Here we attempt to remedy this situation by integrating across different models of self-regulation coming from disparate research traditions in social psychology, personality psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. All of these models provide insights about self-regulation, but sometimes they talk past each other, make only shallow contributions, or make contributions that are underappreciated by scholars working in adjacent areas. Still others construe self-regulation as dependent on a self-monitoring process ( Carver & Scheier 1998), whereas others construe it as a series of learnable strategies ( Duckworth et al. 2014, Whiteside & Lynam 2001), whereas others focus on conflicts between goals and temptations ( Hofmann et al. Some models center on human personality and traits ( Roberts et al. 2002, Locke & Latham 2006), whereas others focus on the fragility of willpower ( Baumeister et al. Some models, for example, focus entirely on goals ( Kruglanski et al. Despite this interest (or perhaps because of it), progress in understanding self-regulation has been hampered by too many models and theories, each describing self-regulation at different levels of analysis with not enough integration. As connections between self-regulation and outcomes affect domains as disparate as health, longevity, criminality, financial savings, job performance, and relationship satisfaction (to name but a few), it is no wonder the lay public and scholars alike are keen to understand and cultivate it ( Baumeister et al. Self-regulation is a boon to the well-functioning person, if not a well-functioning society. We close with prescriptions for future research. We then integrate across these models based on four key elements-level of analysis, conflict, emotion, and cognitive functioning-specifically identifying points of convergence but also points of insufficient emphasis. To achieve this objective, we first review some of the more prominent models of self-regulation coming from social psychology, personality psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. The purpose of this article is to integrate across the many different models in order to refine the vast literature on self-regulation. There has been a proliferation of theories and models describing different aspects of self-regulation both within and outside of psychology.

Self-regulation is a core aspect of human functioning that helps facilitate the successful pursuit of personal goals.

One True Outcome by K.D. Casey