Chapter 14 - Self-regulatory processes and personality

Abstract

Being an effective self-regulator is predictive of a wide range of positive life outcomes and is among the most desired and respected traits. The present chapter explores how self-regulation is linked to personality traits broadly speaking. The chapter reviews evidence for three such links. First, ample work suggests that certain personality traits, and in some cases certain combinations of them, predict self-regulatory behaviors and outcomes. Second, more recent work suggests that self-regulatory efforts and styles are themselves determinants of people's personalities. Third, the approach with which people self-regulate (e.g., the ends on which they focus, the processes they emphasize, and the beliefs they hold about their ability to change) represents meaningful and somewhat stable individual differences between people. Further research on the links between self-regulation and traits promises to further the field of personality psychology and allow for a more complete characterization of human behavior.