Decomposing Self-Regulation and Self-Control: The Volitional Components Inventory

Abstract

In this chapter we introduce a new questionnaire based upon a theory of volition. This theory postulates two different modes of volition: self-control and self-regulation. Our approach to self-control and self-regulation decomposes global concepts of volition into many functional constituents. Some of these components are currently studied in isolated paradigms across various psychological disciplines. According to the central assumption underlying the new questionnaire, volitional processes have to be seen in conjunction with processes relating the “self” (the integrated and implicit representation of a person's experiences, beliefs, and needs) to individual goals and others' expectations. A Theory of Volition From a macroscopic perspective, the two most important tasks of volition are maintaining both one's goals and the integrity of one's “self.” The mode of volition supporting the maintenance of an active goal is called self-control (Kuhl, 1992) or action control (Kuhl, 1984), whereas the mode supporting the task of maintaining one's actions in line with one's integrated self is called self-regulation . According to our theory, central coordination of processing across a variety of psychological subsystems (e.g., explicit and implicit cognition, emotion, motivation, arousal) is the defining characteristic common to either mode of volition. This interpretation of volition in terms of a central executive requires a modular conception of mind: Many cognitive, emotional, motivational, and temperamental (arousal) processes are active in parallel, and each of them can modulate a different behavioral tendency competing for access to an operating system that controls ongoing behavior.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 414 citations exist upstream.