Modes of self-directed attention: Dynamic model of self-regulation

Establishing and maintaining a clear and stable view of oneself is one of the major goals that human beings are motivated by. Individuals' environment is overflowing with a variety of self-relevant feedback. Yet, humans are able to generalize their experience into idiosyncratic self-concept, that despite being the largest, and most complex of all cognitive structures provides a good frame of reference for regulation of action, emotion, and cognition. This research project examined a dynamic model of self-regulation that explains how humans manage to arrive at and maintain a coherent understanding of who they are and what their are like despite the abundance and constant influx of often contradictory self-relevant information.;The dynamic model of self-regulation emphasizes the role of selective attention to specific regions of the self-concept as a prerequisite for self-concept adaptive development and functional expression. From a dynamical systems perspective the self-concept is conceptualized as a dynamic cognitive structure of knowledge that becomes organized into meaningful self-aspects (i.e., identities, self-perceived traits, roles) that differ with respect to evaluative coherence. Some self-aspects are coherent and comprise exclusively positive or exclusively negative elements, while other do not achieve evaluative coherence and are comprised of self-beliefs with mixed evaluations. As the focus of conscious attention changes between coherent and incoherent areas, the experience of Self and implications of self-concept for ongoing processes change accordingly.;The total number of 296 participants took part in four studies conducted in Poland and in the United States. The studies utilized interesting procedures to investigate the dynamics and structure of the self-concept and the consequences of the evaluative differentiation of the self-concept for intrapersonal and interpersonal processes. Participants filled out personality and self-concept measures on-line, performed the card-sorting and mouse procedure tasks, and interacted with a chat-bot conversational program.;Results of the studies attest to the validity of the model and suggest that individuals focus their attention on incoherent self-aspects to facilitate the formation and development of the self-concept and that focus on coherent self-aspects facilitates effective use of the self-concept for the regulation of ongoing processes.