Self - Regulation as a Key to Success in Life

human behavior' Self-regulation (or the very similar te:rm self-control) can be defined as the ability to alter one's own behavior, incrluding one's thoughts' feelings, actions, and other responses' To put self-regulation in context, iiis useful to step back for a moment and realize how far fryti,otogy cime working with stimulus{esponse models. A great deal of human and animat Uefra-iior is, indeed, simply responses to stimuli. What stimulusdesponse theories miss, however, is the possibility of altering one's response. Human beings have a remarkabiy powerful ability to preveni themseives from responding to a stimulus in the norrnal or