Emotions, Self-Control, and Self-Modification

Abstract

Personality theorists, behavioral scientists, and clinicians have long been concerned about how people control and modify the way they feel and how they exercise personal control over other behaviors that have emotional correlates and consequences. Therapists often attempt not only to resolve current distress , but to help the person to develop self-control over his or her emotions and potential problem behaviors to avoid future distress. Self-Control and Self-Modification: Working Definitions Although examination of the scientific literature suggests some defini-tional confusion about what is meant by self-control and the notion is referred to by a variety of connotatively similar terms, we will attempt to avoid this terminological babel. In our working definition, we use the term self-control to mean a person's influence over and regulation of his or her own psychological, behavioral, and physical processes. The person who exercises self-control is able to regulate her or his own behavior-emotions, actions, and desires-by 1 K. R. Blankstein et al. (eds.), Self-Control and Self-Modification of Emotional Behavior