ABSTRACT
In its common usage, regulation refers to a process in which a system is brought into compliance with a standard. These processes may be external to the system, as in legal regulation of property transfers. The law prescribes the standard and when deviations are identified, they are challenged by the legal system. When systems are self-regulating, the system is assumed to contain two additional components beyond the standard: (a) a mechanism for detecting deviation from the standard, and (b) a mechanism for bringing a system back from deviation toward the standard. It is important to differentiate systems that are regulated externally from systems that are self-regulating, especially for biological and psychological systems. A self-regulated child with a strong conscience (internal standard) will not steal or cheat even when authority figures are absent, whereas an externally regulated child will refrain from deviation only when authority figures are present to sanction the deviation. Both children are regulated, but the former is self-regulated.
