Part 1
Goal-striving and self-regulation processes - Diefendorff & Lord, 2008
● This is a review of theory and research on self-regulation. Pages 154-158 applies to
part 2 as well.
Self-Regulation: There are several overlapping definitions;
➢ The capacity to guide one's activities over time and across changing circumstances.
➢ Processes, internal and/or transactional, that enable an individual to guide his/her
goal-directed activities over time and across changing circumstances (contexts).
Regulation implies the modulation of thought, affect, behavior, or attention via
deliberate or automated use of specific mechanisms and supportive metaskills.
➢ The exercise of control over oneself, especially with regard to bringing the self into line
with preferred (thus, regular) standards.
➢ Processes involved in attaining and maintaining goals, where goals are internally
represented desired states.
★ Self-regulation is central to understanding the self and relates to many different
aspects of human functioning. These definitions consider self-regulation as a conscious
mechanism, but there is growing evidence against that. It can be a conscious/deliberate
or unconscious/automatic process. It reflects willpower to reach goals, flexibility of
using a variety of means to attain goals.
★ The key to effective self-regulation is the ability to act in multiple key environments
while responding to internal conditions in a flexible and context-sensitive manner.
Goal Setting: The topic of self-regulation involves understanding more about goal setting such
as the reasons for it, how they influence behavior, how they are revised or how to set new
ones, etc.
Taxonomy of Self-Regulation Theories
Structural Theories: These formulate general principles that apply to all domains of
goal-directed behavior. They describe self-regulatory constructs and their interrelationship
over time, without addressing the contents of what is regulated. The two popular theories
essentially describe the same phenomena in different words.
● Control Theory (CT) (Powers): Dynamic view of behavior based on a person interacting
with the environment over time. There is a negative feedback loop which consists of an
input function, a reference value, a comparator, and an output function. Closed loop and
focuses on performance-goal discrepancy. This theory creates a hierarchy between
short-term concrete goals and long-term abstract goals. Short term ones are lower in
the hierarchy and can be seen as a step in achieving long-term goals. CT emphasizes
discrepancy reduction (striving to reach one’s goals), discrepancy reduction is a source
of motivation.
, ○ The input senses info from the environment and brings it into the loop. It is
equivalent to perception and takes the form of performance feedback.
○ The comparator marches the input value with a set goal or standard. This
component reveals whether the input and reference values are different and if
they are the output function is activated. If the comparison fails to find a
difference, there is no behavior change.
○ The output function brings the subsequent input into line with the reference
value. Thus, there is change in output behavior to create the perception that
there is no discrepancy present. The form of this behavior can be to increase
effort (for negative discrepancy) or to decrease effort (for positive discrepancy).
○ Criticism: Made by Bandura and Locke. CT claims to be indifferent to whether
discrepancies are eliminated by lowering one’s goals or by working hard to
reach one’s goal, but it's not. This is because a lower goal would create higher
discrepancies for higher-goals, which doesn’t make it an adaptive long-term
response (there may be exceptions).
● Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, Locke, Latham): Cyclical process, feedback
about goal progress to make adjustments to current actions, to ultimately reduce
discrepancies between behavior and goals. Hierarchical structure of goal. Emphasized
discrepancy production (setting new goals that are higher than the last performance)
Motivation resides in the desire to achieve challenging goals and discrepancy reduction
is a byproduct. Effect of self-efficacy in performance. Open loop, changing standard.
● Difference: Discrepancy reduction and production loop. Some argue that SCT
represents a system-level conceptualization of self-regulation, CT represents a
sub-system-level conceptualization. While others disagree and say CT is just as
equipped at representing system-level concepts.
Goal-striving and self-regulation processes - Diefendorff & Lord, 2008
● This is a review of theory and research on self-regulation. Pages 154-158 applies to
part 2 as well.
Self-Regulation: There are several overlapping definitions;
➢ The capacity to guide one's activities over time and across changing circumstances.
➢ Processes, internal and/or transactional, that enable an individual to guide his/her
goal-directed activities over time and across changing circumstances (contexts).
Regulation implies the modulation of thought, affect, behavior, or attention via
deliberate or automated use of specific mechanisms and supportive metaskills.
➢ The exercise of control over oneself, especially with regard to bringing the self into line
with preferred (thus, regular) standards.
➢ Processes involved in attaining and maintaining goals, where goals are internally
represented desired states.
★ Self-regulation is central to understanding the self and relates to many different
aspects of human functioning. These definitions consider self-regulation as a conscious
mechanism, but there is growing evidence against that. It can be a conscious/deliberate
or unconscious/automatic process. It reflects willpower to reach goals, flexibility of
using a variety of means to attain goals.
★ The key to effective self-regulation is the ability to act in multiple key environments
while responding to internal conditions in a flexible and context-sensitive manner.
Goal Setting: The topic of self-regulation involves understanding more about goal setting such
as the reasons for it, how they influence behavior, how they are revised or how to set new
ones, etc.
Taxonomy of Self-Regulation Theories
Structural Theories: These formulate general principles that apply to all domains of
goal-directed behavior. They describe self-regulatory constructs and their interrelationship
over time, without addressing the contents of what is regulated. The two popular theories
essentially describe the same phenomena in different words.
● Control Theory (CT) (Powers): Dynamic view of behavior based on a person interacting
with the environment over time. There is a negative feedback loop which consists of an
input function, a reference value, a comparator, and an output function. Closed loop and
focuses on performance-goal discrepancy. This theory creates a hierarchy between
short-term concrete goals and long-term abstract goals. Short term ones are lower in
the hierarchy and can be seen as a step in achieving long-term goals. CT emphasizes
discrepancy reduction (striving to reach one’s goals), discrepancy reduction is a source
of motivation.
, ○ The input senses info from the environment and brings it into the loop. It is
equivalent to perception and takes the form of performance feedback.
○ The comparator marches the input value with a set goal or standard. This
component reveals whether the input and reference values are different and if
they are the output function is activated. If the comparison fails to find a
difference, there is no behavior change.
○ The output function brings the subsequent input into line with the reference
value. Thus, there is change in output behavior to create the perception that
there is no discrepancy present. The form of this behavior can be to increase
effort (for negative discrepancy) or to decrease effort (for positive discrepancy).
○ Criticism: Made by Bandura and Locke. CT claims to be indifferent to whether
discrepancies are eliminated by lowering one’s goals or by working hard to
reach one’s goal, but it's not. This is because a lower goal would create higher
discrepancies for higher-goals, which doesn’t make it an adaptive long-term
response (there may be exceptions).
● Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, Locke, Latham): Cyclical process, feedback
about goal progress to make adjustments to current actions, to ultimately reduce
discrepancies between behavior and goals. Hierarchical structure of goal. Emphasized
discrepancy production (setting new goals that are higher than the last performance)
Motivation resides in the desire to achieve challenging goals and discrepancy reduction
is a byproduct. Effect of self-efficacy in performance. Open loop, changing standard.
● Difference: Discrepancy reduction and production loop. Some argue that SCT
represents a system-level conceptualization of self-regulation, CT represents a
sub-system-level conceptualization. While others disagree and say CT is just as
equipped at representing system-level concepts.
