Contributions of active and dynamic self-regulation to learning

Abstract

Most modern cognitive theories postulate that active executive control is the only internal source of self-regulation of learning processes. To account for incidental and other categories of unintentional learning, this study explored the hypothesis that two independent sources of internal control regulate academic learning: (a) active (or executive) and (b) dynamic (or nonexecutive). College undergraduates completed an inventory of active and dynamic learning processes. The findings supported the twosource hypothesis. Moreover, when the contribution of dynamic self-regulation was removed, the correlation between active self-regulation and learning was no longer significant. When active self-regulation was removed, the correlation between dynamic self-regulation and learning remained basically the same. © 1992 Human Sciences Press, Inc.