Self-Regulation

Self-regulation is the process that determines how one identifies, conceives, analyzes, plans, directs, manages, evaluates, and adjusts what one does. Self-regulation precedes the development of intrinsic motivation, which in turn energizes the appropriate use of reflective judgment. Ethical dilemmas are often personal and paradoxical problems that need to be solved using a decisionmaking process that frequently involves choosing between two or more viable options. Hence, selfregulation in the ethical decisionmaking process guides how one processes information that is involved in resolving difficult and complex problems that call into question our values, experiences, and prior learning.

Individuals can either be governed by external forces, such as laws and community norms, or through self-regulation, led by our own sense of values and ethical commitments. To balance between societal ...