Positive Psychology
Value of Self-Control, Personal
Goals and Self-Regulation
THE VALUE OF SELF CONTROL
According to Karolyi, Self-control (also defined as self-regulation) is the “people’s ability to
initiate and guide their actions toward the achievement of a desired future goal. In simple words
self-control is the ability to control behaviors in order to avoid temptations and to achieve goals.
Usually these desired goals are for long periods of time but also it can be of a very short period of
time.
People with high self-control has better personal adjustment, less psychopathology, healthier
relationships, enhanced social skills, and fewer problems with addictive behaviors such as
smoking and drinking.
Walter Mischel and his colleagues studied young children’s ability to delay gratification.
According to Wolfe and Johnson (1995) , self-control was the second best predictor of college
grades followed by the SAT scores.
Low self-control appear to underlie a variety of personal and social problems.
Parental supervision plays an important part in the development of self-control and their
likelihood of engaging in lawless behavior.
Lack of parental supervision leads to poor self-control and inability to delay gratification.
STRATEGIES to develop self-control
Know your weaknesses.
Remove temptation.
Measure Your Progress.
Try focusing on one goal at a time.
PERSONAL GOALS AND SELF-REGULATION
Personal Goals - A goal is a desired result that a person wants to achieve.
- Goals give you a direction and keep you focused.
Characteristics of effective goal setting - Realistic/Achievable
- Specific and measurable
- Time-bound
Goals enhance self-regulation through their effects on motivation, learning, self-
efficacy and self-evaluations of progress. Goals motivate people to exert effort
necessary to meet task demands and persist over time.
CONTINUED
Self-regulation - According to Albert Bandura (1991), self-regulation is a
continuously active process in which we monitor our own behavior, the
influences and the consequences of our behavior; judge our behavior in
relation to our own personal standards and react to our own behavior (i.e.,
what we think and how we feel about our behavior).
Importance of self-regulation – Effective coping
- Strong social skills
- Healthier relationships
Studies show that children who are taught to self-regulate have higher
academic success, better physical health, better emotional coping skills and
lower rates of addiction.
CONTROL THEORY
As stated in control theory, when people pursue positive goals their self-
regulation efforts reduces the discrepancy between the current state and a
future goal.
Emotions experienced during goal-directed actions depend on the person’s rate
of progress toward future goals.
Positive and Negative emotions are based on expected progress.
For example: A student who is about to finish his/her assignment will be more
happier than a student who has not started doing his assignment.
In accordance with control theory, it is one’s rate of progress toward the goal
that is critical.
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Self-regulation is directed by “self-guides”, which involve comparison between the actual
self, ideal self and ought self (Higgins, 1987).
Actual self – a belief about the qualities a person possesses.
Ideal self – qualities a person would like to possess.
Ought self – the person we should be according to social obligations, responsibilities,
moral convictions etc.
No discrepancy between actual and ideal/ought self lead to positive emotions and
negative emotions are experienced when there are discrepancies between the actual self
and ideal/ought self.
Ideal-actual discrepancies are associated with disappointment, dissatisfaction and
sadness and ought actual discrepancies produce feelings of unease, threat and fear.
These discrepancies can also motivate the individual to engage in behaviors that will
reduce the discrepancy.
Continued
Boldero and Francis (2000) – reference values people use in
self-regulation have two functions and different consequences.
Can be standards to assess the present self (self-discrepancy
theory).
Can also serve as future goals (control theory).
Self-evaluation relative to future goals depend on rate of
progress, and self-evaluation relative to standards depends on
size of discrepancy.
REFERENCES
Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational Behavior
and Human Decision Processes, 50, 248-287.
Baumgardner, S.R., & Crothers, M.K. (2014). Positive Psychology. Harlow. Pearson.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/francesbridges/2018/06/28/5-ways-to-improve-self-
control/#44ded95521d5
