Attention and Self-Regulation

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Background

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Introduction

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 3-10

   3. Cybernetics, Information, and Control

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 11-31

   4. Focus of Attention, Inside and Outside the Laboratory

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 33-55

3. Information and the Use of Recognitory Schemas

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 57-57

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   2. Cognitive Theory: Schemas, Attributes, and Decision Biases

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 59-76

   3. Focus on the Environment: Perception of Places and Persons

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 77-94

   4. Focus on the Self: Perception of Self-Aspects

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 95-116

4. Attention and Motivation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 117-118

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   2. Standards of Behavior

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 119-141

   3. Self-Focus and Feedback Loops

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 143-166

   4. Absence of Regulation, and Misregulation

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 167-182

5. Interruption, Expectancy and the Reassertion-Withdrawal Decision

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 183-184

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   2. Theory: Interrupting the Feedback Loop, and the Role of Expectancy

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 185-201

   3. Research: Persistence and Task Performance

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 203-222

   4. Research: Anxiety-Related Behavior

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 223-241

   5. Additional Conceptual Issues: Achievement Motivation, Helplessness, and Egotism

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 243-266

6. Implications for Specific Problems in Social and Personality Psychology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 267-268

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   2. Relationship Between Self-Report and Behavior

      • Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier

      Pages 269-285

"Seek simplicity and distrust it. " Alfred North Whitehead "It will become all too clear that an ability to see patterns in behavior, an ability that some might feel proud of, can lead more easily to a wrong description than a right one. " William T. Powers The goal of the theorist-the scholar-is to take a collection of observations of the world, and perceive order in them. This process necessarily imposes an artificial simplicity upon those observations. That is, specific observations are weighed differently from each other whenever a theoretical account is abstracted from raw experiences. Some observed events are misunderstood or distorted, others are seen as representing random fluctuations and are ignored, and yet others are viewed as centrally important. This abstraction and oversimplification of reality is inevitable in theory construction. Moreover, the abstracted vision builds upon itself. That is, as a structure begins to emerge from continued observation, the structure itself guides the search for new information. The result is a construction that is more elaborate than what existed before, but it still is usually simpler than reality. It is important for scholars to believe in the value of their task, and in the general correctness of the vision that guides their work. This commitment, and the hope of progress that follows from it, make it possible to continue even when the work is difficult and slow.

• Action
• Aggression
• Attribution
• Emotion
• Experimentelle Psychologie
• Kybernetische Psychologie
• Motivation
• Regulation
• attention
• behavior
• perception
• psychology
• social psychology

• Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, USA

  Charles S. Carver

• Department of Psychology, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA

  Michael F. Scheier

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