Productivity and environmental regulation

Self-regulation is defined as the thoughts and behaviors involved in planning and executing goal-directed action (Zimmerman 2002), or the skills involved in getting things done.

Part of self-regulation is environmental regulation or optimizing the environment for goal completion. On questionnaires it's assessed using items like:

• I have a regular place set aside for studying.
• I usually study in a place where I can concentrate on my course work.
  (Pintrich 1991)

It hasn't received much attention from researchers so far. Here are questions to be answered:

1. Which factors do individuals believe make for effective study environments? How do they balance these factors in choosing study environments?
2. Do the environmental factors that individuals believe to be effective really work?
3. Are individuals' real choices about where to study consistent with their beliefs about what makes for an effective study environment?