People with high (HSEs) and low self-esteem (LSEs) often react differently to interpersonal risk. When concerns about their relationship are salient, HSEs seek connection with their partners to quell feelings of vulnerability whereas LSEs distance themselves from their partners to minimize the impact of potential rejection. In the present research, I investigate the extent to which these regulatory dynamics reflect executive-based processes that govern broader regulatory responses. In Studies 1 and 2, HSEs exhibited stronger approach goals (i.e., a greater tendency to pursue rewards and ignore risks) in non-social domains when faced with interpersonal risk whereas LSEs inhibited approach goals and made more conservative decisions. In Studies 3 and 4, I demonstrated that HSEs’ and LSEs’ divergent regulatory responses to risk were contingent on executive control. When participants were cognitively busy, HSEs were less likely to bolster relationship evaluations in the face of interpersonal risk whereas LSEs were more likely to do so. Finally, Study 5 demonstrated that these global regulatory strategies govern HSEs’ and LSEs’ responses to non-interpersonal risk as well. HSEs were more willing to engage in risky social comparison following failure than they were when they received neutral feedback about their performance, whereas LSEs were less willing to compare themselves with others after failure. These effects did not emerge when cognitive resources were depleted. Taken together, the results suggest that HSEs’ and LSEs’ self-regulatory responses to risk are broader and more controlled than previously theorized.

In a world that is increasingly digital, the ability to communicate clearly in writing is of utmost importance. An important part of writing in both professional and academic settings is self-regulation. In academics, the use of video as a teaching tool in online environments is becoming more popular. This thesis investigated whether or not video scribed animation could be used to teach writing self-regulation strategies in an online course. Student perceptions of video scribed animation and its use in education were also examined. Students completed self-report measures of their grade goals, self-efficacy for grade achievement, and self-regulation strategy use on blogging assignments. Results showed that there were statistically significant increases in students’ environmental self-regulation and goal setting. For example, students worked in quieter environments and set more concrete, challenging goals after watching the video scribed animation that modeled self-regulation strategies. Students found the video both entertaining and educational, and indicated that it caught and sustained their attention. Treatment group students that opted not to watch the video scribed animation were more likely to have achieved their grade goals on the previous assignment than the students that watched the video.

Integrating research on attachment anxiety, rejection, self-regulation and health behaviours, I investigated the interactive effect of attachment anxiety and relationship threat on self-regulation. I hypothesized that self-regulation would decrease following a threat to one’s romantic relationship. Moreover, I expected that this association would be moderated by attachment anxiety, such that it would be stronger for individuals high, relative to low, in attachment anxiety. In three laboratory experiments, relationship threat was made salient and participants were given the opportunity to consume snack foods. In a non-experimental diary study, participants’ relationship stress and health behaviours were measured for a period of seven days. The results for Study 1 indicated that women, but not men, high in attachment anxiety experienced self-regulation failure (i.e., ate more jelly beans) when relationship threat was elicited. In contrast, although women low in attachment anxiety demonstrated the same pattern, it was attenuated and non-significant. Study 2 was designed to replicate the findings from Study 1 using a more powerful relationship threat manipulation that I hoped would cause a consistent pattern for both genders. Contrary to hypotheses, both men and women high in attachment anxiety experienced increased self-regulation (i.e., ate fewer brownie pieces) in the experimental, compared to the control, condition. One important difference between these studies was the presence of the partner in the laboratory in Study 2. I hypothesized that this might account for the discrepant findings between these studies and designed Study 3 accordingly, such that participants either participated alone or with their partners. Unfortunately, this study did not reconcile the discrepancies between the first two studies: Only a main effect of relationship threat on number of jelly beans consumed emerged. For Study 4, individuals completed questionnaires for seven days that assessed how fluctuations in relationship stress interacted with attachment anxiety to affect health outcomes. Analyses of the same-day and lagged effects demonstrated several significant interactions consistent with the hypotheses. These four studies provide initial evidence for the interactive effect between attachment anxiety and relationship stress on health outcomes and well-being. Although the findings were inconsistent, two of the studies provided support for my hypotheses. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2010-08-17 21:23:46.461

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In this study it is argued that quality of health is predominantly influenced by health behaviour and health-risk behaviour. Self-regulation as an important factor in health and health-risk behaviour was operationalised by three phases, namely goal establishment, goal execution and self-reflection and adjustment. In addition, mindfulness is an important metacognitive skill applied throughout the process of self-regulation. The lack of research on self-regulation and health behaviour, especially with reference to South African youth and young adolescents is surprising. Health programmes seem to pay insufficient attention to the enhancement of self-regulatory skills in preventing health risk behaviour. Another limitation is the lack of qualitative data regarding self-regulation research. 'This study aims to explore the self-regulation of health-related goals in a group of young adults. Insight to this process could contribute to the development of more appropriate health promoting programmes. A qualitative research design with content analysis as data analysis technique was applied. An availability sample of 92 participants, aged between 18 and 30, completed self-compiled questionnaires on health-risk behaviour and self-regulation. Results indicate a high prevalence of health risk behaviour, supporting other South African findings. Various differences were found between participants engaging in high risk behaviour and those with low risk behaviour with reference to the phases and processes of self-regulation. The high risk group's goal setting seems to be problematic as it does not address identified high risk behaviours. This may be as a result of insufficient mindfulness in that they are ignorant of their health risk behaviour and its implication or alternatively, that they attempt to avoid the risk of failure. In addition, the high risk group is more dependent on external motivation regarding health-related goals and is, therefore, more influenced by controlled regulation. In contrast, the low risk group more often relies on individual personal resources as a source of motivation for their health related goals. Furthermore, the high risk group experiences regulatory non-fit as 'their actions were more often inappropriate. No major differences were found between the groups concerning stumbling blocks and self-observation. Participants in the high risk group evaluate their performance less favourably and are more likely to experience negative emotions in the face of failure compared to participants in the low risk group. When taking the whole self-regulation process into account, it can thus be concluded that participants of the high risk group have poor self-regulation in relation to participants in the low risk group. In general, the findings of this study support the findings of other researchers, confirming the importance of self-regulation in health and health-risk behaviour. The main implication is that there should be a much stronger emphasis on self-regulatory skills in health promotion and illness prevention programmes. Certain limitations of this study were also taken into account. Future studies should consider the role of individuals' risk perceptions with regard to the goal establishment phases as well as the manner in which individuals deal with stumbling blocks in the action phase. Finally, the way in which self-regulation as a dynamic process should be accurately assessed is still not clear. As this study is one of the first to explore self-regulation from a qualitative perspective, future studies could shed more light on the usefulness of other qualitative and even mixed method designs. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

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Numerous models of academic advising address the complex nature of student retention and attrition. Most tend to ignore the subtleties of implementing motivational and self-regulatory changes associated with academic advising. This present study investigates the learning experiences of university students and their use of academic advising. The research incorporates an educational model as its primary investigative lens, namely Hirsch's (2001) multiple intervention model. The study further examined critical areas of learning and advising, specifically motivation, self-regulation, academic difficulty, and academic achievement.This research was conducted at a New Zealand university and comprised of three studies. In the first study, 14 participants were interviewed about their academic problems, readiness for study and use of learning and study strategies. In the second, a total of 317 participants completed a demographic survey and two questionnaires measuring aspects of motivation and self-regulation. In the third study, 147 participants completed follow-up self-report questionnaires. The mixed-paradigm analyses were twofold. Study 1 utilised a meaning-centred approach to classifying and understanding the interview responses. Studies 2 and 3 incorporated multivariate and categorical statistical procedures.Interview narratives from Study 1 suggested that students experiencing academic difficulty tended to voice more problems, to be less ready for study and to be more avoidance oriented than students not experiencing academic difficulty. In Study 2 students indicating low motivation levels for study had more self-perceived problems in the areas of concentration, self-monitoring, use of educational materials and developing time management than students with higher motivation levels. In addition, students with academic difficulty appeared to have more problems with motivation and use of study material than students with no evidence of academic difficulty. Students' motivation levels tended to vary over time indicating that students may perceive their rationale for study as an unfixed or malleable entity. Student attitude at the beginning of the academic semester significantly predicted grade outcome. Motivation and self-regulation response measures obtained immediately prior to the examination period, however, were unable to predict end-of-semester grade averages. In Study 3 completion of short group-based study skills programmes appears to have a link with end of semester grade average, but there were no significant shifts in measures of motivation and self-regulation. Students accessing one-to-one academic advising services were usually students with higher levels of motivation for study. The use of one-to-one academic counselling, however, was not determined by academic difficulty.Overall, the studies contribute a systematic and integrative process of investigating the area of academic advising. The research highlights the importance of goal orientations and students' initial perceptions about the value of their course of study in relation to academic achievement and in reference to the seeking of academic assistance from academic advising services. The findings suggest that although Hirsch's (2001) model provides a valuable framework to investigate ways students study and learn, it requires additional refinement especially in areas of categorisation and application before it can be confidently endorsed. The findings also indicate that academic advisory services provide a valuable service for students in terms of academic achievement, but further research is required in the areas of cultivating motivation and self-regulation changes, and especially in the area of affect development. Finally, the study confirms the worth of mixed-paradigm research and the need for more in depth research in the multifaceted world of academic advising.

Self-regulation in children has been found to be prognostic of both normative and problematic social and emotional development in later childhood and adolescence. In particular, regulation of attention is deemed central to the ability to self-regulate other behaviors. Attention regulation is commonly measured by using rating scales and by obtaining children's behavioral and neurophysiological responses during laboratory tasks. Despite the widespread use of a variety of measurement strategies, the convergent validity of diverse measurements of attention regulation has not been systematically tested. This insufficiency is problematic for understanding individual differences in self-regulation and for evaluating interventions designed to improve attention regulation in children. Mindfulness-based interventions, an increasingly influential and powerful modality of psychosocial intervention, are hypothesized to improve attention regulation directly. Improvements in psychosocial adjustment following mindfulness-based intervention are hypothesized to be mediated through attention regulation. Nevertheless, research exploring the relation between mindfulness intervention and attention regulation is limited. This study explored the construct validity of attention regulation by (a) examining the measurement model for attention regulation that incorporates questionnaire ratings, behavioral data, and neurophysiological (electroencephalographic event-related potentials) measures, and (b) testing direct effects of mindfulness intervention on multiple measurements of attention regulation and indirect treatment effects on psychosocial outcomes with attention regulation as a mediator, using data collected from a randomized controlled trial of a mindfulness-based intervention with 47 children ages 9-12 years. Results confirmed that varying measurements of attention regulation were not empirically related. Results also supported previous findings that mindfulness-based interventions improved some indices of attention regulation in children. However, results did not support the hypothesis that attention regulation served as a mediator in mindfulness-based intervention treatment effects on psychosocial outcomes. Discussion suggests approaches to the measurement of attention regulation and new directions in mindfulness-based intervention research with youth.

Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Clive J. A. Fullagar / Regulatory focus has emerged as an important construct in the organizational sciences. In the past ten years more than 200 papers have been published applying regulatory focus to a wide variety of contexts ranging from marketing and persuasion to feedback and performance appraisal (Johnson et al., 2015). Despite the ubiquity of RFT’s application, only a few studies have targeted the psychometric properties of measures of regulatory focus; and the findings thus far suggest that improvement is needed. Haws (2010) evaluated five measures of regulatory focus and concluded that they differed substantially with respect to their theoretical content, and that most demonstrated unacceptably low internal consistency. Summerville & Roese (2008) drew similar conclusions in their evaluation of the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ) and the General Regulatory Focus Measure (GRFM) and added that the two scales might actually be measuring different underlying constructs. Given the inconsistencies and problems associated with existing measures of regulatory focus, the purpose of the current research is to extend the critical evaluation of existing measures of regulatory focus and then to propose the development of a new measure based on rigorous scale development practices like those set forth in Hinkin, (1995) and Crocker & Algina, (1986). A new scale of Regulatory Focus was developed designed to measure all aspects of RFT and to test whether a two-factor or a four-factor SEM model fit the data best. The final scale consisted of 14 items. CFAs were used to test whether a two-factor or a four-factor model of regulatory focus fit the data best. Results suggested that both models fit the data equally well. However, for parsimony reasons and given that one of the latent factors of the four-factor model contained only two items (making any estimates of internal consistency difficult) the two factor model of regulatory focus was retained as the preferred model.

Individuals who display high levels of reward sensitivity are motivated by and respond to reward related cues, thus exhibiting more approach-motivated behaviors. A majority of the research on physiological indices of reward sensitivity in relation to self-regulatory abilities has focused on adults or adolescents, with relatively little work examining these associations in children. Thus, the current study sought to examine whether a common neural measure of reward sensitivity, left frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, assessed in early childhood was predictive of children’s later self-regulation abilities in the context of reward delay. Emerging inhibitory control skills were also examined as a potential moderator of the association between reward sensitivity and self-regulation. The frontal asymmetry measure of reward sensitivity was assessed at Time 1, when children were between the ages of 4 and 7 years old. The Time 2 visit occurred 18-24 months later, at which point children completed a flanker task to assess inhibitory control and a lock-box task to measure two components of self-regulation: behavioral control (i.e., task effort and attentional focus) and emotion regulation (i.e., expressions of anger). Children with average levels of reward sensitivity showed the highest levels of overall effort (collapsed across low, moderate, and high effort scores) and the lowest levels of weak effort. Additionally, inhibitory control iv moderated the relation between reward sensitivity and effort such that children with low reward sensitivity and strong inhibitory control showed the highest levels of overall and moderate effort as well as the lowest levels of weak effort. There were no significant associations between reward sensitivity, inhibitory control, and attentional focus or anger expression. These results suggest that EEG frontal asymmetry is a useful physiological marker of reward sensitivity when predicting specific types of regulatory abilities in children.