Theoretical Basis And Advances In The Research Of Intentional Self-Regulation

Heredity, environment and agency, as well as the complex interactions among them, are the motive force of individual psychological development. The concrete representation of agency is self-regulation process. The highest form of self-regulation is intentional self-regulation. Intentional self-regulation is contextualized actions that are actively aimed towards harmonizing demands and resources in the context with personal goals in order to attain better functioning and to enhance self-development.Agency is the core difference between human being and animal. From ancient to nowadays, from foreign to domestic, many of the great educators have recognized that the people are positive and initiative in their own development. The educators'common idea is that the educated are not the objective who have to be under the repression and control of teachers and parents, but the active subjects who control their own development. Similarly, the classic psychological theory and current psychological theory also attach the importance to the role of agency on development, past research primarily take agency as a theoretical perspective, however current studies have began to research agency directly.Intentional self-regulation is the most typical representatives of agency. The concept of intentional self-regulation emerged in youth positive movement. Intentional self-regulation is the basic psychological process of youth positive development. Intentional self-regulation interacts with organismic self-regulation, and both of them help individual shape their own development.SOC theory, lifespan control theory, and dual-process model provide intentional self regulation with different theoretical perspective. Future time perspective, future orientation, locus of control and ego-identity provide intentional self-regulation with different concepts frames. Combining the multiple theoretical perspectives can make the comprehensive vision of intentional self-regulation. However, the current studies take SOC theory as their theoretical perspective, the studies have found that grade 7-8 in junior high school is to the key period of the development of intentional self-regulation, and what's more, the intentional self regulation can predict individual's current and future positive development and negative outcomes.It's less than 10 years before the concept of intentional self-regulation is proposed. Therefore, there are still some limitations: the theoretical basis is too single; the measurement tool can not reflect the periodic characteristics and domain-specific; localized problem is urgent. Future studies can be conducted from the following aspects: Firstly, the adolescences'intentional self-regulation in the contest of china should be understood through interviews and open-ended questionnaire; secondly, a measurement tool, which is draw on several theoretical models and combined with the results of qualitative research, reflecting the reality of life and the unique characteristics and domain-specific of this stage, should be developed; thirdly, the developing tendency of intentional self-regulation need to be described; forth, the influencing factors of intentional self-regulation need to be explored; fifth, the early predictors of intentional self regulation need to be explored; sixth, the relation between the intentional self-regulation and key development outcomes should be investigated; seventh, programs promoting intentional self-regulation should be explored.