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Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine pp 460–467Cite as

Common-Sense Model of Self-regulation

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Synonyms

Illness representation model; Mental models of illness; Mental representations of illness

Definition

The common-sense model of self-regulation explains how individuals respond to and manage health threats. It proposes that people actively engage in problem-solving by developing mental models of health threats, subjective and objective treatment goals, and practices and procedures most likely to achieve those goals.

Description

Background

The origins of the common-sense model of self-regulation (CSM) can be traced to the parallel model proposed by Leventhal in the early 1970s to understand how individuals respond to fear-arousing communications (Leventhal, 1970). Similar to the parallel model, the CSM posits that when a threat is perceived (e.g., physical symptoms or changes in function), individuals develop two parallel, yet interrelated, representations of the stimulus: cognitive and emotional (Leventhal et al., 1997). These representations and their content specify the...

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Common-Sense Model of Self-regulation, Fig. 1

References and Readings

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, 501 S. Nedderman Dr, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA

    Dr. Pablo A. Mora

  2. Health Science Specialist, Department of Veterans Affairs, NJ Healthcare System, East Orange, NJ, 07018, USA

    Dr. Lisa M. McAndrew

Authors
  1. Dr. Pablo A. Mora
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  2. Dr. Lisa M. McAndrew
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pablo A. Mora .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioral Medicine Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Marc D. Gellman

  2. Cardiovascular Safety, Quintiles, Durham, NC, USA

    J. Rick Turner

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Mora, P.A., McAndrew, L.M. (2013). Common-Sense Model of Self-regulation. In: Gellman, M.D., Turner, J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_1220

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_1220

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1004-2

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