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This chapter addresses three topics: stress, 
coping, and some of the self-  regulatory struc -
tures and processes that we believe underlie 
personality. The topics of stress and coping 
typically go hand in hand, since stress leads 
to coping. In our view, however, coping es -
sentially constitutes efforts at self-  regulation 
(of action and emotion) in times of duress 
(stress). Thus, to discuss coping in a mean -
ingful way entails making some assumptions 
about the nature of self-  regulation. That, 
then, is where we begin.
At their core, self-  regulatory models of ac -
tion are organized around people’s efforts 
to create and maintain desired conditions in 
their lives (Carver & Scheier, 2019). Some 
desired conditions are relatively static (e.g., 
a house being set up the way you want it, 
good health, food in the refrigerator). Oth -
ers are more dynamic (e.g., developing a ca -
reer, helping a child grow into a responsible 
adult, taking an enjoyable and enriching va -
cation). Whether the goal is to maintain a 
stable picture or to make something happen, 
the process by which the goal is realized is a 
kind of self-  regulation.
Self- regulatory efforts often run off 
smoothly, untroubled by external impedi -
ments or personal shortcomings. Some -
times, however, people encounter difficulties in doing what they want to do, being what 
they want to be, or keeping their reality or -
dered the way they want it. Self-  regulatory 
models also address what happens in such 
situations.
In what follows, we explore what self- 
regulation models tell us about the experi -
ence of stress and the processes of coping. 
We begin by describing some orienting as -
sumptions and principles of self-  regulation. 
Then we move to a more explicit consider -
ation of how stress arises from the experi -
ences of life, and how these self-  regulatory 
principles relate to models of stress and 
coping. We describe in the final section of 
the chapter a few of the findings that have 
emerged from attempts to integrate the liter -
atures on stress, coping, and self-  regulation.
Self- Regulation
A common view in contemporary psychol -
ogy is that human behavior is organized 
around an ongoing pursuit of goals, which 
themselves are relatively consistent across 
cultures (Grouzet et al., 2005). Theorists use 
diverse terms to refer to goals, owing to dif -
ferences in emphasis, but for our purposes 
the differences are unimportant.CHAPTER 25
Self‑Regulatory Processes, Stress, 
and Coping
Charles  S. Carver  
Michael  F. Scheier