Summary:
This target article overviews a model of human functioning based on the idea that behavior is goal-directed and regulated by feedback control processes. It describes feedback processes and their application to behavior; considers goals and the idea that goals are organized hierarchically; examines affect as deriving from a different kind of feedback process; and analyzes how success expectancies influence whether people keep trying to attain goals or disengage. Later sections consider a series of emerging themes, including dynamic systems as a model for shifting among goals, catastrophe theory as a model for persistence. The format of the chapter is a presentation of a portion of the conceptualization, followed by the raising of issues raised by that part of the theory.
This target chapter is followed by a series of critiques and commentaries by other authors, followed in turn by a reply from Carver and Scheier.
A more extensive treatment of many of these same themes is also available in a longer format in the following source:
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1998). On the self-regulation
of behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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