Blackwell Reference Online

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Self‐regulation refers to a set of processes that enable individuals to guide their goal directed activities over time and across changing contexts ( Karoly, 1993 ). As yet this does not constitute a unitary body of knowledge and theory, but a collection of ideas running in parallel from the same core insight. Its insight (whose origins can perhaps even be attributed to Freud in his treatment of the ego) is that the self is the psychological agency that exists in order to coordinate human thought, feeling, and action. Some authors use the terms “self‐regulation” and “self‐control” interchangeably ( Baumeister and Vohs, 2003 ). At the core of self‐regulation processes is the maintenance of goal directedness and functional integrity. For this reason, it is generally perceptions that shift to adapt to goals, rather than the reverse ( Powers, 1973 ). Processes of self‐regulation – modulation of thought, affect, action, and attention – are initiated when a routine is impeded or when goal directedness is made salient, for example by a new challenge or a failure ( Karoly, 1993 ). Much self‐regulation seems to be focused on mood control – maintaining positive affect for motivated people, and underpinning negative affect for depressed or helpless people, for whom psychological consistency is a psychological anchor. Extensive research has focused on the closed loop control models of self‐regulation ... log in or subscribe to read full text