Seeds
Quilt
Haven
Purpose:
The practice of Self–Reg draws a fundamental distinction between self-regulation and self-control.
Self-Reg vs. Self-Control:
Self-Regulation
Self-regulation seeks to identify and reduce the causes of problems in mood, thought, and behaviour.
Self-regulation is always searching for hidden stressors.
Self-Control
Self-control seeks to inhibit or manage such problems only when they arise.
Self-control looks only at surface behaviours.
Origin:
The roots of the distinction between self-regulation and self-control are remarkably ancient, tracing all the way back to Hippocrates and Plato.
Self-Regulation
Hippocratic physicians turned to cupping, diet, exercise, and emetics to restore “humoral balance” in the blood.
Self-Control
Educators and religious authorities worked on character–building to strengthen “willpower”.
At the beginning of the 20th century, both theories gave birth to a science. Hippocratic methods evolved into physiology, while “willpower”–based methods influenced modern day Behaviourism.
Physiology looks at neurobiological systems that maintain a balance between energy expenditure and restoration.
Self-regulation capitalizes on recent advances in the science of stress management.
Behaviourism, on the other hand, looks for ways to contain the surface effects of an imbalance.
Self-control looks at age–old methods of punishment and reward to manage behaviour.
Methods:
Both self-regulation and self-control seek to achieve “effortful control”, or the ability to voluntary manage attention and inhibit or activate behaviours in response to external stimuli.
Self-Regulation
Self-Reg seeks to reduce the effort required to reach effortful control.
Self-regulation is about looking non–judgmentally at one’s impulses, worries, and fixations.
Self-Control
Self-control encourages battling “weaknesses” to exercise effortful control.
Self-control is about being judged, by oneself as much as by others.
Focus:
Self-regulation looks at the social dimension.
Self-control focuses solely on the individual.
Self-regulation makes self-control possible,
not the other way around.
Learn more about how behaviourist, self-control views became so prevelant in our socity today in Stuart’s webinar HERE.