Self-regulation theory (SRT) is a system of conscious, personal management that involves the process of guiding one's own thoughts, behaviors and feelings to reach goals.
In the stages individuals must function as contributors to their own motivation, behavior, and development within a network of reciprocally interacting influences.
The patient will need to deliberately monitor the results in order to appraise the effects, checking for any necessary changes in the action plan.
[3] Four components of self-regulation described by Baumeister et al. (2007) are: There have been numerous researchers, psychologists and scientists who have studied self-regulatory processes.
Self observation (also known as introspection) is a process involving assessing one's own thoughts and feelings in order to inform and motivate the individual to work towards goal setting and become influenced by behavioral changes.
Lastly, self-response is applied, in which an individual may reward or punish his or herself for success or failure in meeting standard(s).
According to Schunk (2012), Lev Vygotsky who was a Russian psychologist and was a major influence on the rise of constructivism, believed that self-regulation involves the coordination of cognitive processes such as planning, synthesizing and formulating concepts (Henderson & Cunningham, 1994); however, such coordination does not proceed independently of the individual's social environment and culture.
He created the triangle of reciprocal determinism that includes behavior, environment and the person (cognitive, emotional and physical factors) that all influence one another.
Bandura concluded that the processes of goal attainment and motivation stem from an equal interaction of self-observation, self-reaction, self-evaluation and self-efficacy.
[4] In addition to Bandura's work, psychologists Muraven, Tice and Baumeister conducted a study for self control as a limited resource.
They were then asked their individual likelihoods of helping certain people in hypothetical situations, for both kin and non-kin and found that excluding kin, people were much less likely to help a person in need if they were in the control group (with Splenda) than if they had replenished their brain glucose supply with the lemonade containing real sugar.
Such as, when an event occurs an individual may feel greater a sense of control over the outcome that they demonstrably do not influence.
Illness behavior in self-regulation deals with issues of tension that arise between holding on and letting go of important values and goals as those are threatened by disease processes.
[14] Self-regulation can be applied to many aspects of everyday life, including social situations, personal health management, impulse control and more.
Since the strength model is generally supported, ego depletion tasks can be performed to temporarily tax the amount of self-regulatory capabilities in a person's brain.
It is theorized that self-regulation depletion is associated with willingness to help people in need, excluding members of an individual's kin.
[7] Many researchers have contributed to these findings, including Albert Bandura, Roy Baumeister and Robert Wood.