Concepts of Self-Regulation: A Historical Retrospective

Abstract

Psychology of self-regulation is a relatively new but rapidly developing branch of psychological science. It has integrated many of the ideas that were initially born within the framework of physiology and cybernet¬ics. Interpretations of mechanisms underlying self-regulation are closely related to the general principles of dynamic systems' functioning on the basis of feedback. These principles were defined in the works of the Russian physiologists N.A. Bernstein and P.K. Anokhin and in the cybernetic models of Western scientists. Ideas of L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinstein, A.N. Leontiev, P. Janet, J. Piaget and others have also had a significant impact on the development of modern concepts of self-regulation. The paper provides a historical insight into the origins of ideas of self-regulation and shows how they have evolved from the concept of self-regulation as adaptation to the concepts of reasonable changes, subjective activity, conscious self-regulation, self-determi¬nation and self-efficacy, and individual styles of self-regulation.