for themselves (Zimmerman & Bandura, 1994) and be more committed to
those goals (Locke & Latham, 2002). Because proactive learners view learn-
ing processes as effective means to an end, they are motivated more by the
attraction of positive outcomes of learning than by the fear of adverse out-
comes (Pintrich, 2000). Outcomes that reflect underlying learning compe-
tence have been found to increase the intrinsic value of a task and not dimin-
ish it as task-contingent outcomes do (Karniol & Ross, 1977; Zimmerman,
1985). Because of their valuing of the intrinsic properties of a task, proactive
learners are more motivated to continue learning in the absence of external
rewards (Lepper & Greene, 1978) and yet experience positive emotions, such
as elation. As a result of their advantageous learning goals, proactive learners
are apt to form a broader learning goal orientation (Schunk, 1996), and this
motivational disposition has been linked to a wide variety of subsequent self-
regulatory phase processes, such as strategy use (Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990)
and adaptive self-reactions (Dweck & Leggett, 1988).
Performance Phase. There are two major classes of performance phase
processes: self-control and self-observation. As noted earlier, self-control re-
fers to students’ use of powerful methods, such as self-instructions, use of im-
agery, attention focusing, and task strategies, to optimize functioning. The
process goals of proactive self-controllers, such as steps in a writing revision
strategy, prepare and motivate them to use self-control processes to enhance
their attention, encode information visually, guide action, and control their
feelings (Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 1999). Proactive self-controllers also ob-
serve the execution of their control processes and outcomes more systemati-
cally than reactive self-controllers. Proactive learners who set hierarchical
process-outcome goals during forethought are especially well oriented to
track the effectiveness of these process means. In contrast, reactive self-
regulators are preoccupied with outcomes, and as a result, they seldom moni-
tor any particular process systematically and must rely on reactive methods
of learning, such as subjective impressions or trial-and-error.
Although the benefits of self-observation may seem obvious, most reactive
learners engage in this process in only a cursory way. Metacognitive self-
monitoring is difficult for reactive students because the amount of informa-
tion involved in complex performances can easily overwhelm and can lead to
inconsistent or superficial tracking, such as when a novice writer tries to fo-
cus on content accuracy, grammar, and originality of expression simulta-
neously. Furthermore, reactive learners are unaware of the benefits of self-
recording, such as daily records of progress in finishing a 20-page essay.In
contrast, proactive self-regulators can be selective in their cognitive self-
monitoring because of the specificity of their learning goals, and they will
self-record when they need to capture personal information as it occurs, pre-
serve its accuracy, and provide a longer database for discerning change. As a
- SELF-REGULATION 341