Measure Your Self Control
Self regulation includes the mental processes we use to manage emotions, drive states (hungry, thirst, need for sleep, sexual urges), cravings and thoughts in order to control behavior and reach a goal. It is fundamental for success and well-being especially when we need to make and sustain behavior change.
Often called self control for short, these mental processes play a key role in many cognitive design projects. But how can you measure it? One approach is to use the 63 item Self-Regulation Questionnaire. It has been vetted on clinical challenges and there are some suggestions that it is a good general measure.
Further work has validated a short form (13 to 16 items) of the questionnaire but I have not been able to find a free copy of it on the Internet.
Interested to hear from readers that use instruments to measure self control and regulation in an applied setting.
