Synonyms
Definition
Personal control refers to “the perceived ability to significantly alter events” (Burger 1989). A high personal control corresponds to a belief that one can change the course of events, whereas a low personal control represents the lack of such belief.
Introduction
Possessing a sense of personal control has been argued to be one of the most fundamental motivations. Because, it is adaptive from an evolutionary perspective as lacking personal control over the course of events would make it harder to survive and reproduce. Individuals vary in their sense of personal control and some have higher perceived control than the others.
Individual Differences in Personal Control
There are different conceptualizations of personal control. One of them is self-efficacy (Bandura 1994). A high level of self-efficacy would mean that the person strongly believes that he/she is capable of achieving a goal. Another concept is locus of control...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Alloy, L. B., & Clements, C. M. (1992). Illusion of control: Invulnerability to negative affect and depressive symptoms after laboratory and natural stressors. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101, 234–245.
Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In V. S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 71–81). New York: Academic.
Burger, J. M. (1989). Negative reactions to increases in perceived personal control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 246–256. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.56.2.246.
Burger, J. M., & Cooper, H. M. (1979). The desirability of control. Motivation and Emotion, 3, 381–393. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00994052.
Infurna, F. J., Ram, N., & Gerstorf, D. (2013). Level and change in perceived control predict 19-year mortality: Findings from the Americans’ changing lives study. Developmental Psychology, 49, 1833–1847. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031041.
Hiroto, D. S., & Seligman, M. E. (1975). Generality of learned helplessness in man. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 311–237. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076270.
Kay, A. C., Whitson, J. A., Gaucher, D., & Galinsky, A. D. (2009). Compensatory control: Achieving order through the mind, our institutions and the heavens. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 264–268. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01649.x.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224–253. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.98.2.224.
Mirowsky, J., & Ross, C. E. (2007). Life course trajectories of perceived control and their relationship to education. American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1339–1382. https://doi.org/10.1086/511800.
Rothbaum, F., Weisz, J. R., & Snyder, S. S. (1982). Changing the world and changing the self: A two-process model of perceived control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 5–37. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.42.1.5.
Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General & Applied, 80, 1–28.
Ryon, H. S., & Gleason, M. E. J. (2014). The role of locus of control in daily life. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 121–131. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213507087.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Alper, S. (2018). Personal Control. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1803-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1803-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences