How do goals promote action and contribute to a good quality of life? Self-regulation theories assume that these processes form feedback loops, with goals providing important reference values for the person’s behaviors (Carver & Scheier, 1981, 1998). A feedback loop consists of four elements-an input function, a reference value, a comparator, and an output function (see Figure 24.1; cf. G. A. Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1960).