Imagine you are on the train to the office. There are delays on the train line today, the day you have to present the research project you have been working on for months to possible financiers. For sure you cannot reach your office in time to conduct it.

train

What would your first reaction be?

  1. immediately react through frustration or anxiety, thinking about all negative consequences. Heartbeat gets high; you feel confused; you check the train app to verify any updates in delay. You are not able to think of alternative solutions;
  2. apply some techniques to self-control (like breathing, physical exercise, etc…) to stem emotional waves and start to think how you can cope with this unexpected cue, readapting planned tasks (calling colleagues for at distance support), and monitoring your progress in doing it, in order to achieve the initial goal (a virtual meeting will be set up; check to be able to share your presentation or send it to colleague who will join the meeting to present it);
  3. You let things take their course, accepting what fate has decided for you.

Self-regulation is defined as “the ability to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations in a productive and healthy manner”. This definition comes from Barry Zimmerman (“Attainment of self-regulation: A social cognitive perspective”, in M. Boekaerts, P.R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 13-39). San Diego, CA: Academic Press (2000), a distinguished professor emeritus of educational psychology at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York), who conducted extensive research on how people regulate their attitudes and behaviors, with an emphasis on learning situations.

From an applied perspective, self-regulation can be defined as “the act of managing cognition and emotion to enable goal-directed actions such as organizing behavior, controlling impulses, and solving problems constructively” (Murray et al. 2015).

Self-regulation is a term that encompasses many constructs that may be used to describe similar skills and processes, such as self-management or self-control (fig.1).

Self-Regulation Terms
Self-Regulations Terms - Adapted from Murray et al. (2015)

  • Murray, D. W., Rosanbalm, K., Christopoulos, C., & Hamoudi, A. (2015). Self-regulation and toxic stress: Foundations for understanding self-regulation from an applied developmental perspective (Report #2015-21). Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration of Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.
  • Zimmerman, B. J. (2000). Attaining self-regulation: A social cognitive perspective. In M. Boekaerts, P. R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 13–39). Academic Press. A social cognitive perspective