This research examined the impact of self-regulatory styles on the degree of consistency between behaviors and self-reported attitudes and traits. It was predicted that individuals who regulate their behavior in an autonomous manner would be more like{y to display behavior consistent with their self-reported attitudes and traits than individuals who regulate their behavior in accordance with external or introjected controls. In two intrinsic motivation laboratory experiments, subjects who were classified as autonomy oriented on the basis of their responses to the General Causality Orientations Scale were shown to display significantly higher attitude-behavior correlations than subjects classified as control oriented. In another experiment, autonomy-oriented subjects showed greater consistency between self-descriptions of conscientiousness and a behavioral criterion than control-oriented subjects. Together, these findings support Deci and Ryan's hypothesis that individual differences in self-regulation will influence indexes of personality integration.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bem, D. J. , & Allen, A. (1974). On predicting some of the people some of the time: The search for cross-situational consistencies in behavior. Psychological Review, 81, 506-520.
2.
Cheek, J. (1982). Aggregation, moderator variables, and the validity of personality tests: A peer-rating study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 1254-1269.
3.
Costa, P. T., Jr. , & McCrae, R. R. (1985). The NEO Personality Inventory manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
4.
Deci, E. L. , & Ryan, R. M. (1985a). The General Causality Orientations Scale: Self determination in personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 19, 109-134.
5.
Deci, E L. , & Ryan, R. M. (1985b). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.
6.
Deci, E. L. , & Ryan, R. M. (1987). Support of autonomy and the control of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1024-1037.
7.
Deci, E. L. , & Ryan, R. M. (1991). A motivational approach to the self. Integration in personality. In R. Dienstbier (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 38. Perspectives on motivation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
8.
Fenigstein, A. , Scheier, M. E., & Buss, A. H. (1975). Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology43, 522-527.
9.
Gruen, A. (1988). The betrayal of the self The fear of autonomy in men and women. New York: Grove Press.
10.
Harackiewicz, J. (1979). The effects of reward contingency and performance feedback on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology37, 1352-1363.
11.
Koestner, R. , & Blais, M. (1991). Explorations in causality orientations. Manuscript in preparation.
12.
Koestner, R. , Zuckerman, M., & Koestner, J. (1987). Praise, involvement, and intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 383-390.
13.
Koestner, R. , Zuckerman, M., & Olsson, J. (1990). Attributional style, comparison focus of praise, and intrinsic motivation. Journal of Research in Personality, 24, 87-100.
14.
Luyten, H. , & Lens, W. (1981). The effect of earlier experience and reward contingencies on intrinsic motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 5, 25-36.
15.
McClelland, D. C. (1986). Human motivation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
16.
McCrae, R. R. , & Costa, P. T., Jr. (1988). Validation of the five factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 81-90.
17.
McMullin, D. J. , & Steffen, J. J. (1982). Intrinsic motivation and performance standards. Social Behavior and Personality, 10, 47-56.
18.
Quattrone, G. A. (1985). On the congruity between internal states and action. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 3-40.
19.
Ryan, R. M. (1982). Control and information in the intrapersonal sphere: An extension of cognitive evaluation theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 450-461.
20.
Ryan, R. M. , Connell, J. P., & Deci, E. L. (1985). A motivational analysis of self-determination and self-regulation in education. In C. Ames & R. E. Ames (Eds.), Research on motivation in education: The classroom milieu (pp. 13-51). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
21.
Ryan, R. M. , Mims, V., & Koestner, R. (1983). Relation of reward contingency and interpersonal context to intrinsic motivation: A review and test using cognitive evaluation theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 736-750.
22.
Scherhorn, G. , & Grunert, S. C. (1988). Using the causality orientations concept in consumer behavior research. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13, 33-39.
23.
Sherman, S. J. , & Fazio, R. H. (1983). Parallels between attitudes and traits as predictors of behavior. Journal of Personality, 51, 308-343.
24.
Smith, T. W. , & Pittman, T. S. (1978). Reward, distraction, and the over-justification effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 565-572.
25.
Snyder, M. (1974). The self-monitoring of expressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 526-537.
26.
Vallerand, R. J. , Blais, M. R., Lacouture, Y., & Deci, E. L. (1987). L'échelle des orientations géneérales a la causalité: Validation canadienne française du General Causality Orientations Scale. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 19, 1-15.
27.
Wicker, A. W. (1969). Attitudes vs. actions: The relationship of verbal and overt behavioral responses to attitude objects. Journal of Social Issues, 25, 41-78.
28.
Zuckerman, M. , Bernieri, F., Koestner, R., & Rosenthal, R. (1989). To predict some of the people some of the time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 279-293.
29.
Zuckerman, M. , Gioioso, C., & Tellini, S. (1988). Control orientation, self-monitoring, and preference for image versus quality approach to advertising. Journal of Research in Personality, 22, 89-100.
30.
Zuckerman, M. , Koestner, R., DeBoy, T., Garcia, T., Maresca, B. C., & Sartoris, J. M. (1988). To predict some of the people some of the time: A reexamination of the moderator variable approach in personality theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1006-1019.
