In separate research studies, students who were given a choice of learning materials or who had control over aversive noise, demonstrated higher motivation and better task performance. To investigate the additive effects of choice and control on perception of control, 80 male and female college students participated in a 2 (choice vs. no-choice) X…

Research has suggested the utility of studying individual differences in the regulation of negative mood states. Generalized response expectancies for negative mood regulation were defined as expectancies that some overt behavior or cognition would alleviate negative mood states as they occur across situations. The Generalized Expectancy for…

Research has shown that attributing failure to lack of ability leads to lower motivation than does attributing the failure to lack of effort. An attributional model of motivation and performance following failure was tested with college students (N=63), who were preselected on the basis of their attributional styles for interpersonal failures, as…

From the author's perspective, self-determination is characteristic of all humans regardless of their capabilities, disabilities, or idiosyncrasies. It is evident when they act on their circumstances to get what they need or want and when they persist in those pursuits until situations change in the right direction for them. It is accurately…

Implications of locus of control expectancy for counselor effectiveness are examined in an intensive case study of two matched counseling pairs. (Author)

According to the major attributional hypotheses, egotism and expectancy confirmation, people tend to make internal attributions when successful and external attributions when they fail. In order to investigate the effect of manipulation on egotistical and expectancy confirmation attributions, 190 female undergraduates participated in two series of…

Learned helplessness is a state of passivity and loss of persistence resulting from individuals' perceptions, over a period of time, that they cannot control outcomes of events nor can their efforts lead to attainment of goals. Research studies are reviewed and implications for the study of learning disabilities are evaluated. (MH)

Examined the effects of perceived control and close alternative outcomes on counterfactual generation (thoughts of what could have been). Subjects played a "wheel of fortune" game in which they controlled one of two wheels. Results supported the idea that people generate counterfactuals about events over which they have perceived…

Examined impact of outcome controllability on counterfactual thoughts (thoughts of what could have been). Two studies showed that outcome controllability affected counterfactual direction: thoughts on how things could have been better were more frequent following controllable outcomes, and thoughts on how things could have been worse followed…

Self-evaluation is thought to play a major role in personality and motivation. Preliminary experience with success or failure, levels of aspiration, attributions for performance, and locus of control may all be interrelated factors in human motivation. After receiving success, failure, or no feedback on a concept formation task, subjects (N=90)…

Abramson, Seligman and Teasdale's reformulated model of learned helplessness hypothesized that an attribution of causality intervenes between the perception of noncontingency and the future expectation of future noncontingency. To test this model, relationships between attribution and performance under failure, success, and control conditions were…

Past research has suggested that supervisors, when evaluating the poor performance of a subordinate, are influenced by the outcome of the performance. Nurses (N=55) in advanced training assumed the role of a supervisor of a nurse described as having performed poorly. Half of the subjects read an incident without an outcome and half read an…

A model of persuasion suggests that individuals comply with a prediction of their behavior because they are persuaded by that prediction; a model of threat suggests that they defy prediction because of its threat of control. College students with either internal (N=20) or external (N=20) loci of control were informed of the accuracy of the…

Client expectancy of powerlessness can lead to actual powerlessness. Once counselors recognize that personal power is healthy and beneficial, they have to begin to structure institutions and agencies to encourage the development of personal power. (Author)

Presents four studies using a criterion measure of political activity to compare overall (locus of control), political, and situation-specific believed efficacy. Reports that the more situation specific the feelings of efficacy, the greater the predictability of political behavior. Concludes that even situation-specific efficacy did not predict…