Self-regulation from the sociocultural perspective—A literature review

Abstract

Children’s self-regulation has been studied from a cognitive-behavioral perspective. However, the vital learning process involves how students absorb, assimilate, and respond to surrounding factors; thus, self-regulation also should be examined from a sociocultural perspective to support children’s autonomous rather than controlled self-regulation. This study reviewed Bandura’s social cognitive theory as the axis of self-regulation from a sociocultural perspective. The elements included in this holistic theory were scrutinized by tracing them to their original ideas and consequent theories: the expectation-value, organismic integration, achievement goal, attribution theories, and the growth mindset. The study suggests including time in self-regulation research because self-regulation is a process. While self-efficacy includes the expectation for outcomes given a current ability, the growth mindset includes growth and a perspective to the future, which changes depending on continuous effort. This study analyzed self-regulatory theories using the trajectory equifinality approach, a methodology from cultural psychology. The theories were then integrated into a model to demonstrate that self-regulation is a sociocultural developmental process that nurtures students’ values and beliefs regarding efforts and goals, leading them to build their mindset, attitudes, and character. The model contributed to discerning the critical point of self-regulation: how students interpret the world and discover attributions.