Does control of the environment enhance the perception of control?

It has been proposed that control over the environment increases the perception of control, thereby enhancing motivation. Revesman and Perlmuter (1981) found that when subjects were permitted to choose response terms to be learned on a paired-associate task, decision latencies were faster if the announcement of the desired option caused the screen upon which materials were printed to go blank. On the basis of the results of the present experiment, it was concluded that control of the environment does result in faster decision latencies, but that this effect occurs despite a decrease in the perception of control.     

The relationship between multidimensional health locus of control and perceived behavioural control: How are distal perceptions of control related to proximal perceptions of control?

The present article tests the predictive and convergent validity of distal and proximal indices of perceived control, as measured by multidimensional health locus of control (MHLC) and perceived behavioural control (PBC), across 12 health behaviours. The study (n = 235) employed a cross-sectional design and examined 12 health-related behaviours: binge drinking, fruit and vegetable consumption, exercise, eating junk food, safe sex (condom use), teeth brushing, teeth flossing, cigarette smoking, blood donation, taking vitamin supplements, using marijuana, and attending health screening. Respondents completed questionnaire measures of MHLC, health value, PBC, and behavioural intention. The data were analysed using a combination of between- and within-persons correlations and hierarchical multiple regression. Between-persons analyses showed that although MHLC accounted for 4% of the variance in behavioural intentions whereas PBC accounted for 21%, PBC did not fully mediate the effects of MHLC on intention. Within-persons analyses demonstrated that internal health locus of control was predictive of the within-persons correlation between PBC and intention, suggesting there may be a dispositional basis to perceived control. Further work that examines the relationship between distal and proximal perceptions of control is required.     

Who needs control? A cultural perspective on the process of compensatory control

Compensatory control theory (CCT) provides a framework for understanding the mechanisms at play when one's personal control is challenged. The model suggests that believing the world is a structured and predictable place is fundamental, insofar as it provides the foundation upon which people can believe they are able to exert control over their environment and act agentically towards goals. Because of this, CCT suggests, when personal control is threatened people try to reaffirm the more foundational belief in structure/predictability in the world, so that they then have a strong foundation to reestablish feelings of personal control and pursue their goals. This review seeks to understand how the basic assumptions of these compensatory control processes unfold in different cultural contexts. Drawing on research and theorizing from cultural psychology, we propose that cultural models of self and agency, culturally prevalent modes of control, and culture-specific motivations all have implications for compensatory control processes. Culture determines, in part, whether or not personal control deprivation is experienced as a threat to perceiving an orderly world, how/whether individuals respond to low personal control, and the function that responses to restore a sense of order in the world serve. A theoretical model of compensatory control processes across cultures is proposed that has implications for how people cope with a wide range of personal and societal events that potentially threaten their personal control.     

God-mediated control beliefs and the Epstein-Barr virus: Is more God-mediated control always better?

Research on the locus of control construct conveys the impression that more control is always better. However, some studies suggest that very high levels of control are associated with negative outcomes. The purpose of this study was to see if this is true of religiously oriented feelings of control (i.e., God-mediated control). The outcome was antibody titers to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The findings suggest that very high God-mediated control is associated with higher EBV values. However, this finding was only observed among young adults (age 18–40), but not among middle-aged (age 41–64), or older adults (aged 65 and older).     

What about proactive language control?

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - While several reviews provide an in-depth discussion on reactive language control, which is the language control process that is initiated when the non-target...     

Bilingual speech: Bilateral control?

Forty bilinguals from several language backgrounds were contrasted to a group of English-speaking monolinguals on a verbal-manual interference paradigm. For the monolinguals, concurrent finger-tapping rate during speech output tasks was disrupted only for the right hand, indicating left-hemisphere language dominance. Bilingual laterality patterns were a function of language used: native (L1) versus second acquired (L2), and age of L2 acquisition. Early bilinguals (L1 + L2 acquisition prior to age 6) revealed left-hemisphere dominance for both languages, whereas late bilinguals (L2 acquired beyond age 6) revealed left-hemisphere dominance only for L1 and symmetrical hemispheric involvement for L2.     

Is phonological recoding under strategic control?

Two experiments are reported in which subjects were required to name the color in which letter strings were printed. In the first experiment, color-naming latencies were the same when the letter strings were pseudohomophones of color words (e.g., PINC) as when they were color names (e.g., PINK). Both these conditions produced slower responses than control strings matched with the pseudohomophones for visual similarity to the color word (e.g., PINN). Unlike the first experiment, the second included trials in which the ink color was congruent with the color to which the letter string was related. The results with incongruent stimuli paralleled those in the first experiment. With the congruent stimuli, however, responses were faster with color words than with either their pseudohomophones or control strings, which were equally slow. It is proposed that phonological recoding occurs relatively slowly but cannot be suppressed even when it harms performance.     

“Snowball” and other control groups

In the Spring of 1973, the Office of Research and Development of the Appalachian Center, West Virginia University, began an evaluation of the University's mining extension program. Since all interested miners are allowed to enroll in the course, the only feasible way to obtain a control group was to use the “snowball process.” This paper examines how well the snowball process did in producing a control group which matched the trainees. While the trainees and controls seemed well matched on many demographic characteristics they differed on several variables, particularly attitudes.     

Power and the suppression of unwanted thoughts: Does control over others decrease control over the self?

Suppressing unwanted thoughts increases the accessibility of these thoughts after suppression is released. Two studies test the hypothesis that the magnitude of post-suppressional rebound is moderated by power. Study 1 measured participants’ thoughts about a white bear under suppression and expression instructions, following Wegner, Schneider, Carter, and White (1987). Study 2 measured stereotype accessibility after a task that required participants to describe one day in the life of an African-American under suppression or no-suppression instructions. Consistently across the two studies, powerful participants showed stronger post-suppressional rebound relative to powerless participants. The consequences of these findings for decision making and stereotyping are discussed.     

Locus of control: a work-related variable?

Inconsistencies in findings between age and perceived locus of control of reinforcement were examined in light of social learning theory. Absence of work was hypothesized to reduce opportunities for reinforcement and thus expectancies. No differences were found in internal-external (I-E) locus of control among nine age groups (20 to 65 years) for subjects (882 school teachers) during the span of their work lives. It seems that I-E depends on the frequency and intensity of expectancies for behavior reinforcement sequences that work affords. Before and after work life there is not only less to control, but many of the nonwork reinforcers are not contingent on one's own behavior. Relinquishing internal control and a shift of focus toward reflection on experience and meaning of ife may well be a desirable and natural process for older people.     

Is inclusion a valid control for ostracism?

Considerable knowledge about ostracism’s impact comes from research using Cyberball, an online ball-tossing game. In Cyberball, the inclusion condition is the control condition, to which ostracism is compared. The assumption is that Cyberball-inclusion is not affirming and represents an expected level of inclusion. However, without a no-inclusion control condition, it is unclear whether inclusion elevates need satisfaction, whether ostracism depresses need satisfaction, or both. We introduce Cybertree—a control condition designed to provide a similar experience to Cyberball without inclusion. Individuals playing Cybertree did not differ from included individuals in terms of feeling ostracized, level of need satisfaction, and mood. Both Cyberball inclusion and Cybertree differed significantly from ostracized individuals. We conclude that Cyberball inclusion is a reasonable control group for Cyberball ostracism but discuss research questions that may benefit from the use of Cybertree.     

Privacy and control: Are they related?

This study examines the relationship of privacy preference with sense of control over privacy, and the discrepancy between desired and actual privacy. Results indicate that (a) sense of control is a fairly good predictor of privacy preference, (b) most subjects report low actual privacy than desired, and the highest desired privacy was in the case of intimacy, (c) discrepancy between desired and actual privacy significantly relates to privacy preference, and sense of control was significantly related to the discrepancy between desired and actual privacy. The results suggest that the experience of control is a significant external correlate of privacy preference.     

Action–effect anticipation in infant action control

There is increasing evidence that action effects play a crucial role in action understanding and action control not only in adults but also in infants. Most of the research in infants focused on the learning of action-effect contingencies or how action effects help infants to infer goals in other persons' actions. In contrast, the present research aimed at demonstrating that infants control their own actions by action-effect anticipation once they know about specific action-effect relations. About 7 and 9-month olds observed an experimenter demonstrating two actions that differed regarding the action-effect assignment. Either a red-button press or a blue-button press or no button press elicited interesting acoustical and visual effects. The 9-month olds produced the effect action at first, with shorter latency and longer duration sustaining a direct impact of action-effect anticipation on action control. In 7-month olds the differences due to action-effect manipulation were less profound indicating developmental changes at this age.     

How much can the school house control?

Conflict between school systems and their communities is part of American history. Much of the conflict is symbolic, the school being the stage for the acting out of deeper clashes. Several hundred teachers in the north Florida area were polled in 1977 and 1978 to identify areas of conflict between schools and community. The issue which evoked the greatest dissension was the question of responsibility for the children of the new American underclass. Data were tabulated and analyzed in the light of historical patterns developed by the author, and the conclusion drawn that school-community conflict will persist with regard to the teaching of underclass children because the public has no clear perception about who is responsible.