Attention and Self-Regulation A Control-Theory Approach to Human Beh
"Seek simplicity and distrust it. " Alfred North Whitehead "It will become all too clear that an ability to see patterns in behavior, an ability that some might feel proud of, can lead more easily to a wrong description than a right one. " William T. Powe
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Springer Series in Social Psychology
Attention and Self-Regulation: A Control-Theory Approach to Human Behavior Charles S. Carver/Michael F. Scheier Gender and Nonverbal Behavior Clara Mayo/Nancy M. Henley (Editors)
SSSP Charles S. Carver Michael F. Scheier
Attention and Self-Regulation: A Control-Theory Approach to Human Behavior
[I]
Springer-Verlag New York Heidelberg Berlin
Michael F. Scheier Department of Psychology Carnegie-Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 U.S.A.
Charles S. Carver Department of Psychology University of Miami Coral Gables, Florida 33124 U.S.A.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Carver, Charles S. Attention and self-regulation. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Human behavior. 2. Control (Psychology) 3. Attention. 4. Self-perception. 5. Feedback (Psychology) 6. Behaviorism (Psychology) I. Scheier, Michael. II. Title. [DNLM: 1. Attention. 2. Behavior. 3. Ego. 4. Models, Psychological. 5. Consciousness. BF 321 C331al BF632.5.C37 150.19'43 81-2548 AACR2 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from Springer-Verlag. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc. in this publication, even if the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone. © 1981 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1981
987 654 3 2 1 ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-5889-6 DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4612-5887-2
e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-5887-2
For Nora, for Karen, and for our parents
Preface "Seek simplicity and distrust it."
Alfred North Whitehead
"It will become all too clear that an ability to see patterns in behavior, an ability that some might feel proud of, can lead more easily to a wrong description than a right one." William T. Powers
The goal of the theorist-the scholar-is to take a collection of observations of the world, and perceive order in them. This process necessarily imposes an artificial simplicity upon those observations. That is, specific observations are weighed differently from each other whenever a theoretical account is abstracted from raw experiences. Some observed events are misunderstood or distorted, others are seen as representing random fluctuations and are ignored, and yet others are viewed as centrally important. This abstraction and oversimplification of reality is inevitable in theory construction. Moreover, the abstracted vision builds upon itself. That is, as a structure begins to emerge from continued observation, the structure itself guides the search for new information. The result is a construction that is more elaborate than what existed before, but it still is usually simpler than reality. It is important for scholars to believe in the value of their task, and in the general correctness of the vision that guides their work. This commitment, and the hope
of progress that follows from it, mak
