Chapter Thirteen

The Self-Regulation Perspective

Schemas Revisited

• Schemes for events include information about behavior– Help understand others’ behavior– Help determine what to do in situations

• Mirror neurons– Active when doing behavior or watching same

behavior– Strong link between thinking and doing

Intentions

• Not all behavior derives from situational schemas for action

• Some behavior is purposeful and results from intention

Personal beliefs PersonalDesire for outcome attitude Intention

BehaviorBelief about others’ desires SubjectiveDesire to do what others want norm

Types of Intentions

• Goal Intention—intent to obtain a particular outcome or goal

• Implementation Intention—intent to take specific actions (process) given a specific situation– Serves goal intentions (subordinate to)

Goals and Goal Setting• Goals form central feature of human behavior

– Energize activities– Direct movements– Provide meaning for life

• Path of goal pursuit varies from person to person• Setting higher goals results in higher performance

– Greater effort– More persistence– Greater concentration– Caveat: As long as goal is realistic

Feedback ControlBasic components of a discrepancy-reducing feedback loop:

Goal,reference

value

Output function(changes to make?)

Effect on environment

Input function(perception of

behavior)

Comparator

Implications of Feedback Control

• Behavior is purposeful

• Self-regulation is continuous

• Goals may be dynamic over time

Self-Directed Attention• Idea is that directing attention toward yourself

engages the comparator in the feedback loop– Individual differences in self-directed attention– Experimental manipulations (mirror, video camera,

audience)• Increases evaluation of current behavior to goals

– Difficult to evaluate directly– Information seeking behavior

• Behavior more closely matches goals– Evidence across a range of behaviors

Hierarchical Organization of Goals

• Provides a way to link physical action to higher order goals

• Assumptions:– High-level and low-level goals– Feedback loops are arranged in layers– Behavioral output of high-level loop provides goal

for next lower-level loop• Higher Levels of Hierarchy

– System concepts—ideal self– Principle control—broad overriding guidelines

(traits)– Program control—vague scripts

Lower Levels of Hierarchy

• Relationships• Sequences• Transitions• Configurations• Sensations• Intensity (of muscle tension)

Move towardmotor movements

Feedback Hierarchy

Highestlevel

Goal 1

Input 1

C1

Output 1and

Goal 1

Input 2

C2

Output 2and

Goal 1

Input 3

C3

Ideal Self-image(System concept) Be Healthy

(Principle) Exercise(Program)

Output

Issues Related to Hierarchical Organizations

• Not all levels may be functional all the time– Much behavior is guided by program levels of control

(functionally superordinate)• Higher level goals can be satisfied by a number

of lower-level goals• A single lower-level activity can service multiple

higher-level goals• Goals at any one level may be compatible or

incompatible with each other– Being frugal and environmentally responsible– Being frugal and being well-dressed

Is Behavior Organized in Hierarchies?

• Action Identification—asking people to think about their actions

• People identify their behavior as high-level a way as they can–Example of different identifications associated with playing tennis: Running, sweating, hitting a ball, swinging a racquet, lifting an arm, playing tennis

• When difficulty occurs at higher level, people retreat to lower level identification

Emotions• Provide crucial information about goal priority• Serve as a cue for reprioritization (Simon)

– Anxiety—personal well-being– Anger—autonomy

• Reflect “rate of progress” toward goals (Carver & Scheier)– Positive rate of progress = positive affect – Negative rate of progress = negative affect– A faster rate of progress = greater intensity of affect

• Implications for behavior– Negative affect triggers trying harder– Positive affect may influence coasting and reprioritization

Stimulus-Based Action

• Goals can be activated without a person’s awareness

• Research on subliminal stimuli– Stimuli presented outside of awareness– Stimuli affect subsequent behaviors– The idea is that behavioral schemas have

been activated by the subliminal prime

Obstacles to Goals

• Expectancies influence engagement

Stop, Generate expectancy

of success

Difficulties

Confidenceof success

Absolutely No Absolutely Yes

Complete disengagement

Renewed effort

Assessment

• Individual differences in self-regulatory processes– Private self-consciousness—tendency to think

about your feelings, motives, and actions• Two aspects:

– Reflection—suggesting curiosity, fascination, and inquisitiveness

– Rumination—suggesting negative feeling states and not being able to put something behind

– Behavioral Identification Form—identifies the level at which people tend to view their behaviors

Problems in Behavior

• Conflicts Among Goals– Examples from class?

• Ill-Specified Goals– Identification of abstract, high-level goals but

lack of know-how to reach them• Inability to Disengage

– Particularly relevant to self-defining goals– Patterns of sporadic effort, distress,

disengagement, and reconfrontation with goal

Therapy• Reduce automaticity of problem behavior—

more careful monitoring of actions• Make new behaviors automated

– Role playing, imagery• Means-ends analysis

– Assess difference between current and desired state

– Identify actions– Break actions into subgoals– Seek accurate feedback