Chapter 8: Self-Regulation & The Self Out of Control (2)

These flashcards focus on vocabulary and key concepts related to self-regulation and self-control.

Monitor Behavior

The first step to controlling ourselves in self-regulation, which involves self-awareness.

Self-awareness

The conscious awareness required for self-control that prevents automatic actions.

Personality vs. Situation debate

The concept where high self-awareness leads to personality-guided behavior, while low self-awareness results in situation-guided behavior.

Self-attention ratio

The formula defined as (# in your subgroup) / (Total # of people).

Higher self-attention ratio

Leads to more conscious, personality-driven behavior.

Make Goals

The second step to controlling ourselves under self-regulation.

Issues with goal setting

1) Goal is unclear

2) Goal conflicts with another goal

3) Behavior contradicts known goal.

Imagine Long-Term Consequences

The third step to controlling ourselves.

Immediate rewards vs. long-term goals

Psychologically, distant goals hold less value and often lose to immediate rewards.

Delay of gratification strategies

Transcendence, distraction, avoiding visual cues, mental reframing, and keeping long-term goals salient.

High childhood self-control benefits

Leads to better SAT scores, more maturity, planning, emotional regulation, and social skills.

Gender differences in delay of gratification tasks

Girls (ages 3–11) typically perform better than boys.

Need Strength/Willpower

The fourth step to controlling ourselves.

Ego strength/Ego depletion

The limited psychological energy needed for self-control.

Factors depleting self-control strength

Fatigue, negative emotions, and prior self-control use.

Typical ego depletion test paradigm

An initial task requiring self-control followed by a follow-up task showing decreased performance.

Ego depletion research methods

Studied through resisting food, suppressing thoughts, and measuring blood glucose levels.

Five steps to improve self-control

1. Add incentives 2. Choose your battles 3. Stop trying to control everything 4. Increase positive emotions 5. Practice self-regulation regularly.

Practicing self-regulation

Helps improve future self-control across different areas, akin to strengthening a muscle.