Theory of Self- vs. Externally- Regulated Behavior: Applicability to Educational, Clinical, Health and Organizational Psychology Contexts

The goal of this book is to introduce the reader to the recently developed Self- vs External-Regulation Behavior Theory by setting out the theory’s characteristics, structure, functionality and applicability. This book is divided into five sections. Section 1 explains the scientific background to the theory and the timeline of its development. It goes on to set out the theoretical underpinnings, structure, and functionality of the theory via a more general utility model together with the explanatory mechanisms which allow us to determine the likelihood of transitioning from one level of behavior or context to another. Section 1 concludes with a theoretical and empirical explanation of the index of combined internal and external regulation as a valuable combinatory heuristic. Section 2 presents real-world examples of the application of the theory in educational psychology. A historical review of self-regulation models is presented as well as a study which analyzes the relationships of personal and contextual regulatory factors with academic emotions. Additionally, a work analyzing the impact of age and sex on regulatory behaviors is discussed. Section 3 presents empirical applications of the theoretical model to the fields of clinical, neuropsychological psychology and healthcare, and theoretical work that explains the applicability. Two further works analyze the effect of personal and contextual regulatory variability on food-related behaviors and demonstrates the application of the theoretical model to the role of executive functions and executive dysfunction. Further empirical works presented in Section 4 reflect the role of personal and contextual regulation in engagement-burnout and in behaviors characteristic of the Type A personality. Section 5 analyzes the conclusions and implications of the theoretical model, and the future research needed. Section 5 brings together the practical, empirical and conceptual issues that will inspire the reader to further explore this novel understanding of self-regulation as an essential behavioral and contextual factor.