Understanding Self-Regulation – A Definition and Exploration

Understanding Self-Regulation – A Definition and Exploration

Self-regulation is a core critical thinking skill that involves being deliberate and reflective in managing one’s thoughts and basically prevents a person from making an impulsive or uninformed decision. This skill requires one to be aware or conscious of cognitive processes like memory, perception, reasoning, and learning, as well as be aware of the aspects that influence these activities (Peter & Gittens, 2015). These aspects include inferences, biases, assumptions, and thinking processes, such as a heuristic approach. Subsequently, it also involves monitoring the results obtained after a thinking process to assess whether the results are valid, reliable, and accurate.

System-1 thinking can be defined as automatic thinking because it requires no effort and is almost always instantaneous, emotional, and unconscious (Peter & Gittens, 2015). An example of system-1 thinking is the survival of a result of system-1 thinking. On the other hand, system-2 thinking, also known as reflective thinking, is the opposite of system-1 thinking because the former involves slowly, purposefully, analytically, practically, and consciously putting thought into something. In addition, system-2 thinking involves more rationality and less emotion. An example of system-2 thinking is when deciding on whether to buy a new car or buy a used one and use the rest of the money to pay off their student debt at the risk of the used car having problems.

Heuristics are mental shortcuts based on general rules or past experiences that one uses to simplify one’s decision-making process. An example of a heuristic is the simulation heuristic, which is the estimation of the odds of something happening based on how easy it is for a person to imagine that occurrence. Basically, simulation describes the mental process whereby one imagines themselves doing something and succeeding or failing. For instance, prior to giving a class presentation, one might simulate themselves giving a good presentation that earns them a good grade, or they may see themselves giving a bad one and failing the class. Peter & Gittens (2015) state that if one has ease in processing a simulation, this will influence them into thinking that their imagined outcome is more likely, and this will affect their decision-making process. An example of a simulation heuristic is self-sabotage, whereby people with low self-esteem will deem themselves as not good enough to do something and that if they try, they will most likely fail. Notably, this is not only based on imagination but also on past experiences. These thought processes then affect their decision-making, and they end up self-sabotaging.

When facing a problem, a person’s main goal is to find a resolution that they can state with reasonable assurance that it is the best choice. This option is referred to as the dominant option. When making a decision, one has to consider various options, discarding those that are implausible and identifying the promising ones, then analyzing these promising ones using decision criteria, for example, weighing the strengths and weaknesses of each and identifying the one with most strengths, before locking in on one that is more favorable (Facione, 2016). This process is known as dominant structuring. This process is an appositive attribute to critical thinking because it involves analytical processes like doing research on the various options available so that one can land on the best one. It enables one to make a well-informed decision based on facts and statistics, which makes the decision more valid, accurate, and reliable. For example, when choosing between two job offers, focusing primarily on the salary of one position while ignoring its longer hours and commute time can lead to a biased decision favoring that job without a balanced evaluation of all factors.

It is extremely crucial to master facts and understand data in regard to mitigating cognitive biases in System-1 thinking. System-1 thinking determines automatic responses and the knowledge and data that one has feeds how accurate and rational their automatic responses will be. For example, if one is not familiar with a blue-ringed octopus and comes across it on a beach, one may try to touch it, which is dangerous as the animal, though it appears harmless, is very dangerous. However, with an understanding of such sea creatures, the response would be to back away and get away from the animal, essentially a flight response.

References

Facione, P. (2016). Dominance Structuring and Reflective Decision Making: Strategies to Avoid Locking-In Prematurely. Measured Reasons LLC.

Peter, F., & Gittens, C. A. (2015). Think Critically. Pearson

Remember – these journal questions require more thinking than writing. Think about exactly what you are asked to do, and then write as economically as possible.

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Instructions
For this journal assignment, briefly answer each of the following prompts. For all instances where you are required to provide a definition, do not copy definitions from the text. Use your own words.

Self-Regulation
The textbook mentions the skill of self-regulation. How do you define this term? You may want to review Chapter 2 (to review critical thinking skills) before you write out your definition.

Understanding Self-Regulation – A Definition and Exploration

Sytem-1 and System-2
Define System-1 and System-2 thinking in your own words.
Give an example from your personal or work life where you would use each of them, explaining why each is appropriate to the situation in which you use it.
Heuristics
Define “heuristic” in your own words.
Give an example of a heuristic that might be used in your personal or professional life and briefly show how it could have a positive or negative effect.
Do not use examples found in the text.
Dominance Structuring
Explain the term “dominance structuring” in your own words.
Is dominance structuring a positive or negative attribute of critical thinking? Explain.
Use examples if that is helpful to your explanation.
Cognitive Bias
Briefly examine what part you think mastery of facts and understanding of data has in avoiding cognitive bias in System-1 thinking.
If you include references to outside sources (beyond the textbook), make sure you cite them properly.