Kanfer's self-regulation model: what it is and what it is for

Do you know what self-regulation is? And self control? Did you know that good self-regulation helps promote changes in behavior? Kanfer's self-regulation model talks about all this..

Through his model, Frederick Kanfer establishes that people go through 3 stages when it comes to self-regulating and manage to modify the probability of occurrence of their behavior: self-observation, self-evaluation and self-reinforcement.

• Related article: "History of Psychology: authors and main theories"

What is self-regulation?

Self-regulation could be defined as the ability to regulate oneself on a behavioral and emotional level. It is a psychological variable that is part of the personal development skills.

Brown (1998), for his part, defines self-regulation as "the person's ability to plan, supervise, and direct their behavior under changing circumstances."

In 1991, Brown and Miller developed a model that assumes that self-regulation is achieved through seven successive processes, which are the information input, self-assessment, change propensity, search, change planning, implementation, and assessment. A deficit in one (or some) of these self-regulation processes would imply

certain imbalances in the self-control of the individual's behavior.

For his part, Frederick h. Kanfer, along with Goldstein, define the concept of self-regulation as the ability of people to direct their own behavior.

Kanfer's model of self-regulation

According to Kanfer, self-regulation (he also calls it self-control) implies that there is a certain underlying reason for inhibit a response sequence that might otherwise be predicted to have a high probability of occur.

That is to say, in self-regulation processes there is always a situation where it is very probable to carry out a type of behavior, but nevertheless the probability of such behaviors appearing is reduced by the person's own control (or management).

Based on these ideas, Kanfer's self-regulation model serves above all to create the appropriate situations in therapy so that the patient learns to change his problematic behaviors.

Stadiums

The stages or phases proposed by the Kanfer self-regulation model are the following:

1. Self-observation (self-monitoring)

Through this state, the person observes her own behavior, in order to identify what should be changed. In some cases, it also includes self-registration of behaviour.

2. Self-evaluation (self-evaluation)

In this phase of the Kanfer self-regulation model, the person determines some standards, criteria or norms that mark or guide the objectives that he wants to achieve. Through these criteria, you can check if the behavior change is what you are looking for or notaccording to your goals.

3. Self-reinforcement (self-reinforcement)

In author-reinforcement, the person self-administers consequences (tangible or symbolic), either positive (if it has met or exceeded the criteria) or negative (self-punishment, in the event that you have not achieved the criteria previously defined. In the latter case, it could also be that you just don't reward yourself at all.

Characteristics of the psychological model

Kanfer's model of self-regulation is based on the feedback that the person has of their actions, as well as the consequences it generates on itself or on the environment. The model highlights the criteria as something essential to develop a process of self-correction and self-control, to finally self-regulate.

In itself, self-regulation, according to the author, consists of a self-correcting procedure that would appear only when there were discrepancies, imminent danger indices, or conflicting motivational states. All this would activate the first stage or self-observation system.

But how would behavior be regulated through Kanfer's self-regulation model? First of all, it would be necessary for the person to feel the need to increase the effectiveness of her own behavior in certain tasks, so that he could self-regulate her behavior. It could also be that the person was faced with a situation that required a change in the probability of certain behaviors appearing.

Self-control, for its part, would imply an aversive state (as opposed to the self-regulation stage); Faced with this aversive state, the person should make an effort to modify the probability of occurrence of one or more responses.

Assumptions

Why do self-control programs arise? In Kanfer's self-regulation model, he considers a series of reasons or motives that drive the creation and use of this type of program.

On the one hand, this happens due to the fact that there are many behaviors that are only accessible to the subject himself. In addition, problem behaviors usually are related to cognitive activity and the person's own reactions, not being directly observable, so a self-regulatory process is necessary.

Kanfer also considers the need to propose an intervention that proposes the change as something positive and feasible for the person, with the aim of increasing their motivation for such a change.

Finally, according to the Kanfer self-regulation model, the intervention should be aimed at teaching the patient how to manage possible relapses or new problems, as well as trying to address current conflicts or problems.

conclusions

The processes of self-regulation and self-control are very important in therapy. In relation to the efficiency of psychological interventions, if these two processes are developed in a effective by the patient, it is likely that clinical therapy sessions will be reduced, as well as the activity of the patient. therapist.

In addition, all this would also benefit and enhance a feeling of responsibility and involvement in the patient, who would feel responsible for his changes and progress, thus favoring his self-concept and his his self esteem.