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