fluctuations in ability to resist temptation, people’s personal theories of self-control provide a long-term narrative for explaining success and failures of goal-directed striving. More than just an intra-individual construct, the social context of self-control appears to have important influences on people’s attributions for self-control and self-control failure. By combining quantitative and qualitative methods, I add to the self-control literature by providing an account of the mechanisms and experiences of self-control and self-control failure.